Zheltova M.N., Komagorova M.A., Anisovets Yu.D. et al.The Earliest Evidence of the Manufacturing of Solutions and Viscoplastic Mixtures from Paint Pigments on the Russian Plain in the Middle Paleolithic
Maria N. Zheltova, Candidate of Sciences (History), Researcher, Department of Paleolithic, Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, 191181 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
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Maria A. Komagorova, Scientific and Technical Specialist, Fersman Mineralogical Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prosp. Lenina, 18/2, 119071 Moscow, Russian Federation
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Yulia D. Anisovets, Postgraduate Student, Department of Archaeology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Prosp. Lomonosovsky, 27, Bld. 4, 119234 Moscow, Russian Federation
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Vladislav S. Zhitenev, Doctor of Sciences (History), Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Prosp. Lomonosovsky, 27, Bld. 4, 119234 Moscow, Russian Federation
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Darya V. Ulyanova, Museum Curator, Fersman Mineralogical Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prosp. Lenina, 18/2, 119071 Moscow, Russian Federation
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Redzhep N. Kurbanov, Candidate of Sciences (Geography), Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie gory, 1, 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation; Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetny Lane, 29, 119017 Moscow, Russian Federation; Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prosp. akad. Lavrentyeva, 17, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
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Ksenia N. Stepanova, Candidate of Sciences (History), Senior Researcher, Department of Paleolithic, Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, 191181 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
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Anton A. Anoykin, Doctor of Sciences (History), Leading Researcher, Department of Stone Age Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prosp. akad. Lavrentyeva, 17, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
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Yaroslav D. Ivanov, Laboratory Assistant, Department of Paleolithic, Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, 191181 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
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Vasilisa S. Smolkina, Laboratory Assistant, Experimental-Traceological Laboratory, Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, 191181 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
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Evgeniy V. Kazakov, Master’s Student, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Myasnitskaya St, 20, 101000 Moscow, Russian Federation
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Stanislav O. Remizov, Researcher, Historical, Ethnographical and Architectural Museum-Reserve “The Old Sarepta”, Izobilnaya St, 10, 400026 Volgograd, Russian Federation
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Aleksander K. Otcherednoy, Candidate of Sciences (History), Senior Researcher, Department of Paleolithic, Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, 191181 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation; Senior Researcher, Department of Stone Age Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prosp. akad. Lavrentyeva, 17, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
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Abstract. The article presents the results of studying a series of small individual pigment particles discovered in the cultural layer of the Chelyuskinets II site, which is part of the Lower Volga Middle Paleolithic group together with the Eurasian reference site Sukhaya Mechetka and the Zaikino Pepelishche site. Preliminary results of OSL dating indicate the age of the cultural layer in the range of 150–165 thousand years BP (mid-MIS 6). The pigments of different types, including those with traces of anthropogenic impact, discovered in the area of the site studied in 2024 allow us to classify Chelyuskinets II as a circle of a few early Middle Paleolithic sites with clear evidence of various ways of using colorful pigments. The study confirms the artificial origin of pasty materials, represented by small ocher fragments, indicating the preparation and use of special suspension masses. The transformation of the raw material into a paint paste is a technological chain analogous to the production of adhesives. It is based on the idea of artificially obtained stickiness/adhesiveness properties, but with different characteristics. Such masses/solutions, in turn, reflect the existence of practices of painting objects with a permanent alteration of the surface color. A series of fragments of suspension masses from Chelyuskinets II is the earliest known evidence in Eastern Europe for the preparation and use of viscoplastic masses or thick suspensions based on mineral paint pigments, which allows us to put forward a hypothesis about the significant role of such materials in the study of the development of complex cognition and cognitive evolution of Neanderthals, which occurred in parallel with similar processes in humans of a modern physical type.
Key words: Lower Volga region, Middle Paleolithic, Chelyuskinets II, MIS 6, ocher, production of pigments, liquid and thick solutions (mixtures) and pigments-based masses.
Citation. Zheltova M.N., Komagorova M.A., Anisovets Yu.D., Zhitenev V.S., Ulyanova D.V., Kurbanov R.N., Stepanova K.N., Anoykin A.A., Ivanov Ya.D., Smolkina V.S., Kazakov E.V., Remizov S.O., Otcherednoy A.K., 2025. Drevneyshie svidetel’stva prigotovleniya rastvorov i vyazkoplastichnyh mass iz krasochnyh pigmentov na Russkoy ravnine v srednem paleolite [The Earliest Evidence of the Manufacturing of Solutions and Viscoplastic Mixtures from Paint Pigments on the Russian Plain in the Middle Paleolithic]. Nizhnevolzhskiy Arkheologicheskiy Vestnik [The Lower Volga Archaeological Bulletin], vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 5-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/nav.jvolsu.2025.3.1
The Earliest Evidence of the Manufacturing of Solutions and Viscoplastic Mixtures from Paint Pigments on the Russian Plain in the Middle Paleolithic by Zheltova M.N., Komagorova M.A., Anisovets Yu.D., Zhitenev V.S., Ulyanova D.V., Kurbanov R.N., Stepanova K.N., Anoykin A.A., Ivanov Ya.D., Smolkina V.S., Kazakov E.V., Remizov S.O., Otcherednoy A.K. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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