Mesolithic Sites of the Kildinsky Strait and the Problem of Settling the Kola Peninsula in the Stone Age

Abstract

The routes and the time of the initial colonization of Northern Fennoscandia are among the most actively discussed topics of the Arctic archeology. In the last decade the KolAE IHMC RAS excavated four Mesolithic sites of Gusiny 4–7 on the southern coast of Kildin Strait, Barents Sea. The sites are located on ancient marine terraces at the elevations from 27–30 to 35 m asl. Remnants of a shallow square dwelling structure 3×3 m was investigated on Gusiny 6. The assemblage consists of quartz, silicified sandstone and chert items. There is set of tanged «Ahrensburgian» and single-edged points and flake-axes. Lithic assemblage of Gusiny 6 belongs to the phase I according to B. Olsen. The sites of that phase were dated back to 10000–9000 BP and represent the initial colonization of Northern Fennoscandia along the Norwegian coast. The excavated area of Gusiny 4, 5, 7 sites was 118, 80 and 42 m2 respectively. Their assemblages are very similar and consist of chert, silicified sandstone and quartz artefacts. Technological context indicates that knapping process was aimed to blade-production in pressure technique or indirect percussion. Tools are normally restricted to retouched blades and lower amount of end-scrapers. Other types are represented by few items. There is a tanged point on blade modified with semi-abrupt and invasive retouch on ventral face. The closest analogy to the sites Gusiny 4, 5 and 7 are sites with the so-called “eastern” blade technology, which have spread in Northern Fennoscandia after 9000 BP. It is probably an evidence of migration from the forest zone of Eastern Europe.