Cult complexes and topographical features of mesolithic sanctyarys in the middle Urals

Abstract

The cult complexes of the Mesolithic era in the Middle Urals are distinguished by the complete absence of products of a non-utilitarian nature. Analysis of the materials of the sanctuary in the cave of the stone Dirovatiy on the Chusovaya River, showed that the only component of the cult Mesolithic complexes were arrowheads. The damaged tips of the arrowheads indicate that they fell into the cave while shooting arrows. And the cult rituals associated with bow shooting are well known in the ethnography of different peoples.

Currently, Mesolithic sanctuaries have been identified in caves and on the tops of rock formations — shikhans. Their complexes are remarkably uniform. In addition to arrowheads, they contain nuclei, transverse chips from nuclei, and microplates. The microplate — insert is part of the arrowhead. At the same time, being chipped from the nucleus, it is also part of the nucleus. The nucleus also contains inserts that have not yet been chipped off. The uniformity of the identified complexes allows us to build a semantic connection: an arrowhead-a microplate-an insert (part of the tip) — a nucleus (future inserts) — a transverse cleavage from the nucleus (part of the nucleus). It is also possible that there are traces of a ritual here — a part instead of a whole: an insert instead of a whole tip, a transverse chip instead of a whole nucleus.

Each Mesolithic sanctuary had certain topographical features. Almost always, the caves and rocks chosen by the Mesolithic population for rituals continued to be used as sanctuaries in subsequent epochs. Therefore, it can be assumed that in addition to the distinctive topographical features, there were others that corresponded to the mythological ideas of the ancient population.