The article presents materials from ancient deposits of the high VII floodplain terrace of the left bank of the Dniester River (Early Paleolithic site of Bayraki). The collection of this level includes 28 artifacts, including expressive flakes and nuclei, as well as tool shapes typical of the Early Paleolithic. Based on the preliminary results of interdisciplinary studies obtained in the 2011 season, a reasonable relative geological dating of the site layers is proposed: a complex of channel alluvium, archaeologically comparable to the developed Oldovan, can be dated to the Eopleistocene time. Thus, the Bayraki site under study is currently one of the oldest Stone Age monuments in Eastern Europe.

Key words: Eopleistocene, early Pleistocene, lower Dniester River valley, Early Paleolithic.

Introduction

Early Paleolithic site of Bairaki, discovered in 2010. The Russian-Pridnestrovian archaeological expedition of the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint Petersburg) and the Research Laboratory "Archeology" of the T. G. Shevchenko Pridnestrovian State University (Tiraspol), located on the outskirts of Dubossary (Pridnestrovie) [Anisyutkin et al., 2012] (Fig. 1). The indisputable connection of stone products with the Early Pleistocene deposits of the high VII above-floodplain terrace of the Dniester River indicates the deep antiquity of the artifacts. In the course of research conducted in 2010, it was found that the stone products were located in two levels of Quaternary deposits. The upper level belongs to the red-colored fossil soil, the lower-to the alluvial layer, represented mainly by small-pebble material with clay-sand aggregate and individual pebbles of medium size.

Finds from the upper level were confined to the upper part of the red-colored fossil soil, although the true position of all the artifacts found is not entirely clear. So, an expressive scraper with elements of polukin retouching, made on a fragment of flint pebbles, lay in a low-power layer of yellowish-gray loam, which was located in the center of the lake.-

* The work was supported by the OIF RAS Program " Genesis and Interaction of social, cultural and linguistic communities (Initial human settlement of the Eastern Subtropical Region)", as well as Russian Foundation for Basic Research projects 11 - 06 - 12015-ofi-m-2011,11 - 06 - 00380-a.

Figure 1. Map of the location of Early Paleolithic monuments on the territory of Moldova and Transdniestria, where studies were conducted in 2011.

It was found on the surface of the underlying red-colored soil and at the base of the overlying brown fossil soil. A patinized flake was found in the same layer. In the upper part of the red-colored soil, basic flint products without patina were found, as well as an indeterminate tubular bone of a fossil animal.

The collection of artefacts from the lower level, which corresponded to the Ruslov alluvium, consists of three pebble tools, including a Kosouc sandstone chopper, and four flint objects. Products are rounded, without patina. The roundness and characteristic gloss of the surface indicate the movement of artifacts within the alluvial layer.

Taking into account the uniqueness of such an ancient geoarchaeological object, the plan of scientific works planned for the 2011 season provided for conducting interdisciplinary research. For this purpose, a group of specialists from the Institute of Geography and the Institute of Geology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, headed by Professor A. L. Chepalyga, was included in the research grant. Specialists selected the necessary samples and conducted research on the excavated parking lot. Two ancient fossil soils were identified, of which the upper one overlies the red-colored soil with Early Paleolithic finds, and the lower one underlies it. In addition, spore-pollen analysis of samples from brown soil overlying red-flowered soil revealed pollen from such thermophilic woody plants as hornbeam and hopgrass (Chepalyga, Anisyutkin, Sadchikova, 2012, p. 82). The latter belongs to the number of tertiary exotics that existed in the region before the beginning of the Dnieper time. In the light of these data, even the uppermost complex cannot be younger than the Mindel time, i.e. it is clearly older than 400 thousand years. In the course of further geological and geomorphological studies conducted by A. L. Chepalyga, it was found that the artifacts of this complex are even more ancient.

Geomorphology, stratigraphy, and relative geochronology

The Bayraki site (coordinates: 47°16 ' 27 "N, 29°16' 10 " E) is located in a now-abandoned gravel and pebble quarry on the same terrace as the site of the Early Paleolithic Bolshoy Fontan (Fig. 2).

The stratigraphic position of the layers with stone products is reliably linked with the results of earlier geological and geomorphological studies on the detailed study of the features of the structure and morphology of the Dniester river terraces and allows us to determine the relative geochronology of the site. A unique system of river terraces, the most complete in the world over the last 4.5 million years, has been traced and studied in detail in the lower Dniester valley. years. The currently recognized terrace sequence includes 11 above-floodplain terraces (Chepalyga, 1962, 2005). In recent years, this terrace series has been supplemented with several independent terraces that are correlated with global and regional climate events.

2. Location of Early Paleolithic monuments on the western outskirts of Dubossary. 1-Bayraki, 2-Big Fountain.

Detailed high-resolution stratigraphy has been developed for alluvial and cover deposits of the Dniester terraces, based on data on sedimentation cycles, mammalian and mollusk fauna, as well as absolute dates established, in particular, by thermoluminescent and paleomagnetic methods (Chepalyga, 1967). There are currently five high terraces in the Dubossar area: two Eopleistocene (VIII, VII) and three Early Pleistocene (VI high, VI low and V).

The Bayraki beam, on the left side of which the parking lot is located, is embedded in the VII terrace to a depth of up to 25 m to the basement of terrace deposits represented by alluvial and cover strata; marine Middle Sarmatian limestones come out in the basement. The parking lot is located inside the massif of the seventh above-floodplain terrace of the Dniester River at a depth of 1.0-1.5 km, and this circumstance precludes attributing it to the lower VI terrace.

The overall stratigraphy of the site, traced during excavations in 2010-2011, is almost identical. However, the stratigraphic column recorded in 2010 includes an insignificant horizon of pebbles and gravel in the lower part of the red-colored soil, at its contact with floodplain alluvium.

The stratigraphic sequence established along the north-eastern wall of the excavation is as follows (Fig.:

1. The soil is modern, chernozem, strongly humusized, black in color. Power 0.0 - 0.75 m.

2. Brownish-brown loam, slightly humusized and carbonate, with dense carbonate aggregates and whitish lime bleaching - carbonate horizon of Holocene soil. Power 0.75 - 1.2 m.

3. Light deluvial loam, yellow-brown to fawn, powdery, porous carbonate, loess-like, permeated with vertical worm passages, wormholes are marked. Power 1.2 - 1.4 m.

4. Fossil soil is weakly humusized, brown, clayey, poorly differentiated, with gradual transitions to the underlying and overlapping layers. To the south and higher up the slope, it is more pronounced, more powerful and humus-rich. Power 1.4 - 1.8 m.

5. The fossil soil of reddish-brown color, transformed and "decapitated", on the slope is represented by sandy siltstone, dense, calcareous; carbonate - in the form of pseudomycelia and nodules. The soil is broken by distinct cracks filled with a uniform reddish-brown sediment with a more intense reddish hue than in layer 5, probably penetrated from soils of higher horizons, subsequently washed away by slope erosion. The cracks extend down into layers 7 and 8 to a depth of up to 1.3 m. A few flint rocks have been found.

3. Section of the north-eastern wall of the excavation along the line of sq. m. Don Bairaki. The numbering of layers corresponds to the ordinal numbers of their descriptions in the text.

Early Paleolithic items and individual animal bones. Power 1.8 - 2.0 m.

6. Hydromorphic soil of the gleezem type-siltstone brownish-greenish to dark gray color-is broken up by through cracks. It crowns the alluvial strata and is a floodplain facies of soil alluvium processed by soil processes. The soil thickness varies from 0.4 to 0.1 m. The thickness is 2.0 - 2.4 m.

6 a. At the base of the layer, an ironification horizon can be traced.

7. Floodplain facies of alluvium - sand-clay siltstone, greenish-gray, micro-layered, and carbonate. Power 2.4 - 4.3 m.

7 a. In the lower part of layer 7, a bright brown ozheleznenie horizon can be traced.

8. Old alluvium facies - thin clay siltstone, carbonate, horizontally layered, with alternating carbonate siltstone interlayers with more clayey ones (this may be due to the seasonality of sedimentation: carbonate-summer, clay-winter layers). Power 4.3 - 5.3 m.

9. Coastal facies of alluvium - sands of different grains, unsorted, well washed from silty to clay particles; mainly small pebbles - quartz, black flints, jasper, limestone. The first flint products of the alluvial complex were discovered. Power 5.3 - 5.6 m.

10. Channel facies of alluvium - rough pebbles, unsorted, with sand and gravel aggregate. In some places they are cemented with carbonates into a conglomerate. Rounded stone products of the Early Paleolithic period are found to varying degrees. Power (visible) 5,6 - 6,2 m.

11. The base of the terrace is opened downstream, near the stream. It is represented by shell-detritus limestones of the Middle Sarmatian with shells of marine mollusks. Base marks 95 m. abs.

Stone products and individual fragments of fossil animal bones were found in layers 5, 6 (?), 9 and 10. Layer 7 included a small fragment of an unidentifiable tubular bone of a fossil animal. Three fossil soils are clearly distinguished, lying on top of each other - the upper (layer 4), middle (layer 5) and lower (layer 6)*.

In this season's excavation, only a few stone products were found in the middle fossil soil. Taking into account last year's finds, they can be divided into two horizons, of which the upper one is connected with the roof of this soil, and the lower one is connected with its base. Finds from the upper horizon, in turn, are conventionally divided into two groups - with and without an intense white patina. The former were located on the surface of the soil or in the grayish-yellow loam lying above, represented in the form of lenses that were revealed only last season, and the latter - directly in the upper part of the fossil soil.

Only four objects can be attributed to the lower horizon associated with the base of the middle fossil soil or the underlying roof: a massive peak-shaped flint tip, a residual Kosouc sandstone nucleus, a flint chip fragment with traces of retouching, and an incisor tip on the fragment. They were located in a small area among rounded fragments of flint and pebbles of small and, more rarely, medium size. The attribution of these stone products to the base of the average fossil soil is justified by the fact that the facets of artifacts contain rock particles characteristic of red-colored soil. The revealed objects were slightly rounded, but had no patina. However, given the indistinctness of the lower boundary of layer 5, it is impossible to exclude the binding of these artifacts to the roof of the underlying fossil soil formed on the surface of floodplain alluvium. This is indirectly supported by a certain roundness of flint finds, which is usually the case for artifacts found in floodplain deposits.

Stone products from the alluvial sequence came from conglomerates partially confined to the lower horizons of the channel alluvium, directly from which flakes and scraper-like tools were extracted, and from a dug pit. The upper part of the channel alluvium consisted of deposits of a coastal (beach) facies consisting of reddish-brown and yellowish-brown sand with layers of small pebbles and gravel. The flint artefacts found here were distinguished from the rest by a relatively weak roundness, but a distinct surface gloss. Objects from the lower part of the alluvium are characterized by a more noticeable roundness. A significant part of the stone products were extracted from accumulations of sand, gravel and pebbles (transformed conglomerate) preserved in the quarry near the excavation site.

Based on the sum of data obtained during the study of high terraces of the lower Dniester river, the red-colored fossil soil can be compared with the upper Martan soil and correspond to the oxygen-isotope stage (hereinafter - KIS). 19. In this respect, both horizons are close in time, although it is possible that the lower horizon of this fossil soil belongs to the very beginning of KIS 20. The lower level of the channel alluvium deposits of the seventh above-flood terrace is much older, corresponding to the Lower Martanosh fossil soil, or KIS 21.

* The upper and lower soils were identified by S. A. Sycheva (Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences).

Stone products from the excavation in 2011, units.

4. Stone products of the early complex. 1-jagged scrape on a flint fragment; 2-Kosouc sandstone pebble with a large Cleckton notch; 3-double chopper.

Description of stone products

The stone products found at the site, as noted above, should be divided into two complexes that are in a clear stratigraphic sequence: the early one, associated with the stream alluvium of this high terrace, and the late one, from the red - colored fossil soil lying above.

An early complex (see the table). The collection includes 28 stone objects discovered in 2011 in the Ruslov alluvium. Among them, 3 are made of sandstone pebbles and 25 are made of local flint in gray, gray-yellow and black colors. The raw material was rounded fragments and fragments of small and medium size. The flint was of very poor quality-fractured, with numerous caverns. However, there are few traces of collisions in the water flow on the products. When the rounded fragments and pebbles of this flint were split, experiments showed that small flakes were obtained. All available flint is of local origin.

Pebble tools are represented by three items, one of which can be described as a chopper with two machined ends (Fig. 4, 3). It is relatively large in size, made on flattened pebbles of Kosouc sandstone. Processing elements are traced along two edges that converge at the same point, one of which is broken by a series of widespread and flattened chips, and the second is highlighted by a semi-circular retouch along part of the right edge. The point where the two retouched edges meet has distinct traces of quite intense clogging. At the opposite end of the gun are traced negatives of flattened and widespread, partially two-sided shots, which are usually formed using counter-impact retouching. Most likely, this complexly organized tool could have been used to break large tubular bones. The next piece is represented by flattened Kosouc sandstone pebbles with one large Clecton excavation (Fig. 4,2). The third tool is made on pebbles of relatively soft sandstone, which contributed to a more intensive rolling of the edge treated with a steep retouch, so the facets of the lining are difficult to read.

Flint products include an expressive nucleus of rather large dimensions, made of a gray flint nodule (Fig. 5, 3). The surface of the core is rounded and covered with a shallow patina. There are five relief chips, the largest of which does not exceed 50 mm. Impact pads are smooth - natural or formed by negatives of previous chips, usually close to straight lines. In general, we can confidently conclude that the flakes were chipped from smooth (often represented by the negative of the previous removal) or natural impact sites of unprepared nuclei. The other two can be classified as atypical with a few negative chips.

There are ten flakes in the collection, to which you can add two flakes. This category of finds has signs of deliberate manufacture (Fig. 6, 1-6). All the flakes are small, which is typical for Early Paleolithic industries. The largest flake found in 2010 is only slightly more than 40 mm. The remaining dimensions vary from 28 to 15 mm. Two of them can be attributed to chips from the chipping of the working edges of choppers (Figs. 6, 3, 6). All of them have a strongly beveled appearance.-

5. Flint products of the early complex. 1,2 - bill-hooks; 3-nucleus.

hard and crusted shock pads with almost complete absence of shock bumps. Attention is drawn to the massiveness of most flakes and the complete absence of standard forms. There are no expressive flakes with beveled impact pads, which are commonly called Clecton's. Smooth areas predominate, as a rule, natural, preserving the pebble surface. Only in one case can we talk about a dihedral site, although the impact that resulted in the chip being chipped was made on a natural surface (Figs. 6, 5). 6, 2). The predominance of objects with a significant crust covering of the backs among the flakes is indicative, which can only be partially explained by the use of very fine raw materials of very low quality. Two flakes with signs of edge retouching were identified (Figs. 6, 8, 9).

Analysis of the flakes and nuclei present in the collection leads to the conclusion that the cleavage (it can be described as orthogonal (rectangular)) It was performed without prior orientation from straight or very slightly sloped impact pads. This cleavage method was proposed by F. Bordes to be distinguished from the Clecton cleavage method, since as a result, the nuclei often acquired cuboid or polyhedral outlines (Bordes, 1961); such nuclei are represented in the alluvial complex structure described above. The collection is absolutely dominated by small and mostly massive flakes, the coefficient of their massiveness is more than 30.

The main number of tools is made not from flakes, but from their fragments or fragments of flint. This phenomenon is typical of the Early Paleolithic of Eurasia. All products are rounded, but the degree of their roundness varies: from weak to moderate and very rarely - to strong. Undoubtedly, only one tool was made from the flake - a small angular scraper of a sub-triangular shape, made on a rather massive flake with a natural crust and a beveled impact pad. Its single-row facets create a scraper-like blade and two sharp ends, one of which is clearly intentionally highlighted (Figs. 6, 9). The second flake has only elements of expressive ventral retouching. The rest of the tools are made of fragments and flagellar fragments of flint; the nature of secondary processing allows us to identify them with the typical forms of tools for the Early Paleolithic. They usually have very clear and expressive signs of processing. Such tools include a massive pebble-shaped tool made of rounded flint fragments, with traces of double-sided cross-cutting.-

6. Flint products of the early complex.

1-6, 8, 9-flakes; 7-sub-rectangular scraper; 10-rabo scraper; 11-tip on a flint fragment.

of the northern edge. The most expressive is a small typical scraper made on a rectangular bar-shaped fragment of gray flint (Figs. 6, 7). It has a semi-circular and straight working edge formed by several widespread and flattened chips. On the blade can be traced touch-up fine retouching with traces of recycling. On the right side, the tile is truncated with two distinct chips, while on the left, it shows no signs of processing. Similar forms of scrapers are known in the Early Paleolithic of Eurasia. They were identified, for example, in the Early Paleolithic of Transcaucasia (Kudaro-1 cave) and were named by V. P. Lyubin as single-edged scrapers of geometrized (sub-rectangular or trapezoidal) outlines (Lyubin and Belyaeva, 2004, p.77). Such forms are also recorded on other monuments of this time, in particular on the sites of the Early Paleolithic Pogrebya and Bolshoy Fontan, which are adjacent to Bayraki.

Three other items can be attributed to scrapers. One of them is made on a natural fragment of black flint and is a scraper with a straight blade, highlighted by a single-row and systematic retouching. The other two tools are made on natural flint fragments and correspond to toothed scrapers (see Figs. 4, 7).

The high-shaped scraper tool extracted from the conglomerate is very expressive. A small rounded fragment of rectangular flint was used as a kind of blank. The transverse steep working edge is highlighted by distinct parallel facets of retouching, supplemented by its smallest variety. This shape is somewhat similar to the tool found in 2010 with a steep working edge, highlighted by facets of parallel retouching (see Figs. 6, 10).

Of particular interest are two beak-shaped tools known in the Russian scientific literature as beak cutters (Anisyutkin, 1973, p. 232). Under the name bill-hooks, they are characteristic of the Cleckton of England (Bordes, 1984, p. 70; Gamble, 1986, p. 145). We are talking about a tool, the working element of which is highlighted in the form of a cutting edge at the corner of the workpiece at the intersection of the Cleckton notch and the transversely truncated end. One beak-shaped tool found in the roof (beach facies) of the channel alluvium is made of black flint (see Figs. 5, 7). The product is polished, but relatively poorly rounded. As a blank, a small nucleus with one shock pad that preserved the gall crust was used. On the opposite side, the negative of the chip is clearly expressed, which has formed a sharp edge. The latter was refined by a Cleckton notch in the more massive part of the object. A peculiar transverse obushka is clearly traced, represented by the surface of the gall crust with distinct traces of its correction with the help of steep retouching. On the sharp corner and the blade, you can read the traces of recycling. The second tool, made of gray flint, is characterized by a more intense roundness (see fig. 5, 2). The transverse end has obvious traces of processing - large facets of steep retouching, forming, as in the first case, a clearly pronounced edge.

The collection also highlights a massive point on an elongated fragment of black flint of relatively large size, the sharp end of which is highlighted by a steep retouch. There are traces of partial retouching on the edge of the tip, which has thinned the active edge of the product (see Figs. 6, 11). The second item with a sharp end can be described as an atypical puncture made on a natural shard of black flint.

Late complex (see table). In the lowest horizon associated with the base of the middle soil, only four flint objects were found. The most interesting find is a massive point made of rounded black flint nodule of large dimensions with elements of expressive secondary processing, which make it possible to describe this pebble tool as a peak-shaped one (Figs. 7, 4). On the same page

7. Flint products of the late complex. 1 - flint flake; 2 - flint flake with traces of use; 3 - scrape on a nucleoid fragment; 4 - massive peak-shaped tip from the base of red-colored fossil soil; 5-a nucleus with a retouched (scrape-like) working edge.

on the side of the flattened flint pebbles, as a result of one blow, a deep negative of a large chip appeared, and thanks to it, two protrusions along the edges. One of them is turned into a massive point by means of clear facets of steep and steep single-row retouching. To the left of the tip and at the opposite end of the gun, there are clearly visible areas with traces of intense vertical pounding, which can be considered as accommodative: in one case, this is the "heel", and in the other - the side face. All these elements of secondary processing give an idea of the tool as a complete form, in which the working edge and accommodation elements are combined into one whole. The sharp end is very clogged. Directly from it there is a distinct flattened chip, following from the sharp working end. A similar chip can be traced at the less pronounced second pointed end. Both of these chips, which resemble flat incisors, indicate the intensive use of the ends of these massive points as an active working element. A less expressive tool of relatively small size is also made on a rounded fragment of black flint. It has a distinct Clecton notch and incisor tip, which resembles a beak-like shape of the bec burinante alterne type (Bordes, 1961, p. 37), but has traces of atypical incisor cleavage.

The collection also includes a rounded core made of sandstone.

Flint products from the upper part of the middle fossil soil are rare. Almost all of them are in good condition. The group of flint products with a white patina includes three items: a nucleus-scraper and two flakes. These include two flint flakes found on the surface south of the excavation site. They are romanized and may have been located in the cultural layer destroyed by the quarry, therefore, the site of the parking lot under study may be part of the destroyed settlement.

The scraper on the flint core has a slightly convex and pointed working edge, which is highlighted by facets of flat two-sided retouching. By the nature of the blade processing, this tool is quite comparable to the retouched polukin-type scraper from the excavation site in 2010 (Fig. 7, 5).

The group of flint products without patina is represented by four flint objects from fossil soil - a nucleoid scrape, two small flakes and a flake, which are characterized by very good surface preservation. Among them, a particular interest is caused by a scraper-shaped flint product on a fragment of gall flint with negatives of two obvious chips, inside one of which there are signs of fine and systematic retouching, forming a straight scraper blade (Fig. 7, 3). An important find is an elongated flake of small size with a shock pad covered with a gall crust (Fig. 7, 2). On its edge, shallow facets of careful and parallel retouching are clearly traced, forming a kind of" obushka", and the opposite right edge has distinct traces of recycling in the form of small and alternating retouching facets. The most noticeable elements are the fine and uniform retouching of the upper transverse end of the flake. Such facets are formed by simultaneous cutting and scraping over a long period of time [Shchelinsky, 1992, pp. 199-200]. According to the conclusion of V. E. Shchelinsky, the most actively used so-called obushka: flattened and shallow parallel facets on it are the result of intensive scraping on a relatively hard material, the remaining sharp edges - performing other functions for a less long time. The second flake is small in size, with a natural impact pad covered with a gelatinous crust, has no traces of use and retains sharp edges (see Figs. 7, 1).

Despite the small number of collections of artifacts from the middle fossil soil, it is possible to draw certain conclusions about the complex. Flint products from the 2011 excavation generally correspond to the findings found in the 2010 field season and allow us to consider this complex as mainly microlytic. Taking into account this feature, as well as the presence of specific scrapers-unifaces with traces of polukin retouching made on fragments of pebbles, and scraper-like tools on massive nucleoid fragments, we can speak about the proximity of the Bayraki site complex under consideration to the Dubossary area of the Bolshoy Fontan and Pogrebya localities. Collections of stone products from neighboring monuments are quite numerous and representative; they include various nuclei, expressive pebble shapes, and well-defined tools on flakes, as well as numerous products of primary cleavage (Anisyutkin, 2010).

Conclusion

Studies of the Bayraki site conducted in 2011 confirmed the initial observations about its multilayering; the stone products lay in clear stratigraphic conditions, in ancient deposits of the high VII above-floodplain terrace of the Dniester. Unfortunately, a well-defined cultural layer could not be found in the fossil soil; apparently, it was destroyed as a result of open gravel mining. However, there are prospects for the study of the oldest alluvial level, in which it was possible to study the most ancient alluvial layer.-

a relatively large number of artifacts can be found, including a series of typical flakes. It is important that the stone products were located in the entire thickness of alluvial deposits, including the coastal (beach) facies. Flint products from these horizons have a noticeable lustre of surfaces, but are usually very weakly rounded.

The stone industries of the Early Paleolithic period from the upper level of the Bayraki site can be tentatively considered similar to the materials of the previously identified "Dubossary industry". Materials from the lower level have a certain similarity with the Dubossary industry. The technique of primary splitting of the stone of the early complex of the Bayraki site is mainly represented by an orthogonal system aimed at obtaining small flakes mainly with natural impact sites. The tool set is characterized by a combination of a few large pebble products made of non-silicon material and a large number of small-sized artifacts. According to the totality of technical and typological indicators, this complex can be compared with the developed Oldovan of Eurasia - Early Paleolithic stone industries with choppers and small flint tools accompanying them, but without the typical Acheulean bifaces. In this regard, the concept of "developed oldowan" is considered in a broad technical and typological (industry type Mode 1), but not chronological aspect. In the Early Paleolithic of Europe, industries of this type with a predominance of small-sized products are widespread both in time and space.

Interdisciplinary research conducted in the 2011 season provided some very interesting data. Despite the fact that not all samples have been processed so far, the available information allowed us to determine (so far tentatively) the time of existence of the stone tool complexes of the Bayraki site: alluvial deposits of the early complex were formed in KIS 21, and the late one - somewhat later, the bottom of the fossil soil - in KIS 20, and the top - in KIS 19. Thus, the Bairaki geoarchaeological object of the Early Paleolithic, identified in clear stratigraphic conditions, is currently the oldest on the territory of Moldova, Ukraine and the southern part of European Russia.

Acknowledgements

We express our heartfelt gratitude to Academician A. P. Derevyanko for his trust, assistance and assistance in organizing our scientific research at the Bayraki parking lot, as well as sincere gratitude to the Head of the Archeology Research Laboratory of Taras Shevchenko State University of Tiraspol, Candidate of Historical Sciences N. P. Telnov and the laboratory staff for their kind attitude and understanding. continuous support for our field work.

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The article was submitted to the editorial Board on 26.04.12, in the final version-on 05.06.12.

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