The article integrates the data reported at the All-Russian conference with international participation «Signs and Images in the Art of the Stone Age», commemorating the tercentenary of the Russian Academy of Sciences and held at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS in Novosibirsk Akademgorodok on October 21–24, 2024. During the event, various aspects of Stone Age art and symbolic behavior were discussed. We outline the key issues raised in geographically and temporally wide-ranging conference talks and in ensuing discussions, many of which concerned cave and rock art dating to the Paleolithic and to the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Europe, North Africa, China, the Eastern Pamir, Mongolia, and Russia. Many experts focused on symbolic behavior during the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic on the Russian Plain, in Crimea, in the Urals, in the Altai Mountains, in the Minusinsk Basin, in Western Transbaikal, and the Yana-Indigirka lowland. The significance of the conference for further research is highlighted. We touch upon various approaches to ancient mineral pigments, technology of prehistoric art, and the environmental context of sites. Testifying to the high level and wide scope of prehistoric art studies, the conference outlined important prospects for further research.

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.

We analyze the archaeological evidence of the deliberate placement of valuables («caches») in mammoth skulls at sites of the Eastern Gravettian Kostenki-Avdeyevo culture (Zaraysk A, E, F, and Kostenki 1 layer I). Six such finds are examined, specifically their spatial arrangement, stratigraphic context, and composition. Special attention is paid to the connection of «caches» with living structures (semi-subterranean dwellings) and ritual complexes, as evidenced by the presence of ocher, specific placement of artifacts, etc. A classification of «caches» is suggested: lost (accidentally left), returnable (intended for subsequent retrieval), and irretrievable (ritual sacrifices). The composition of such complexes is diverse. A «special» cache at Zaraysk E contained 24 artifacts including Kostenki knives, placed in the alveolus of a mammoth skull; at Kostenki 1, a spatula made of a rib with a figured top had been hidden in the skull. Notably, the tradition of using mammoth skulls for storing valuables has been traced over a long period of time at sites of the Upper Paleolithic Kostenki-Avdeyevo archaeological culture belonging to the Eastern Gravettian. It was practiced on the Russian Plain even after the LGM at sites of the Anosovo-Mezin type, representing another cultural tradition. Our findings indicate a complex interaction of utilitarian and symbolic practices among ancient hunters, expanding our knowledge of their worldview.

This article presents the results of a study of composite ornaments made of ivory beads from burials of a man and two adolescents, discovered by O.N. Bader at Sungir, a site dating to the Final Early Upper Paleolithic (30–26 ka BP). The burials are excessively rich in such ornaments, which were made by stringing many beads on a sinew or thread made of organic material. Strings of beads preserved in burials and retaining the order of constituent elements were used as a source for identifying typologically meaningful forms of beads. Owing to the alternation of elements of various shapes or similar in form but made from different blanks, a specific rhythmic structure was generated. The composition of strings suggests that eight types of ivory bead were employed. Two main techniques of stringing were used: by isolating the central group of beads, and by arranging them in the order of size gradually decreasing from one end to the other. The search for cultural parallels has revealed that the principle of combining different types of beads to create strings was similar to that used at contemporaneous sites in southern Germany dating to the Final Aurignacian.

We present preliminary findings relating to the Rashaan-Khad (Arshan-Khad, Mongolia) petroglyph site studied by the Russian-Mongolian expedition in 2016 and 2023. Special attention is paid to petroglyphs that, in A.P. Okladnikov’s words, appear archaic and those that can with various degree of certainty be interpreted as representations of Late Pleistocene mammals such as woolly rhinoceros or mammoths. Okladnikov wrote that six petroglyphs stand out mostly by their large size, carved outlines, «primitivism», and robustness. Our study has revealed eight figures that could be interpreted as those of large Upper Paleolithic animals or archaic-looking ungulates, but one of the figures published by Okladnikov has not been found. We discuss the correlation of such images with wavy lines, groups of intertwined lines, and what can be seen as a representation of a «bear paw print». Despite the limited time for fieldwork, we were able to identify panels especially relevant to the chronology of the site, refine the trace-drawings, obtain new data on already known images, and detect new ones. Comparison of petroglyphs published by Okladnikov in the 1980s with 3D-models and curvature maps based on them demonstrated yet again the need for and efficiency of advanced digital documentation in the study of rock art and the re-documentation of already known sites.

The discovery in the early 2000s of animal rock engravings near the village of Qurta in the Nile Valley (Upper Egypt) remains little discussed. This article focuses on the numerous stylistic links between these engravings and European Pleistocene figurations. These analogies allow us to date Qurta approximately to the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (between the end of Gravettian-Solutrean art and the beginning of Magdalenian art). This estimate is confirmed by OSL-dating obtained from a buried engraved panel from Qurta. The hypothesis as to European origin of the images is also reinforced by the presence of schematic female engravings identical to those scattered throughout Eurasia. The possibility of Mediterranean cultural exchange is considered. Several communication routes were possible. Taking into account the published documentation, we infer that the engravings at Qurta are less isolated than they appear and that rock engravings located on the Cyrenaican coast and in the Sinai could be the result of repeated contacts (including migrations) of people inhabiting the two shores of the Mediterranean.

This study focuses on the formal typology of petroglyphs belonging to the Minusinsk tradition. While these are widely distributed, we analyze only zoomorphic images from the Minusinsk Basin, because the earliest rock art in Southern Siberia and Central Asia, we believe, refers to a definite chronological stage, whereas the Minusinsk Style is its regional manifestation associated with the local cultural tradition. The purpose of the study is to identify the specific features of the classic regional Minusinsk Style, distinguishing it from other manifestations of the earliest rock art, peripheral relative to it. We present the results of the stylistic analysis based on formal typological criteria mentioned by various specialists in Minusinsk zoomorphic images. Representations of animals fall in several groups in terms of species, and a set of characteristics has been proposed for each. Because they are highly variable both in the Minusinsk tradition and in the earliest rock art in general, criteria specific for the Minusinsk Style alone (fi rst-order criteria) have been separated from those relevant to other traditions (second-order criteria). The core of the classic Minusinsk Style is defined by a stable combination of formal typological features. Another group of the earliest petroglyphs is nominally described as peripheral, because it doesn’t show this combination.

This study examines objects of portable art such as realistic three-dimensional figurines of elks and an anthropomorphic figurine, carved from elk antler, which were found by Ivan Savenkov in 1885 during his excavations of burial VI at Bazaikha, near Krasnoyarsk, in the mouth of the eponymous river. This burial, like others at the same site, yielded also stone and bone artifacts of Neolithic appearance. This unusual sample is one of the main arguments favoring the Neolithic age of numerous examples of Siberian rock art (elks and other animals rendered in the so-called Angara style). The Neolithic attribution of figurines and stylistically similar petroglyphs is problematic largely because the Bazaikha sample has not yet been analyzed by modern methods or even documented or fully published. Here, an overview of the sample, based on available archival and literary records, is given, and the possibility of comparing figurines and petroglyphs is discussed with reference to the «Angara style». I propose to select from the heterogeneous array of representations those actually showing stylistic parallels with the Bazaikha figurines. Two avenues of further research are mentioned: a focus on the Bazaikha sample (archival studies, 3D documentation, cataloging, radiocarbon dating, etc.), and a revision of the notion of «Angara style» in rock art based on modern views and facts.

This article presents the use of Raman spectroscopy to test the composition of paint detected in petroglyphs on old red sandstone in the Minusinsk Basin. Because this sandstone is saturated with iron compounds, it is extremely difficult to distinguish components of red paint based on mineral raw materials from those of the rock surface. We elaborated a two-stage technique. First, the composition of the rock surface was analyzed using Raman spectroscopy. Second, the concentration of substances on the surface was assessed using indexes of relative peak intensity in the spectra using statistical methods (Mann-Whitney U-test, principal component analysis). The procedure was tested at three rock art sites in the Minusinsk Basin. The examination of panel 15 at Tepsei I (Krasnoturansky District, Krasnoyarsk Territory) suggests that when the rock is heavily damaged by environmental processes such as ferruginization, oxalate accretions, oxidation and weathering products, the composition of the paint is indistinguishable from that of the substrate. At Oglakhty IV (Bogradsky District, Republic of Khakassia), analysis revealed that local mineral raw materials from metamorphosed sandstone subjected to heat treatment were used. On panels 7–9 in section 1A of Shalabolino (Kuraginsky District, Krasnoyarsk Territory), two paints were used. The lighter color was made of ocher, the outcrops of which in the form of metamorphosed sandstone were found within the boundaries of the site. The darker paint was made from apatite-magnetite ore. In both cases, the mineral raw materials were subjected to heating. This method will be used to study a larger sample of rock art paintings in the Minusinsk Basin.

This article addresses the challenge of employing experimental archaeology in rock art research and proposes a structured framework to guide the design and implementation of experiments in this field. It distinguishes between experimental and experiential archaeology, establishing that proper experiments require solid theoretical foundations and rigorous hypothesis testing. A comprehensive methodological approach is then presented, involving trict control of variables and a sequential strategy of pilot, systematic, and replicative experiments that balances internal and external validity. Building on an illustrative example concerning how paint composition influences the long-term preservation of rock art images, the article demonstrates how experimental procedures can conform to standards of scientific rigor, reproducibility, and archaeological relevance. In this context, it addresses aspects related to the connection between laboratory-controlled conditions and field validation, which are crucial to ensure both analytical robustness and contextual applicability. Furthermore, it discusses the inferential constraints of experimental data, emphasizing that these function as heuristic tools for evaluating hypothesis plausibility rather than providing absolute certainties. Ultimately, the proposed approach can be applied to explore a wide range of research questions concerning the production, preservation, and degradation of rock art, enhancing our capacity to formulate empirically grounded inferences about prehistoric artistic practices.

Genetic, skeletal, and archaeological studies alike demonstrate that anatomically modern humans originated ~200–150 ka BP in Africa, and this finding cannot be questioned. Over the last 4–5 decades, however, human fossils with undoubtedly modern skeletal markers, dating to 120–40 ka BP, have been discovered in China and Southeast Asia, suggesting that those territories, too, may have been part of the region where H. s. sapiens arose convergently on the basis of H. erectus. An important fact supporting this hypothesis is that a new taxon, Denisovan (informally H. s. denisovan), was established on the basis of the genetic analysis of a bone sample from a phalanx of the fifth finger of a 9–12-year-old girl from Denisova Cave. Also, genetic studies show that all three taxa, African anatomically modern humans, European Neanderthals, and Central Asian Denisovans, had interbred and produced fertile offspring, implying that all these taxa formed an open genetic system with processes such as admixture and assimilation, suggestive of a single species. Based on this conclusion, the following scenario of the origin of H. sapiens sapiens can be proposed: 80–60 ka BP anatomically modern migrants engaged in such processes with H. s. neanderthalensis in Europe, Denisovans in Central Asia, and early anatomically modern descendants of H. erectus (informally H. s. orientalensis) in East and Southeast Asia. The key role in the origin of H. s. sapiens, then, was played by migrants from Africa (informally H. s. africanensis), who were engaged in interbreeding and assimilation with H. s. neanderthalensis, H. s. orientalensis, and H. s. denisovan.

This study addresses carved bone artifacts crafted by Early Iron Age nomads of Eastern Kazakhstan as compared to those from more easterly areas of the Altai-Sayan Highland. A large sample of carved horn details of harness and bridle from a horse burial in mound 36 at the Berel cemetery, Altai, is described with a view to revealing the peculiarities of this craft among the Early Iron Age nomads of Kazakhstan. A comprehensive analysis (structural, morphological, and technological) suggests that all the artifacts were manufactured using two types of horn plate as blanks. The collection evidences a variety of techniques for processing antlers. Details of bridle and harness, made of various materials, attest to mobility, rationality, and cyclicity in Early Iron Age nomadic societies of Eurasia.

This study describes a specific category of jewelry—round medallions made from silver foil with bent edges and inside hoops made of copper wire; the obverse is decorated with representations embossed on a die. The sample includes 27 items. Compositions on the obverse are of six types: horseman smashing an unmounted warrior; rider on horseback; man riding a mythical animal; rider with saber on horseback; falconer; animals. A suggestion is made that embossed medallions imitate medieval plaques with falconers by their round shape, size, and the depiction of mounted characters. The technique of embossing silver foil on a die was elaborated on certain 12th–14th-century armguards. They could be prototypical also with regard to animal compositions, specifically those showing lions with open mouths and protruding tongues. Medallions and armguards from silver foil embossed on dies with wire hoops inside, as well as thin-walled bowls with elevated rims, belong to a group of silver items manufactured at Russian Permian jewelry center in the 15th–16th centuries. Medallions were manufactured for exchange with natives during the northward advance of Russian troops in Western Siberia. They were used in rituals by Voguls (Mansi) and Ostyaks (Khanty), who had long practiced a tradition of using imported silverware. It can be suggested that medallions with compositions resembling the canonical scene «Miracle of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki Concerning Tsar Kaloyan» were imported to Siberia for missionary purposes.