ARCHAEOZOOLOGY
Archaeozoological studies will use standard zooarchaeological methods and will be based on comparative material in the vertebrate collection of the ISEA PAS, Paleolithic and Paleoethnology Research Center Dolní Věstonice as well as Natural History Museum Vienna and Austrian Archaeological Institute. During our studies we will concentrate on the mammoth mortality profiles necessary for mammoth population reconstruction. Mortality profiles for mammoths will be calculated for all sites on the basis of observed dental progression and wear. This information is crucial for the interpretation of the genesis of mammoth bone accumulations, and to determine whether the mammoth population was subjected to either heavy hunting pressure or high mortality during extreme environmental stress.
TEAM: Jarosław Wilczyński, Gary Haynes, Soňa Boriova, Kerstin Pasda, Lena Matyaszczyk, Oliwia Oszczepalińska
WORKED BONE, IVORY, ANTLER OBJECTS
Worked bone, ivory and antler objects belong to the basic features of the material culture of Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer groups. These assemblages reflect many peculiarities of human behaviour and are often an important element of socio-cultural constructs (this is particularly related to portable art objects). Morpho-technological and techno-economic analyses are currently considered as key methods to study and understand the industries made from animal hard tissue raw material. Both methods are based on a detailed study of the objects, raw material properties and work traces, and allow us to understand the tool life cycle including raw material procurement (acquisition), transformation, production, maintenance and/or use of the tools, and abandoning of the objects.
TEAM: Bibiana Hromadova
Kraków Spadzista, worked bone.
Jaksice II, worked ivory.