The Earliest Evidence of Deliberate Ivory Processing Dates Back to Around 0.4 Million Years Ago

Abstract

This paper presents data on ivory micro-artifacts discovered in the Middle Pleistocene (MIS 11) horizons of the multilayered Lower Paleolithic site of Medzhibozh A in western Ukraine. These micro-artifacts provide the earliest known reliable evidence for the deliberate modification of proboscidean ivory material using bipolar-on-anvil knapping and trimming techniques. Medzhibozh A, situated in the upper reaches of the Southern Bug Valley, has yielded several artifacts made from the ivory of Mammuthus trogontherii in layers II and I, alongside an archaic core-and-flake industry. Ivory fragments were processed using techniques commonly applied to stone artifact production. A subfossil weathered ivory fragment, already in a knappable state due to its preservation, was used for this purpose. The processed ivory objects included a pointed piece, miniature core-like item, and micro-flakes. The ivory fragments from Medzhibozh A, displaying clear signs of deliberate modification, are unique within the roughly synchronous Paleolithic records of Europe. The use of ivory for knapping by Lower Paleolithic hominins in the western part of the Eastern European Plain may have been influenced by the situational scarcity of high-quality raw materials and experimental efforts to test non-standard materials for their knappability.