The Search for the Paleolithic and Their Prospects in the Ukrainian Part of the Basin of Seim

The study of the Paleolithic of the Desna basin has been going on for more than a hundred years. During this time, a significant number of points of different periods of the Paleolithic time were discovered. A significant number of them are concentrated in the basin of the Middle Desna. The overwhelming majority of Paleolithic sites of the Middle Desna are concentrated within the loess islands on the right bank of the river. Another significant concentration of sites is located in the eastern part of the Seim basin, on the territory of Russia. The concentrations of points on the right bank of the Middle Desna and the eastern part of the Seimas basin contrast significantly with the western, Ukrainian part of the Seimas basin. At present, not a single Paleolithic site with a recorded presence of a cultural layer is known in this territory. What is the reason for this situation and the prospects for the discovery of Paleolithic sites here? A good saturation with Paleolithic sites, as a rule, is noted in territories that were well provided with food resources in the Paleolithic time, which in modern times is expressed in the presence in such regions of frequent finds of the Pleistocene fauna and also have favorable conditions for the arrangement of sites and equipped with flint or other stone raw materials for to produce of tools. An example of such a territory is the right bank of the middle reaches of the Desna. The territory of the eastern part of the Seim basin was also well provided with food resources and places for sites. The sites of the region demonstrate the availability of various types of flint raw materials to their inhabitants. The presence of finds of the Pleistocene fauna, the existence of convenient places for arranging sites, the availability of quartzite raw materials convincingly indicate that there are all prerequisites for identifying new Paleolithic sites in the western, Ukrainian part of the Seim basin. And such a disappointing situation with the discovery of Paleolithic sites is the result of the lack of targeted work to search for them. The most promising for prospecting are the right bank of the Seim and the basin of its right tributary, the Kleven River.

Source: Stupak D. (2022). The Search for the Paleolithic and Their Prospects in the Ukrainian Part of the Basin of Seim. Consensus. (4): 5-13

Source web-site: https://konsensus.net.ua/index.php/konsensus/article/view/32/28