Pebble Tools from the Terraces of Echkidag Mountain in the Crimea: The Geomorphological and Archaeological Context

Abstract

From the mid-1970s on, several findspots supplying archaic pebble tools were discovered in the southern coast of the Crimea. The main feature of all the sites is the absence of cultural layer. According to the dating of ancient sea terraces and the results of comparative typological method, the researchers have dated the said finds of pebble tools from the Oldowan and the Lower Acheulean Periods. The 2019 comprehensive archaeological and geomorphological researches in the southern slopes of Echkidag mountain uncovered that the upper part of the diluvial aprons of the terraces and their surface were younger, with some dating to the modernity, and therefore surface finds cannot be dated according to the positions on this or that level of Echkidag terraces. Moreover, the finds include cultural layers at the site Echkidag 6 containing pebble and flint tools, and hand-made ware. It has been discovered that the pebble tools date from the Neolithic and Bronze Age.