Archeozoological studies in Ukraine and adjoining regions

Archeozoological studies of archaeological sights on the territory of Ukraine has began at the beginning of 20th century by O. Brauner. These studies were conducted by I.G. Pidoplichko, V.I. Bibikova (Zubareva), N.G. Belan (Timchenko), K.V. Kapelist, O.L. Korotkevich, V.O. Topachevskiy. Three archeozoologists are currently working in Ukraine: Oleh Zhuravlev, Olena Sekerska and Andrey Starkin. Studies on both Paleolithic and Neolithic stands and sites of ancient settlements and settlements from the Neolite to late Middle Ages and even to 17th-18th century are undertaken. It has been found a storage of hunting booty and home animals and changes in it in archaeological sights in the territory of Ukraine and adjoining regions during the above-mentioned periods. Studies and comparison of wild mammal populations was conducted, with the help of bone remains. Age, sexual and breed composition of domestic animals and their changes are set both in a middle of the same historical period and between different historical periods. The results of these studies have been published in many articles and monographs. For almost three decades the only evidence of stratified and well documented Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in Ukraine was reported for the Korolevo, situated in the west of Carpathian arch. Till now this locality remains the most important in the country and provides four Lower Palaeolithic assemblages, of which two were recognized below the Brunhes-Matuyama boundary. Meanwhile, several new stratified localities were discovered recently; among these are Malyj Rakovets IV, situated in the Central European part of Ukraine, Medzhybozh and Maslovo located in western skirt of the East European plain. All these localities are aged to the Middle Pleistocene, but only Medzhybozh yields rich and various biostratigraphic data. Some Ukrainian surface localities also provide assemblages of likely Lower Palaeolithic appearance; among these are Neporotovo IV in Dniester area or Gaspra and Cape Mayachny in Crimea. Nevertheless, discovery of stratified localities in these areas is still reserved in the future. Regardless of limited primary evidence, Lower Palaeolithic localities of Ukraine exhibit certain regularities, in particular concerning their spatial pattern and assemblage variability. Mammal fauna of the middle and late Paleolithic period of Ukraine and adjoining regions of East and Central Europe is well-investigated, especially in such locations as Novgorod-Severski, Mezin, Mezhyrich, Dobranichevka. The specific of it is that it was under conditions of periglacial cold steppe, that was the reason of formation of new species of grades of family, kind and subspecies, which largely died out and were not ancestral for the Holocene and modern fauna. Species composition of the Holocene mammal fauna was related to the fauna of the upper Pleistocene. This Holocene fauna was utilized by human. It means that the considerable changes in mammal fauna of East Europe took place on the boarder of the Pleistocene and Holocene. These changes greatly affected the composition of the Holocene fauna.