The Age of the 'Anosovka-Tel'manskaya Culture' and the Issue of a Late Streletskian at Kostënki 11, SW Russia

Triangular, concave-base 'Streletskian points' are documented in several assemblages from the Kostënki complex of Upper Palaeolithic sites in south-western Russia. Some of these assemblages have been argued to evidence very early modern human occupation of Eastern Europe. However, Streletskian points are also recorded from younger contexts, notably at Kostënki 11, where examples are attributed both to Layer V and the stratigraphically higher Layer III. The apparent relatively young age of Layer III has led some to view it as the latest manifestation of the Streletskian, although its assemblage has also been compared to the non-Streletskian Layer I of Kostënki 8, with the two described together as the Anosovka-Tel'manskaya Culture. Radiocarbon dates of 24-23,000 bp (c. 28,500-27,000 cal bp) for a Wolf burial associated with Layer III of Kostënki 11 confirm the layer as younger than other Streletskian assemblages at Kostënki. New radiocarbon dates for Kostënki 8 Layer I show that the two layers are broadly contemporary, and that both are close in age to assemblages of Kostënki's (Late Gravettian) Kostënki-Avdeevo Culture. In the light of these new radiocarbon dates the context of the Streletskian point from Kostënki 11 Layer III is considered. Although firm conclusions are not possible, unresolved stratigraphic problems and the lack of technological context for this single artefact at the very least leave a question mark over its association with other material from the layer.