FINAL PALEOLITHIC SITE POPIVTSI V

The Final Paleolithic period in Western Ukraine was marked by complex adaptive processes of the prehistoric population caused by climatic changes at the end of the Pleistocene. One of the most notable examples of these changes appeared in technological improvements in flint knapping, the specifics of which allow to distinguish a different cultural phenomena, for example Swiderian culture. The Volhynian-Podolian borderland region — a contact zone between Male Polissia and the northern part of the Podolian Upland — is of great importance for understanding these processes. It is here, near the outcrops of high-quality flint raw material, that manufacturing centers and sites are concentrated, the study of which is one of the priority tasks of modern archaeology. However, despite the significant potential of the region, the source base of the Final Paleolithic here remains fragmentary. A significant part of the sites is known only from surface collection materials, and the results of stationary excavations of past decades often remain unpublished. A representative example is the multilayered site Popivtsi V in the upper reaches of the Ikva River. Known since the late 19th century thanks to B. Sokalskyi, the site became the object of more detailed research only in the 1980s. Archaeological surveys by D. Chobit and Ya. Onyshchuk, and subsequent excavations by the Brody Expedition of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR led by R. Hrybovych, confirmed the presence of a Final Paleolithic horizon. The collection of Final Paleolithic surface material includes 907 finds made of local high-quality Turonian flint. Among them several types are selected — fragments of concretions, pre-cores, cores, flakes, blades, tools, as well as unspecified chips. Cores are mainly represented by double-platform end cores. Among the tool collection, the most numerous group consists of retouched blades, and also a burin, a scraper and a tanged point are also represented. Taking into account the significant number of flakes dominating over the number of blades, the presence of primary flakes formed at the stage of core formation, and the presence of hunting items, the site is interpreted as a seasonal campsite located near flint raw material outcrops.