Upper Paleolithic Ornaments from the South Chamber of Denisova Cave: 2021 Collection

Abstract

This article presents a new collection of the Early Upper Paleolithic personal ornaments from layer 11 in the South Chamber of Denisova Cave. The collection contains items of several types: a flat round bone bead, pendants made of teeth of predators and ungulates with cutting and perforation, a pendant from a freshwater mollusk shell with a hole, a fragment of a bracelet, a ring and a pendant with cutting made of marble, a small flake from serpentine. As a result of the study, the technologies for ornament production were reconstructed, the main methods of their use were determined, and examples of ornaments reshaping for using according to a new function were recorded. The technology for the teeth pendants production included a short sequence of operations: obtaining blanks, processing by planing or scraping, applying circular cuts or perforating by drilling. The production of flat beads was carried out by cutting out elongated plates from the walls of the tubular bone of large mammals, preparing blanks by planing, cutting out preforms, biconical drilling and grinding. The finished pendants and beads were massively used to decorate clothes and as personal apparel. The technology for the production of ornaments from marble involved a short or longer sequence of actions. To create the most complex marble products, i.e. rings and bracelets, a similar technological sequence was used, including the selection and transportation of raw materials, perforation followed by boring of the resulting hole, grinding, and polishing. Rings and bracelets were used as apparel, and probably had a special status.