Anthropological remains of the Paleolithic of the Crimea: history and historiography of the study

In the article, on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of materials, the stages and features of searching, studying and interpreting the remains of Paleolithic men on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula during the twentieth century are discussed. The first traces of human presence on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula date back to the Ancient Stone Age that continued from 2 million years to the 14th - 10th centuries BC, the Crimean Peninsula is situated in the South of Europe and had almost not been affected by the glacier. In the Crimean mountains there were a lot of caves and rock shelters convenient for man sites. Mild climate, plenty of wild animals and a rich and diverse vegetation created favorable conditions for the habitation of the primitive man. The main attention in the publication is focused on such significant monuments of ancient history of the region as Kiik-Koba (G.A. Bonch-Osmolovsky, 1924), Staroselye (V.P. Katsur, A.A. Formozov, 1952), Zaskal'naya V - VI (Yu. G. Kolosov, V.F. Petrun', 1970), Buran-Kaya (A.A. Yanevich, 1991). The organizational, methodological and socio-cultural continuity in the study of these monuments is specified, in particular, in attempting to substantiate the official theory of anthropogenesis (Neanderthals as a natural stage in the development of the modern human species), to solve the question about the appearance in the Late Mousterian of new technological methods of flint processing, the tribal organization of society and the rite of burial. In addition, the focus is that, although the discovered remains of the prehistoric people in the Crimea during this historical period were few, they presented a considerable interest for the study of evolution of the Mousterian man in general. For example, in Kiik-Koba and Zaskal'naya the remains had more pronounced Neanderthal features, while in Staroselye they had a more developed sapiens form. This was the basis of the provision that Homo Sapiens of the Late Paleolithic of the Crimea was formed on the basis of the local Mousterian culture.

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