VESTNIK ARHEOLOGII ANTROPOLOGII I ETNOGRAFII  

 ą 1 (72)  (2026)

page 35–44                                                                                                                                                                                        RUS

https://doi.org/10.20874/2071-0437-2026-72-1-4  

ÓÄĘ 902.01

  http://www.ipdn.ru/_private/a72/35-44.pdf

Tools for personal ornaments production in the Selenga Culture (Western Transbaikalia)    

Pavlenok, Galina D.,

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation, 

e-mail: lukianovagalina@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3727-776X

Kozhevnikova, Dar'ya V.,

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

e-mail: kozhevnikovadarya@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4655-7977

Zotkina Lidiya V.,

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation,

e-mail: lidiazotkina@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1912-3882

Abstract

The article presents the results of experimental modeling, use-wear study, and metric analysis of ostrich eggshell beads and associated lithic tools from the Selenga Culture (Final Palaeolithic). To elucidate the technological correlation between ostrich eggshell bead production and the stone tool industry at the Ust-Kyakhta-3 site, we conducted a series of experiments. These experiments were designed to determine the parameters of tools used for perforation. The findings demonstrate that miniature point-perforators were employed. Such items exhibiting use-wear traces indicative of boring or drilling were identified within the Ust-Kyakhta-3 assemblage. Furthermore, metric analysis and correlation of the dimensions of the perforators and bead holes (using 3D-models) provide evidence for a technological link between these categories of personal ornaments and implements from the Selenga Culture in Western Transbaikalia, dating to the period between 14 and 12.5 ka. Consequently, this study represents the first identification of a consistent tool type intended exclusively for the production of standardized ornaments in the Late Paleolithic of Siberia.

Keywords: Western Transbaikalia, Final Upper Palaeolithic, use-wear, metric analysis, statistics, 3D-modeling, ostrich eggshell beads, micro-perforators.

©  Pavlenok G.D., Kozhevnikova D.V., Zotkina L.V., 2026   

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

      Received  07.02.2025

      Accepted 18.12.2025

Article is published: 15.03.2026

   

Funding. The research was carried out as part of the project No. FWZG-2025-0007 “The Application of Digital Technologies in the Analysis of Archaeological Data and the Reconstruction of the Ancient History”.

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