The article provides topographical and stratigraphic information about the Bolshie Allaki-2 archaeological site, as well as a complete description of the finds from its second cultural horizon. The results of technical-typological and petrographic analysis of the archaeological material, together with radiocarbon dating data and paleozoological definitions, suggest that a cult object functioned here during the Upper Paleolithic period. Taking into account the above ¹⁴ C-dates, Bolshye Allaki-2 can be considered the most ancient cult object in the Urals.

Keywords: Upper Paleolithic, rock crystal, cult object, Southern Urals.

Introduction

On the eastern and western slopes of the Urals, approximately 150 archaeological sites have been discovered, which, judging by radiocarbon dates and a variety of types of monuments, belong to the Upper Paleolithic era. These are open-type sites (Talitsky, Troitskaya-1, etc.), short-term sites in karst cavities (Smelovskaya Cave, Bezymyanny grotto, etc.), and sacred sites (for example, Kapova and Ignatievskaya caves). Today, the task of replenishing the corpus of sources for the Upper Paleolithic of the Urals, for which there are ¹⁴ C-dates, is still relevant. Such objects include the Bolshye Allaki-2 monument in the Southern Urals, whose extensive archaeological material is only partially put into scientific circulation and therefore requires additional coverage.

General characteristics of the object

The Bolshye Allaki-2 archaeological site (Kaslinsky district, Chelyabinsk region) is located on the south-eastern shore of the lake of the same name, located in the northern part of the lake region of the eastern slope of the Urals (Kyshtym-Kaslinsky group of lakes) 1). The lakes of this group are located within the East Ural Uplift, bounded by sub-meridional deep tectonic faults, fill in erosion-tectonic depressions, and are often connected by channels. Most of them belong to the mixed type based on the characteristics of mountain and steppe lakes; their banks are often swampy and covered with forest [Ibid., p. 326]. From oz. Chusovsky Lake, located a few dozen kilometers from the lake. Big Allaks, originates the largest river in the Middle Urals-Chusovaya, flowing to the west (Kama basin). According to V. I. Gromov, it was during the Paleolithic period of the Chusovaya River that the most likely occurrence was observed.,

* The work was carried out within the framework of the Federal Target Program "Scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel of innovative Russia" for 2009-2013, agreement 14. B37. 21. 0995.

Fig. 1. Map of the location of the Bolshie Allaki-2 archaeological site.

2. Diagram of the geological structure of the Kaslin Group of lakes (according to: [Geologic Map...]). 1-marsh-lake deposits; 2-alluvial deposits; 3-biotite granites, hornblende-biotite, bicomaceous, and sometimes gneiss-like; 4 - biotite, bicomaceous, and garnet-mica gneisses; 5 - gabbro-amphibolites; 6-serpentinites; 7-limestones, clayey limestones, clay-siliceous limestones; 8-basalt porphyrites, diabases and their tuffs, sericite-chlorite, quartz-sericite shales; 9 - siliceous shales, carbonaceous-siliceous, quartzite, quartzites, amphibolites and gneisses; 10-amphibolic gneisses, biotite-amphibole, amphibolites; 11-quartz and granite-pegmatite veins.

it connected the population of the western and eastern slopes of the Urals [1948].

Lakes Bolshye and Malye Allaki, separated only by a narrow bridge, are confined to the south-western edge of a vast field of Upper Paleozoic granites (YPZ3) - biotite, hornblende-biotite, bicyclic and muscovite, often gneissized, dissected by a large number of quartz and granite-pegmatite veins of the north-northeastern strike. Only from the south of oz. Bolshye Allaks is bounded by Paleozoic siliceous and carbonaceous-siliceous shales and quartzites overlain by a band of Quaternary alluvial-lacustrine deposits that connects the reservoir with lakes located to the south and west (Fig. 2).

Indigenous outcrops of YPZ3 granites and granite-gneisses against _the background of a swampy and wooded lake landscape form rare rock outcrops in the form of short ridges, called stone tents in the Urals. Such stone tents on the top of a hill that stands out sharply in relief and is visible from afar, rise on the south-eastern shore of Lake Baikal. Large allaks at a distance of 30-40 m from the water's edge. The outliers are no more than 8 m high (the absolute height above the water level is 14 m) and are composed of coarse-grained gneiss granite, separated by subhorizontal cracks of a mattress-like shape into slabs, which are divided into two sections.

on the weathered surface of which smaller cracks create the impression of stratification.

In 1913-1914, V. Ya. and I. Ya. Tolmachev discovered three scribbles on these remains and collected lifting material (Petrin, 1976). In addition, some finds were given to V. Ya. Tolmachev by local peasants. At the foot of the stone tents under the largest pisanitsa, I. Ya. Tolmachev carried out excavation work (a pit measuring 2x4 m) and obtained rich archaeological material. Half a century later, I. A. Tolmachev's drawings and some of the artifacts were published by V. N. Chernetsov [1971].

In 1969, one of the authors of this article copied the already known rock carvings and found a new group of drawings (Petrin, 1976), and in 1972 the area of the I. Ya.Tolmachev excavation was expanded to 20 ^m2. Various stone and bronze objects (mainly arrowheads) and fragments of clay vessels were found together in the excavation. The artifacts date back to the Early Neolithic - Medieval period. The obtained archaeological material and rock carvings confirmed V. N. Chernetsov's assumption that various forms of everyday and sacred human activity were reflected on the stone tents [1971]. Belonging of some of the finds to the first half of the IV millennium BC " makes us think about the initial date of rock carvings of the Urals or, at least, those rites with which the scribbles were associated. It is possible that this date should be significantly pushed back into the depths of the centuries " [Ibid., p. 47].

Stratigraphy and age of the map item

In the course of archaeological work in 1972, fragments of very highly mineralized and destroyed bones were found in Dresva, which filled a crack in the rock wall of the excavation, suggesting the presence of archaeological materials of an earlier Pleistocene age. Excavations were started in the south-eastern part of the stone tents, where the maximum thickness of loose deposits was preserved. Excavations 1 (uch. 2 - 10) and 2 (uch. 11-18) with a total area of approx. 80 ^m2 were laid in two locations: on a relatively flat area, bounded by rock outcrops from the south, west and north (excavation 1), and on a sloping surface (excavation 2; Fig. 3). The height difference between the extreme points of the excavations reaches 196 cm.

The most complete stratigraphy of the sediments is found along the D line (Fig.

1. Humusized soil of dark color, greasy to the touch, belongs to the type of chernozems. Power 0.7 m. Sinking on the uch. D, G/6, 7 profile is determined by the pit let in from the upper horizons.

2. Sandy loam of yellowish-brown color with an admixture of small pebbles with a diameter of 0.5 cm. The layer is very crumpled,

3. Plan of excavations 1 and 2 with leveling marks of the Bolshie Allaki-2 archaeological site.

4. Stratigraphic section of the northern wall along the G/2 - 18 line of the Bolshye Allaki-2 archaeological site. 1-soil, 2-yellowish-brown sandy loam; 3-carbonated sandy loam; 4-pale greenish sand; 5-light brown sandy loam; 6 -rock base; 7-ponors.

it is disturbed by wormholes and can be traced fragmentally, although in the uch. AZ / 2 it becomes independent and lies directly on the rock base. Its thickness in this place reaches 0.7 m.

3. A layer of highly carbonated sandy loam*. Layer 3 is distinguished by the whitish tint that appeared as a result of carbonatization (indentation horizon). Near the rocks, the carbonation process was weakened or absent altogether, since the sandy loam layer was additionally washed out by moisture that accumulated on the side rock surfaces. Due to this, its color is lighter in comparison with the overlying layer, there are cranes in it. There are many thin streaks of humus in the layer, and there is also an admixture of small pebbles with a diameter of 0.5 cm. There are a lot of molehills, the roof of the layer is uneven. In the western part of the excavation, the layer thickness reaches 0.7 m.

4. A layer of greenish sand is observed only in excavation 1. In the profile, the layer resembles a lens. The maximum power is 0.2 m.

5. A layer of light brown sandy loam can be traced only in excavation 1, lying on a rocky base. Power up to 0.15 m.

In addition to these basic layers, reddish clay and rubble are present in separate spots, usually in rock cracks. The power of the latter is 0.2 m.

For bone collagen from carbonated sandy loam of layer 3, a date of 24,760 ± 1,095 BP (SOAN-2213) was obtained.

Archaeological finds

Cultural remains are found in all layers. The joint finding of artifacts in layers is explained by the presence of a large number of both ancient and later ponors. Stratigraphic observations and the results of processing artifacts have shown that it is advisable to divide the material into large stratigraphic divisions. Note that about 60 % of the finds belong to the middle part of the carbonated sandy loam of layer 3.

The first cultural horizon. In the soil (layer 1) and brown sandy loam of layer 2, 213 stone products from various siliceous rocks, 387 fragments of clay vessels, a bronze arrowhead, and about 350 fragmented animal bones of various types were found. The pits and hearth identified in both excavations are associated with this horizon. When assigning finds from this cultural horizon to the Holocene epoch, the presence of a large number of fragments of ceramic dishes and the technical and typological appearance of stone tools were taken into account first of all.

The second cultural horizon. It contained 156 artifacts and fragments of horse bones*. The vast majority of osteological remains are small fragments of tubular bones; only a few teeth and phalanges have been diagnosed, so it is not possible to determine whether they belong to one or several individuals. Highly carbonated sandy loam (layer 3), greenish sand (layer 4), and light brown sandy loam (layer 5) contain mostly rock crystal artefacts, highly mineralized bones, and small embers. In the upper part of the carbonated sandy loam on the slope (excavation 2), seven ceramic fragments were found, which got here as a result of displacement of the layer along the slope. The surface of the carbonated sandy loam is uneven, broken by numerous holes and two pits filled with the material of the overlying soil layer and stones.

Rock crystal (112 specimens, 71.8 %), opaque quartz (7 specimens, 4.5 %), gray jasper (9 specimens, 5.8 %), red-green banded jasper (6 specimens, 3.8 %), and silicified slate (7 specimens, 4.5 % ), other types of siliceous rocks (15 specimens, 9.6 %). As you can see, products made of rock crystal make up the os-

* Layers 2 and 3 are genetically a single unit: in the left part of the section, it is clearly visible that layer 2 "flows" under layer 3.

* Definition by N. G. Smirnov.

5. Items made of jasper (1-3) and rock crystal (4-13) from the second cultural horizon of the Bolshye Allaki archaeological site-2. 1, 2, 4, 5 - scrapers; 3, 7-10-retouched plates; 6, 11-13-tools on flakes.

They form a new part of the finds of the second cultural horizon and form an integral complex. Together with animal bones, they were traced to a depth of 2.35 m. The largest number of them was concentrated in the northern part of the excavation site. 6 stone artefacts and 26 small badly destroyed bones were found here.

Artefacts from siliceous rocks

Some products made of siliceous rocks - jasper, silicified shale, etc. (44 specimens) - may originate from the first (Holocene) cultural horizon; their presence in the second horizon is most likely associated with the activity of burrowing animals. The tool kit (9 copies) consists of scrapers and retouched plates. For scrapers, the blanks were plate chips (2 copies) and flakes (2 copies). The end scrapers have a semicircular working edge with a steep retouch on the dorsal surface (Figs. 5, 7). For flake scrapers, the semicircular working blade is also treated with a steep edge retouch on the dorsal surface. On the ventral surface, elements of small episodic retouching are fixed on the blade (Fig. 5, 2). Two tools are made on plates. One was retouched from the ventral side along both lateral edges, and a spike was selected by retouching along one of the edges (Fig. 5, 3). Another tool is made on a microplate, on the side edge it has traces of retouching, forming a micro-notch. Other items in this set are flakes with signs of retouching and two fragments of guns. The rest of the artifacts belong to industrial waste: 26 flakes of different sizes, 4 fragments of plates, a nucleoid fragment and 4 pieces of quartz-possibly blanks for processing.

Rock Crystal Artifacts

The rock crystal complex contains 164 specimens, including 112 specimens (68.3 %) from the second and 52 specimens (31.7 %) from the first (Holocene) cultural horizons. Since rock crystal artefacts may have entered the first horizon from the second as a result of the activity of burrowing animals, they will be considered together with materials from the second cultural horizon. The industry consists of primary cleavage products (9 copies), tools (13 copies) and chips without visible signs of use (142 copies).

Primary cleavage is characterized by preforms (3 specimens), fragments of raw materials (6 specimens), and cleavage products. Both rock crystal and pebble forms were used equally. The latter, apparently, were used less often, since the collection contains a whole pebble and two fragments. The predominant use of rock crystal in the form of crystals is indicated by six partially clouded fragments of crystal bases.

The greatest interest is the product with dimensions of 30x27x26 mm (Fig. 6, 7). This is a processed rock crystal, on which five of the six faces of the prism are preserved. By a series of blows that left the negatives with creases, plate chips were removed along cleavage directions parallel to the rhombohedron faces on the crystal head, and a shock platform was prepared for a single chip to extend the crystal in place of the prism face. Cleavage was also performed from the opposite end of the crystal:

6. Rock crystal artifacts from the second cultural horizon of the Bolshye Allaki-2 archaeological site. 1-3-preforms; 4-8-plates; 9 - 12 - flakes.

instead of the head faces, you can see negatives that are also parallel to the rhombohedron faces.

Another object measuring 31x31x17 mm is a rock crystal fragment with traces of natural chipping at the site of the head and, possibly, with the remains of the prism faces (Fig. 6, 2). The surface of natural cleavage is matte and much older than the surface of artificial cleavage.

The third item, measuring 42x31 mm, is a small oval-shaped pebble with a frosted pebble surface, two old negatives with a frosted surface, and two "fresh" negatives at one narrower end (Figs. 6, 3). Whether the "fresh" negatives are the result of human actions or natural chipping, it is difficult to say, but such pebbles can cause damage to the surface. be used as a weapon.

Plates (11 copies) no visible traces of use and flakes (119 copies) make up the largest group of artifacts. The plates are characterized by parallel removal edges (Figs. 6, 4-8). They have negatives, some of which are limited to the matte surface of the natural old chipping. A large flake larger than 50 mm was found (Fig. 6, 12). There are 39 flakes ranging in size from 10 to 49 mm. 6, 9). Most of them (16 specimens) have matt surfaces of natural cleavage (Figs. 6, 10). One flake of this group is made of rauchtopaz (Figs. 6, 9). Small flakes, less than 10 mm in size, 79 copies. Many of them, judging by the cross-section and the absence of an impact bump, are more debris than chips.

Among the plates without signs of secondary processing (12 specimens), proximal (9 specimens) and medial (3 specimens) fragments were identified. The maximum length of fragments without a distal end is 34 mm. The width of the plates is 9-22 mm.

The gun set (13 copies) is poor in expressive forms. Tools with traces of minimal secondary processing (11 copies) predominate. There are only two tools with a modified contour - these are scrapers. They are made on chips. One, measuring 32x28x7 mm, has a slightly convex blade, decorated with a small cool retouch (see Fig. 5, 4). The other is a high-shaped scraper (grattoir rabot) measuring 27x17x13 mm (see Fig.5, 5). It has a semi-circular working edge decorated with very cool retouching with sub-parallel and wide facets. On the back of the scraper there are negatives of two large chips and small negatives along the edge. Another product is made on a chip with dimensions of 22x19x19 mm (see Fig. 5, b). A convex working edge is formed on the ventral surface by steep retouching. Its edge is thinly layered. Separate negatives of retouching and delamination can also be traced on the opposite edge. One of the flakes measures 38x27x7 mm and has two negatives that resemble incisor cuts.

There are five plates with signs of retouching. The whole product has facets of episodic sharpening retouching along the edge of the ventral surface in the proximal zone (see Figs. 5, 7). On the dorsal surface on both sides there are separate notches. Another plate on the ventral surface also has facets of episodic retouching along the edge. On both edges of the medial fragment of the plate with a width of 8 mm, the smallest negative images can be traced on the dorsal surface (see Figs. 5, 10). In another fragment, a fine retouch on the dorsal side shows a barely noticeable notch along the edge (see Fig. 5,8). The last product is a medial fragment, in which the truncated distal part is worked out with fine retouching on the dorsal side, and the adjacent section of the lateral edge is made on the ventral side (see Figs. 5, 9). The remaining tools are made on different sizes of the upper part of the body.-

about flakes. One of them has traces of retouching on the ventral surface on the edge of the notch (see Figs. 5, 11). Three more tools are flakes with signs of occasional retouching along one or both edges (see Figs. 5, 12, 13).

Features of splitting of veined quartz and rock crystal and their distribution in the Urals

Rock crystals are crystals of colorless transparent quartz, a mineral responsible for the composition of silicon dioxide _SiO2, which also gives other transparent, but colored with impurities differences in the form of well-faceted crystals grown in cavities (ridges) quartz veins or granite pegmatites: brownish rauchtopaz, yellow citrine, purple amethyst, black morion. An individual of veined quartz becomes a rock crystal if neither neighboring individuals nor tectonic movements interfere with its growth. A crystal nest is a residual cavity in the body of a quartz vein that is not filled with vein quartz, which in this case is the root parts of rock crystal crystals. During tectonic shifts, rock crystal crystals embedded in a soft, fine material filling the residual cavity are preserved better than their root parts, which are usually fractured and turbid. However, in the very body of quartz veins on the eastern slope of the Urals, gigantocrystalline vein quartz is often found - glassy, clouded by a system of healed cracks, containing transparent colorless areas of large sizes [Vein quartz..., 1970a, p. 48; Emlin, Sinkevich, and Yakshin, 1988, p. 61]. In the rubble and pebbles, such transparent quartz and rock crystal are indistinguishable. It is also established that in the Ural deposits they are identical in petrophysical properties (technological parameters) [Bogdanovich, 1936]. Therefore, the definition of the material of archaeological finds as rock crystal, based in most cases only on the transparency and colorlessness of quartz, is not entirely correct and requires clarification.

Quartz is a hard mineral (7 on the Mohs scale) and brittle, typically characterized by shell-like cleavage. These properties make it problematic to use it as a raw material for the stone industry. Quartz, firstly, can not be split in the traditional way, and secondly, the edges of chips under impact or pressure are rakovisto chipped, giving rise to the smallest sharp fragments. At the same time, the formation of a hard thin blade on the edges of chips makes the material extremely attractive for the manufacture of products with cutting functions and scrapers.

The anisotropy of bonds in the quartz structure manifests itself in the anisotropy of the strength of its individuals, which explains their easier splitting in some crystallographic directions. These are the cleavage directions (Grigoriev, 1958; Petrun, 1962, p. 39; Godovikov, 1983, p. 236), the main ones are parallel to the faces of the large rhombohedron (large triangular faces forming a pointed crystal head at one or both ends) and the faces of the prism along the long axis of the crystal. As a result of chipping along these directions, "peculiar flattened fragments, figuratively speaking, 'chips', are formed "(Grigoriev, 1958, p.420); during repeated tectonic movements in the ridge, a peculiar breccia of such flat quartz" chips" cemented with the material of filling the ridge is formed in place of crystals. The ability of quartz crystals to split in the cleavage directions has been repeatedly confirmed experimentally; special mention should be made of" good prismatic cleavage in the form of cracks up to 7 cm long, exactly parallel to the prism faces", reproduced by J. R. R. Tolkien. Drugman [Drugman, 1939, p. 259].

Giant-crystal vein quartz and rock crystal of the eastern slope of the Urals also exhibit separateness - splitting along the planes of accretion of "Brazilian twins"*, which is called "leafing" (Vertushkov, 19466). Such layered quartz is typical of deposits in the Middle and Southern Urals (Emlin and Sokolov, 1973), and is also known in the Altai, Pamir, and Transbaikalia (Emlin, Sinkevich, and Yakshin, 1988, pp. 125-134). The many lamellar chips formed in this case, which are oblique with respect to the crystal elongation and perpendicular to the rhombohedron faces, with a thickness from fractions of millimeters to several centimeters, can serve as "natural blanks" for further artificial processing, as well as indicate the directions of preferential splitting on crystals. Judging by the preforms and lamellar chips from the Bolshye Allaki-2 monument, its inhabitants were well aware of the features of quartz splitting and the technology of splitting its various coatings-

* Quartz individuals can be "right" and "left", twinning according to the so-called Brazilian law is the fusion of right and left quartz individuals within a macroscopically unified crystal with the formation of even planes of fusion. "Brazilian twins" can be polysynthetic - with multiple alternation of the right and left individuals, along the plane of accretion of which, as a result of tectonic deformations, cracks are formed separately.

7. Rock crystal and rauchtopaz artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic sites of the Urals. 1-chisel-shaped (?) tool; 2-secondary chipping; 3, 6-plates; 4-nucleus; 5-longitudinal-marginal flake; 7-11-scrapers; 12-angular chisel. 1,2-Ignatievskaya cave (according to [Petrin, 1992, Fig. 85, 8; 87 5]); 3 - Talitsky site (Ostrovskaya) (according to [Shcherbakova, 1994, fig. 18, 14]); 4-cave at the Kotel Stone (according to [Serikov, 2009, Fig.. 104, 7]); 5 - 12 - Troitskaya-1 (at: [Shirokov and Kosintsev Volkov, 1996, fig. 2, 3, 4; fig. 3, 1, 3 - 6, 10]). 1-7, 9-12-rock crystal; 8-rauchtopaz.

there are no visible differences. This is eloquently evidenced by the findings with cleavage traces parallel to the rhombohedron and prism on a rock crystal (see Figs. 6, 7).

Quartz deposits, including rock crystal, are distributed almost everywhere on the eastern slope of the Urals-from the Polar Urals (Bukanov, 1974) to the Northern Balkhash region on the southern extension of the East Ural uplift (Yakshin et al., 1973; Sinkevich and Yakshin, 1978) - and due to the increased importance of quartz raw materials in modern technology Vertushkov, 1946a, b; Veiny quartz..., 1969, 1970a, b; Kukhar, 1978; Eshkin, Koryakina, and Bogdanova, 1983; Emlin, Sinkevich, and Yakshin, 1988) are well studied. The largest Allaki-2 occurrences closest to the monument are the Kyshtym and Kaslinsky industrial fields. All veins of large - and giant-crystalline quartz, crystal-bearing and containing transparent colorless areas, are the youngest formations located both in ancient metamorphosed sedimentary rocks (the gneiss-migmatite complex that makes up most of the East Ural Uplift) and in granitoids that break through them (Vertushkov, Sokolov, and Yakshin, 1970; Melnikova and Melnikov, 1978]. In addition, pebbles of transparent colorless quartz are known in the metamorphic rocks themselves, during the erosion of which it was redeposited and got into alluvial and lacustrine deposits of a much later time. Therefore, to determine the source of raw materials for products made of transparent quartz found at archaeological sites, geological work is required on site, but with the abundance of quartz manifestations in the region, it can be argued that this source is almost always local, the only question is whether it is more or less remote from the monument. The Bolshye Allaki-2 archaeological site is located on the granite remains of stone tents dissected by quartz and pegmatite veins. The southern shore of the lake is located within the outcrops of siliceous rocks (see Fig. 2), which became a source of raw materials for artifacts.

Discussion

As shown by V. F. Petrun [1962], transparent varieties of quartz with different colors were used in different territories and at all stages of the Stone Age. In the Upper Paleolithic archaeological sites of the Urals, rock crystal products are usually not numerous. Thus, in the Paleolithic sanctuary in Ignatievskaya Cave, among 1,350 stone artefacts, there were only 7 items made of rock crystal (Petrin, 1992, p.134). Both crystals and pebbles were used as the source material. The finds include a chisel-shaped (?) tool (Figs. 7, 7), primary and secondary chips (figs. 7,2), and four flakes. Yu. B. Serikov considers the chisel-shaped (?) product as a memorial stone [Kul'tovye pamyatniki..., 2004, p. 229]. A 35 mm long rock crystal plate shape was found in the sanctuary of Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash) [Scelinskij and Sirokov, 1999, p. 79, Abb. 85].

Several objects made of rock crystal and rauchtopaz were found at the Final Paleolithic site of Gornaya Talitsa (see [Kul'tovye pamyatniki..., 2004, p. 225]), located in the lower reaches of the Chusovaya River, not far from the site of Talitsky (Ostrovskaya), and at the very Upper Paleolithic site of Talitsky (Ostrovskaya) (Gromov, 1948; Shcherbakova,2000). 1986, 1994]. According to O. N. Bader*, the latter's collection includes 2,600 finds, 101 rock crystal artefacts, and the rest are made of flint. Only pebbles were used as raw materials. Among the products - scrapers, cutter, core, inserts,

* A copy of the manuscript was presented by O. N. Bader to the Nizhny Tagil Museum, which gave it to V. T. Petrin.

Radiocarbon dates of Upper Paleolithic sites in the Urals

End of the table

* Indexes of laboratories that performed radiocarbon dating:

GIN-Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (USSR Academy of Sciences), Moscow

IERJ-Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (USSR Academy of Sciences), Sverdlovsk/Ekaterinburg

IEMEJ-Institute of Animal Evolution, Morphology and Ecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (USSR Academy of Sciences), Moscow

Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Leningrad; Institute of the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences (AS USSR)

SOAN - Laboratory of Quaternary Geology of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences; Laboratory of Geology and Paleoclimatology of the Cenozoic of the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk

Bash GI-Institute of Geology of the Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa

GrA - Gronningen, the Netherlands

KN-Laboratory of the University of Cologne, Germany

Poz-Poznan Radiocarbon Laboratory, Poland

** V. L. Yakhimovich notes: "The obtained date of 29,700 ± 1,250 BC can by no means be considered as determining the age of the Gornov flint tools and the fauna found there. Fragments of floodplain sediments that have preserved unknown remains in situ lie on the eroded surface of older lake formations. ... The flint tools found near Gornov originate from the Odintsovo strata, i.e. they are associated with the beginning of the upper half of the Risskian stage..."[Antropogen..., 1965, p. 44].

*** Radiocarbon dates obtained from samples of black pigments in drawings on the walls of the Ignatievskaya Cave are younger than the dates determined from coal and bone from the cultural layer (Steelman et al., 2000).

plates and flakes. According to T. I. Shcherbakova, 94 rock crystal artefacts were found on the monument [1994, p. 25]: 18 chips of systematic splitting (12 flakes and 6 plates), 9 chips of design-correction, 27 fragments and fragments [Ibid., Table 1]. The plates are both whole and fragmented; 7, 3). The width of the plates varies from 9-12 (2 copies) to 12-22 mm (4 copies). There is no information about the remaining 40 finds in the publication of T. I. Shcherbakova, it is only stated that " some groups of tools, such as chisel-shaped, inserts, punctures, "carvers", are characterized by the use of only hard rocks: flint, jasper, rock crystal " [Ibid., p. 25]. In the cave "in the Stone Cauldron", located in the middle reaches of the Chusovaya River, a single-frontal single-site nucleus with a height of 46 mm, made of rock crystal pebbles, was found in the Paleolithic layer (Serikov, 2009, Fig. 104, 1) (Fig. 7, 4). At the Drachevsky Paleolithic site on the bank of the Botkin reservoir, A. F. Melnichuk found a single-frontal single-site nucleus made of rock crystal pebbles (Serikov, 2009, Fig. and V. P. Mokrushin [1987] found several plates of rock crystal.

In the collection of the Troitskaya-1 site, located on the left bank of the Uy River, [Shirokov, Kosintsev, Vol-

kov, 1996], out of 188 stone artefacts, 98 are from rock crystal and 3 from rauchtopaz. Products made of rock crystal and rauchtopaz include a plate (figs. 7, 6), a longitudinal-edge flake with traces of use (figs. 7, 5), 5 scrapers (figs. 7, 1-11), an angular cutter (Figs. 7, 12), 93 flakes, fragments and fragments. The raw material comes from alluvial deposits in the Uy River valley. The length of rock crystal and rauchtopaz tools varies from 20 to 43 mm (Shirokov, Kosintsev, and Volkov, 1996, pp. 9-11). As the trace analysis showed, the tools were used for cutting grooves in bone and wood, served as knives for cutting meat and hides (?), scrapers-carvers for wood processing, scrapers on bone, scrapers for processing hides.

Thus, the Bolshye Allaki-2 monument stands out among the Upper Paleolithic sites in the Urals by a whole complex of rock crystal artifacts, the Upper Paleolithic age of which is confirmed by the ¹⁴ C-date (see table). and the stratigraphic position of the finds.

The nature of this monument is ambiguous. The object can be considered as a short-term hunting camp, which does not contradict the ideas about the development of the territory of the lake region of the eastern slope of the Urals in the Upper Paleolithic period. The traditional hunting and fishing version considers the sites of Talitsky (Ostrovskaya) [Shcherbakova, 1986, 1994] and Troitskaya-1 [Shirokov, Kosintsev, Volkov, 1996]. At the same time, the cult character of the Bolshie Allaki-2 archaeological site is not excluded (Zhilina and Petrin, 1989; Petrin, 1992); the basis for this assumption is the specificity of raw materials and the presence of bone remains of an animal of the same species. Consider the arguments in favor of the version about the use of stone tents on the lake. Bolshye Allaki as a place of worship in the Upper Paleolithic period.

Raw material. Let us analyze it as an indicator of prestigious technologies (Derevyanko et al., 2008). At the Bolshye Allaki-2 monument, the artifacts of the second cultural horizon complex are made of unusual raw materials-rock crystal and rauchtopaz, and not only from crystals, but also from pebble transparent quartz. This indicates a purposeful selection of the material. In terms of quantity, products made from it surpass artefacts made from the commonly used at that time siliceous raw materials characteristic of Upper Paleolithic sites of the traditional hunting and fishing direction (Mosin and Nikolsky, 2010).

Osteological material. Paleofaunal materials recorded on hunting and fishing sites of the Upper Paleolithic Urals usually represent several animal species (Volokitin and Shirokov, 1997; Kuzmina, Sablin, Tsyganova, 1999; Petrin, 1992; Shirokov and Kosintsev, 1997; etc.). For example, in the Zotinsky grotto, located 60 km from the southern part of the Ural Mountains. Bones of a cave bear, primitive bison, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, horse, etc. were found at the Bolshye Allaki-2 monument. [Petrin and Smirnov, 1977, Table 1]. The osteological remains found at the Bolshye Allaki-2 monument belong to only one species-the horse. The monospecific nature of the bone remains may indicate a cult specialization of the monument.

Topography of the monument. Bolshye Allaki-2 is located at the foot of stone tents - the only ones on a large territory, not far from the lake shore, i.e. two objects that are most important for the ancient worldview are united here - a stone elevation and a water source. World practice convincingly shows that stone remains (free-standing stones, rocks, etc.) and places located near water (seas, rivers, lakes, springs) have always been attractive elements of the landscape, objects of sacralization and contained traces of ritual and ceremonial activities [Eliade, 1994, p. 83; 1999, vol. II, p. 6].

Conclusion

It can be assumed that in the Upper Paleolithic era, the territory near the stone tents on the south-eastern shore of Lake Baikal was located in the area of the lake. Bolshye Allaki was used not only for hunting and fishing sites, but also for religious activities. This is all the more likely because in subsequent periods it clearly retained the significance of a place of worship (Chernetsov, 1971). Based on ¹⁴ C-dates, the Bolshye Allaki-2 archaeological site with a complex of rock crystal artifacts can now be considered the most ancient cult monument (sanctuary) of the Upper Paleolithic of the Urals. The exploitation of natural resources and adaptation to landscape conditions were accompanied by such processes in the spiritual sphere as the ritualization of specific relief elements, certain raw materials that, as a rule, were not used for domestic purposes, and commercial animals. It is with this cultural background that ritual actions on stone tents can be associated.

Acknowledgements

The authors express their deep gratitude to N. G. Smirnov, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, for the paleozoological definitions (Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg), as well as to the Candidate of Geology. L. A. Orlova (Institute of Geology and Mineralogy SB RAS, Novosibirsk) for radiocarbon dating.

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The article was submitted to the editorial Board on 10.09.12, in the final version-on 18.09.12.

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