A 16,000 Year-Old Ceramic Human-Figurine from Maina, Russia
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A 16,000 Year-Old Ceramic Human-Figurine from Maina, Russia Pamela B. Vandiver* and Sergey A. Vasil’ev# *Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education, Washington, D.C. #Institute for Material Culture History, Russian Academy of Sciences, 18 Dvortsovaia emb 191186, St. Petersburg, Russia
ABSTRACT The ceramic technology used to construct and fire an image of a human figurine excavated from a 16,000 year old layer at the archaeological site of Maina on the Yenesei River in southern Siberia is reconstructed using x-radiography, x-ray diffraction, optical and scanning electron microscopy with simultaneous energy dispersive x-ray analysis, and electron beam microprobe analysis. Evidence is provided from the archaeological excavation as well as radiocarbon dating. Comparative studies of the clayey soils at the site add contextual and environmental evidence to establish this remarkable technology as having been carried out at the site using a local clay-loam resource. INTRODUCTION This paper deals with the results of chemical and x-ray study of the material of one of the world’s oldest ceramic figurines. It was discovered in layer 5 of the multi-component site of Maina, southern Siberia, during archaeological excavation in 1980. The fieldwork was carried out during the salvage archaeology campaign associated with the area to be flooded by the reservoir of the Maina hydroelectric power station. THE FIGURINE: ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT AND DATING The site of Maina is located in the northernmost portion of the Sayan Canyon of the Yenisei River, a picturesque gorge bounding one of the world’s largest northern flowing rivers as it flows through the Sayan range (Fig. 1A). The West Sayan Mountains extend from the southwest to northeast, separating the Tuva Basin, the area of the Yenisei sources in the south from the Minusinsk Basin in the north. At the northern part of the Yenisei Canyon near Maina, the river valley becomes up to 2 km wider, and several tributaries, including the Sizaya, Golubaya, Ui, Bol’shoi Karak, and Malyi Karak, join the main stream here. Near their mouths on Late Quaternary terraces, man Paleolithic sites are located (Fig. 1A). Ten kilometers down stream from Maina, near Sayanogorsk, the river enters the steppe lowlands of the Minusinsk basin. On the left bank on the flat surface of the Koibal steppe is a row of small lakes, traces of the ancient Yenisei; this contrasts with the wooded hills on the right bank. The Ui River valley, located about 100 meters south of the site, is asymmetrical in cross section. Its northern slope is bordered by the 200 m high Ui Ridge of the Bashtak Mountains. Quarternary terraces are found only near the mouth, where the site of Maina is located. The gently slopping southern bank has low terraces and a floodplain. .
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Figure 1. Maina: A) Site location (triangle) in southern Siberia and at the confluence of the Yenisei and Ui Rivers; B) Stratigraphy of the lower, eastern portion of the site with radiocarbon dates and the three paleomagnetic dates underli
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