New archaic Early Palaeolithic sites, Bogatyri/Sinyaya Balka and Rodniki, are reported from the Taman Peninsula in southern Russia. The geological setting of the sites as well as the mammal fauna, palynological data, and palaeomagnetic data clearly indicate mid Early Pleistocene, Early Biharian age of the deposits. In many of its typological and technological characteristics, the archaeological assemblages of Bogatyri/Sinyaya Balka and Rodniki are similar to the Oldowan industry, although they show specific local features.

EARLY PALEOLITHIC SITES ON THE TAMAN PENINSULA (SOUTHERN AZOV SEA REGION) V. E. Shchelinsky, A. E. Dodonov, V. S. Baigusheva, S. A. Kulakov, A. N. Simakova, A. S. Tesakov, V. V. Titov Institute for the Material Culture History, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Аzov Archeology and Paleontology Museum-Reserve, Azov Southern Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Rostov-on-Don The currently available evidence allows one to think that shortly after their appearance in the rift zone of East Africa, the first humans began to colonize other regions, including Eurasia. This is evidenced by the presence of Oldowan sites in the Arabian Peninsula (Amirkhanov, 2006), Northern and Eastern Mediterranean (Bosinski, 1996), the Balkans (Sirakov, Guadeli, 2004), and the Southern Trans-Caucasus (Gabunia et al., 2001). Recently they have also been discovered on the northern slope of the Caucasus, in Daghestan (Amirkhanov, 2007). The problem of the initial occupation of the temperate zone of Eurasia, which includes nearly all regions in the south of Russia, provokes a particular interest. Of special importance in this respect are the Early Paleolithic sites, which have been discovered recently on the Taman Peninsula in the south of the Azov Sea region (Shchelinsky, Kulakov, 2005, 2007). It should be noted that some materials indicative of the presence of Early Paleolithic sites in this region were found in the last century. They came from the sand quarry of Tsymbal on the shore of the Taman Gulf. Initially this site attracted scholars owing to numerous finds of fossil animal bones coming from fluviatile cemented pebble beds and layers of ferrugineous sand. According to N.K. Vereshchagin (1957), bone materials belong to the Taman faunal complex. The complex is dated to the period of 1.1–0.8 Ma (Vangengeim et al., 1991). The faunal remains found at the site include fractured long bones, scull fragments, and isolated teeth of Archidiskodon meridionalis, Elasmotherium caucasicum, archaic horses, deer, etc. It is thought that the bones belong to animals, which died due to natural causes. At the same time, judging by the composition, preservation, and occurrence of the bones, one may assume that Early Paleolithic humans could have Early Paleolithic of Eurasia: New Discoveries 110 played some role in their accumulation at the site (Shchelinsky, 2005). This is quite possible, as Vereshchagin (1957) also noted the presence of bones broken by man. Stone tools found at the site confirm this assumption. Some of them were found on the surface (Formozov, 1962). We have discovered several stone objects with apparent traces of intentional modification, which occurred together with animal bones. One may hope that in future this site will yield true Early Paleolithic materials. Especially informative are two newly discovered Early Paleolithic sites: Bogatyri/Sinyaya Balka and Rodniki. They are situated on the northern shore of the Taman Peninsula, in 15 km SE of Tsymbal and 1 km west of the Peresyp settlement. The archaeological site of Bogatyri/Sinyaya Balka is confined to the famous paleontological site of Sinyaya Balka, which serves as the stratotype of the Taman faunal complex dated to the Eopleistocene (Early Pleistocene). The absolute height of the site is 28–30 m, and it is associated with a coastal area strongly affected by landslides. The excavations have shown that the deposits containing cultural remains are in a dislocated position. However, the hypothesis of the mudflow origin of these sediments, widely accepted by earlier investigators, cannot be confirmed. It has been established that the culture-bearing deposits are sharply delimited from the south by dark gray Pliocene clays. The line of contact between these two different units is quite clear; it stretches from east to west. The observed thickness of the culture-bearing deposits does not exceed 5–6 m. The deposits that encompass archaeological materials show a sequence of layers with subvertical occurrence. Probably, this is due to tectonic processes and mud volcanism, both of which are very active in the region under consideration. All in all, three layers can be distinguished. The lowermost one (layer 3) is rich in clastic products and shows signs of water origin. It consists of rolled round and amorphous fragments (from 5 to 20–30 cm) of solid sand-detritus conglomerate, encompassing animal bone fragments and teeth, isolated blocks of dolomite, thin lenses of light-gray sand and silt with shell detritus. There are also thin streaks of dark-gray and brown clays. The contact with the dark-gray Pliocene clays is clear, uneven, with signs of displacement. The thickness of the basal layer is 0.4–0.9 m. It is overlain with layer 2, formed by light-gray and yellowish sand with small lenses of rubble, brown clay balls, rare rock debris, and isolated spheroid sand-carbonaceous concretions with inclusions of bone fragments. The thickness of this layer is about 2 m. Superposed on it is layer 1. It is remarkable for the abundance of big and small bone fragments, belonging mainly to Archidiskodon meridionalis tamanensis and Elasmotherium caucasicum. Many of the bones dip at a high angle or occur nearly vertically (dislocated together with the layer). There are many broken and almost intact skulls, teeth, pelves, scapulae, vertebrae (not infrequently in anatomical articulation), fragments of long bones and ribs. The

Carnivores of the Khapry faunal assemblage that is commonly considered as an analogue of the middle Villafranchian West European fauna (Late Pliocene, Zone MN17) were revised. Members of nine Carnivora genera are described in detail, and five of them are first included in the list of assemblage taxa. Carnivores of the Khapry assemblage are represented by Nyctereutes megamastoides (Pomel), Canis cf. senezensis Martin, Lutra sp., Pannonictis nestii (Martelli), Pliocrocuta perrieri (Croizet et Jobert), Pachycrocuta brevirostris (Aumard), Homotherium crenatidens (Fabrini), Acinonyx pardinensis (Croizet et Jobert), and Lynx issiodorensis (Croizet et Jobert). The Khapry carnivore assemblage includes taxa characteristic of the Late Pliocene Eurasian faunas. Its lower stratigraphic limit corresponds to the beginning of the middle Villafranchian, as it follows from presence of Homotherium crenatidens with more advanced dental characteristics than those of homotheres from the lower Villafranchian of Eurasia. The occurrence of Nyctereutes megamastoides that was not encountered above the middle Villafranchian bounds the upper stratigraphic limit of the Khapry Carnivora. The "Canis-event" and "Pachycrocuta-event" are considered to be important records around the middle-upper Villafranchian boundary in Europe. Presence of Canis senezensis is characteristic of the final stage of the middle Villafranchian in Western Europe, and dispersal of Pachycrocuta brevirostris is typical of the lowermost late Villafranchian, whereas the wolflike forms of Canis and Pachycrocuta appeared somewhat earlier in Asia. The Khapry faunal assemblage as a whole is characterized by a certain similarity with Asian analogues of the middle Villafranchian faunas.