Abstract
The article is devoted to engravings on a fragment of a mammoth tusk from lower reaches of the Tom River in West Siberia. It was found in 1988 during construction works on the outskirts of Seversk and transferred to the Tomsk University, but for a long time it has been remained out of specialists’ view. According to the results of AMS dating its age is 13100‒13005 Cal BP. On the surface of the object four two-humped camels with arrows and wounds in the body and possibly an anthropomorphic fi gure are depicted. The sequence of their application is established. Camels form two pairs, heads facing each other. Each pair can be perceived as an independent composition and as a part of a general composition on the object. Pairs of the opposed animals are correlated to the habit of natural behavior of camels – fi ghts of males during mating season. The most important stylistic feature of the images is a series of short transverse lines along the contour of the fi gures, representing wool. This technique is typical for the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe and detected in the Late Upper Palaeolithic of West Siberia. The comparative analysis of animals on the tusk with images of camels in caves of the southern Urals, in art of South Siberia and Central Asia is carried out. It is concluded that at present the images of camels on the tusk from the Tom River are the oldest in Asia. Their discovery in this area is consistent with the hypothesis of the emergence of mobile population groups from more southern territories in the Late Upper Palaeolithic in West Siberia.
Keywords
West Siberia, Late Upper Palaeolithic, Palaeolithic art, mammoth tusk, twohumped camel
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