Ancient horse hunter sites discovered in Bashkiria National Park

Scientists from the Institute of History, Language, and Literature of the Ufa Federal Research Center RAS have resumed research on the shores of the Nugush Reservoir.

 In 2008, the Sergeevka-1 site was discovered here, and over 5,000 artifacts were collected. These included the bones of ancient horses, bison, rhinoceroses, reindeer, cave lions, and mammoths. Some bones had been cracked and burned by humans.

Using radiocarbon dating, scientists dated the finds to 18,000-20,000 years ago.

In October of this year, researchers found horse bones and numerous artifacts made of flint, jasper, and quartzite-sandstone pebbles, matching those discovered in previous years. "Previous conclusions have been confirmed: this is the primary site of Upper Paleolithic humans whose main occupation was horse hunting and processing hides and bones. Furthermore, it has been proven that part of the site is preserved beneath two-meter-thick sediments. We took samples from the cultural horizon for dating," commented Vyacheslav Kotov, a senior researcher at the institute and a candidate of historical sciences.

The data obtained in previous years has allowed us to understand better the culture and economy of the ancient hunters and gatherers who left colorful images in the Shulgan-Tash cave.

Bashinform previously reported that Bashkortostan archaeologists made a sensational discovery at the Birsk burial ground.

Author: Leila Aralbaeva