THE RAW MATERIAL FACTOR IN THE MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC OF DONBASS AND AZOV REGION

The article is devoted to the problem of the raw material factor in the Middle Paleolithic of Donbass and the Azov region. Stone raw materials belong to the basic static resources that defined the human settlement system. Donbass and its Cretaceous surroundings in the Azov Sea region are distinguished by a large number of geological sources of flint of Upper Cretaceous genesis. Flint sources are localized in places of outcrops on the daytime surface of Cretaceous rocks. First of all, such sources are known in the Northwestern, Southern and Southeastern Donbas, along the right bank of the Seversky Donets River. The article establishes that clusters of monuments of the Middle Paleolithic coincide with clusters of flint sources. This means that stone (flint) raw materials were a factor determining the land use of people of the Middle Paleolithic in the conditions of open landscapes of the Glacial epoch. This type of adaptation could arise in conditions of sufficiency of biological resources (primarily commercial animals) necessary for the food supply of primitive collectives.