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New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia)

The region of western Georgia (Imereti) in the Southern Caucasus has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Data of recent research and excavations in this region display its importance as a possible route for the dispersal of anatomically mode...

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Autores principales: Tejero, José-Miguel, Bar-Oz, Guy, Bar-Yosef, Ofer, Meshveliani, Tengiz, Jakeli, Nino, Matskevich, Zinovi, Pinhasi, Ron, Belfer-Cohen, Anna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8575301/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34748581
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258974
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author Tejero, José-Miguel
Bar-Oz, Guy
Bar-Yosef, Ofer
Meshveliani, Tengiz
Jakeli, Nino
Matskevich, Zinovi
Pinhasi, Ron
Belfer-Cohen, Anna
author_facet Tejero, José-Miguel
Bar-Oz, Guy
Bar-Yosef, Ofer
Meshveliani, Tengiz
Jakeli, Nino
Matskevich, Zinovi
Pinhasi, Ron
Belfer-Cohen, Anna
author_sort Tejero, José-Miguel
collection PubMed
description The region of western Georgia (Imereti) in the Southern Caucasus has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Data of recent research and excavations in this region display its importance as a possible route for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into northern Eurasia. Nevertheless, within the local research context, bone-working and personal ornaments have yet contributed but little to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP) regional sequence’s characterization. Here we present an archaeozoological, technological and use-wear study of pendants from two local UP assemblages, originating in the Dzudzuana Cave and Satsurblia Cave. The ornaments were made mostly of perforated teeth, though some specimens were made on bone. Both the manufacturing marks made during preparation and use-wear traces indicate that they were personal ornaments, used as pendants or attached to garments. Detailed comparison between ornament assemblages from northern and southern Caucasus reveal that they are quite similar, supporting the observation of cultural bonds between the two regions, demonstrated previously through lithic techno-typological affinities. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance attributed to red deer (Cervus elaphus) by the UP societies of the Caucasus in sharing aesthetic values and/or a symbolic sphere.
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spelling pubmed-85753012021-11-09 New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia) Tejero, José-Miguel Bar-Oz, Guy Bar-Yosef, Ofer Meshveliani, Tengiz Jakeli, Nino Matskevich, Zinovi Pinhasi, Ron Belfer-Cohen, Anna PLoS One Research Article The region of western Georgia (Imereti) in the Southern Caucasus has been a major geographic corridor for human migrations during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Data of recent research and excavations in this region display its importance as a possible route for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into northern Eurasia. Nevertheless, within the local research context, bone-working and personal ornaments have yet contributed but little to the Upper Palaeolithic (UP) regional sequence’s characterization. Here we present an archaeozoological, technological and use-wear study of pendants from two local UP assemblages, originating in the Dzudzuana Cave and Satsurblia Cave. The ornaments were made mostly of perforated teeth, though some specimens were made on bone. Both the manufacturing marks made during preparation and use-wear traces indicate that they were personal ornaments, used as pendants or attached to garments. Detailed comparison between ornament assemblages from northern and southern Caucasus reveal that they are quite similar, supporting the observation of cultural bonds between the two regions, demonstrated previously through lithic techno-typological affinities. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance attributed to red deer (Cervus elaphus) by the UP societies of the Caucasus in sharing aesthetic values and/or a symbolic sphere. Public Library of Science 2021-11-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8575301/ /pubmed/34748581 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258974 Text en © 2021 Tejero et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Tejero, José-Miguel
Bar-Oz, Guy
Bar-Yosef, Ofer
Meshveliani, Tengiz
Jakeli, Nino
Matskevich, Zinovi
Pinhasi, Ron
Belfer-Cohen, Anna
New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia)
title New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia)
title_full New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia)
title_fullStr New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia)
title_full_unstemmed New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia)
title_short New insights into the Upper Palaeolithic of the Caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. Teeth and bones pendants from Satsurblia and Dzudzuana caves (Imereti, Georgia)
title_sort new insights into the upper palaeolithic of the caucasus through the study of personal ornaments. teeth and bones pendants from satsurblia and dzudzuana caves (imereti, georgia)
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8575301/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34748581
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258974
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