Beaked tools in the Lower Palaeolithic of Transnistria
The present paper is devoted to lithic tools of the beak-like shape from deposits of the Eopleistocene Age (0,9- 1,1 million BP) at the newly discovered Early Palaeolithic site of Bayraki (Dniester region). This camp-site of long occupation was discovered in 2010 and excavated in 2011, 2012 and 2013 by a team of researchers including archaeologists from the Institute of the History of Material Culture RAS (St. Petersburg) and Transnistria State University (the city of Tiraspol), as well as geologists and palaeogeographers from the Institute of Geography RAS and Institute of Geology RAS (Moscow). Interdisciplinary studies conducted here have succeeded in obtaining a reliably grounded geochronology of this site. The basis of the description of the artefacts was constituted by classification of N. К Anisyutkin published in 1973. This system was developed using materials of a circle of Middle Palaeolithic sites of Eastern Europe. Among the 125 tools retrieved from Stratum 5 at the site of Bayraki, two groups of beaked tools have been identified including seven beaked points and 14 beaked choppers similar to the bill-hooks of British researchers. The latter were manufactured mostly on small flakes and are characterized by a high level of standardization.