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A Mammoth Tusk with Representational Engraving from the Yana Complex of Sites and Its Archaeological Context
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.3.008-022
Abstract
Mass manufacture of non-utilitarian objects, which are informational in essence, is a characteristic feature of the Upper Paleolithic. A unique sample of such items (pendants, beads, decorated diadems, and bracelets) comes from the Yana complex of sites. These items testify to advanced views of identity, held by people of the Eastern Siberian Arctic ~32 ka BP. These views formed a three-level information system («friend or foe» recognition, intra-group distinction, personal identification). A mammoth tusk with representational engraving takes a special place among such items. The drawing appears to be a mnemonic record, possibly with mythological content. Its archaeological context reveals the complex social behavior of the Yana site dwellers, in whose advanced mentality animistic beliefs, specifically the wolf cult, played a special role. Such a cult presupposed the existence of complex collective rites in the form of shamanism. One of those rites is apparently depicted in the engraving on the mammoth tusk. Its composition attests to the knowledge of perspective–one of the earliest instances if this kind. Also, the drawing represents motion, evidencing the artist’s cognitive level and technical skill. Apparently, the evolution of the Upper Paleolithic people’s cognitive capacities passed through certain stages, marked by creative and technical achievements, and documented by artifacts such as the Yana engraving. This representation helps to see the world as viewed through the eyes of ancient hunters inhabiting the Eastern Siberian Arctic.
Keywords
Upper Paleolithic,
personal ornaments,
mammoth ivory bracelets,
complex social and symbolic behavior,
information system,
mammoth tusk with representational engraving,
decorated mammoth tusk,
rituals
Supporting agencies: This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project No. 24-68-00031 «First in the Arctic: Comprehensive Analysis of the Habitat of Ancient Humans and Their Culture in the Context of Paleogeographic Changes in the Pleistocene and Holocene of the Eastern Siberian Arctic» (https://rscf.ru/project/24-68-00031/). The authors express their deep gratitude to all participants in the first cycle of studies of the Yana complex of sites (2003–2008), who obtained unique evidence that served as the basis for this work, and to the restorers whose efforts preserved it. Great assistance in preparing the illustrations was provided by S.V. Arsentiev and P.I. Ivanov (photos), as well as S.G. Kritsuk (processing of field records) and A.O. Mashezerskaya (trace-drawing of images on the tusk). Special thanks go to E.S. Carpenter for many years of extensive support of the research and participation in discussion of the results.
About the Authors
V. V. Pitulko
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy
of Sciences; Leading Researcher, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Pitulko V.V., Leading Researcher; Leading Researcher
Dvortsovaya nab. 18A, St. Petersburg, 191181;
Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034
E. Y. Pavlova
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Pavlova E.Y., Researcher
Beringa 38, St. Petersburg, 199397
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For citations:
Pitulko V.V., Pavlova E.Y. A Mammoth Tusk with Representational Engraving from the Yana Complex of Sites and Its Archaeological Context. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2025;53(3):8-22. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.3.008-022
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