The exhibition presents remarkable bone objects found at the Kostenki sites and demonstrates the full cycle of their study — from discovery in the cultural layer to scientific interpretation.
The Upper Paleolithic is often called the 'Age of Bone', and this description is well deserved. Since deep antiquity, already from the Lower Paleolithic, humans used the walls of tubular bones to make stone tools, but it was only in the Upper Paleolithic (from 45,000 to 14,000 years ago) that a wide variety of bone-working techniques appeared. From bone people began to create entire complexes of functionally different items: tools, household and hunting implements, ornamented jewelry and works of portable art — sculptural depictions of humans and animals.
Bone objects are rightfully an invaluable source of information, revealing different aspects of our ancestors' lives. It is also important that bone was an easily available and simple material to work with. However, archaeologists studying the Stone Age more often encounter finds made of hard mineral rocks — flint, obsidian, quartzite — because these materials are very well preserved in virtually any soil.
The curator of the 'Fragile and Priceless' exhibition, Senior Researcher of the Kostenki Museum-Reserve Darya Sergeevna Tolstykh, spoke about these ancient artifacts and the process of their study.
In our everyday understanding, the Stone Age is the stone tools of our ancestors. Paleolithic archaeologists have achieved great success in studying stone tools and the debris from their production. But in reality, ancient people more often made tools from materials that were easier to work with, such as wood or bone, and those preserve much worse in the ground. In the Kostenki deposits wood does not survive at all, while bone finds occur, but far less often than stone. However, it is precisely these that provide archaeologists with information about the technologies and techniques available to prehistoric people, as well as about their spiritual world and aesthetic needs. It was from bone and tusk that jewelry and works of art were made, — said Darya Sergeevna Tolstykh.
You can see the objects that our ancestors held in their hands thousands of years ago already on August 17 at the opening of the exhibition as part of the festive program Archaeologist's Day.
The exhibition will be on display in the museum's main exhibition hall until October 13.
