“Houses” for the living and the dead in the Palaeolithic of Kostenki

The Kostenki-Borshchevo archaeological area on the river Don (Voronezh region/Russia) represents a unique concentration of Palaeolithic sites – from the earliest Upper Palaeolithic to the Late Palaeolithic. The remains of 60 settlements were found in the habitation levels of 21 sites (many of which are multi-layered). There is a rare concentration of dwellings and burials from the Palaeolithic period: the dwellings were found at 8 sites (Kostenki 1 (layer I), 2, 4, 8, 11, 13, 19, 21) and probably at three other sites (Kostenki 3, 9, 15). At sites where, undisputed dwellings have been found, certain other features have sometimes been found as well, in connection with which several questions have arisen concerning their interpretation as dwellings. Burials were found at six sites (Kostenki 1 (layer III), 2, 12, 14, 15, 18). This article is devoted to a review of the diversity of the structures of dwellings and of the funerary rites as reflected in the archaeology, because they provide the best indication of the ideas held by various groups of people about the structure of the world – the world of the living and the world of the dead.