The Syukeyevsky Vzvoz Flint-Working Site on the Right Bank of the Volga: Works of 2021–2022 and Previous Studies

The authors publish the preliminary results of recent excavations in 2021–2022 of the Syukeyevsky Vzvoz flint working site on the right bank of the Volga. This site is one of the main monuments of the Ust-Kama culture of the Terminal Paleolithic – Early Mesolithic. Before describing the flint inventory from the excavation, the authors outlined a brief history of the study and the results of previous studies of the site. The technical and typological features of the flint industry of the Ust-Kama culture and the Syukeyevsky Vzvoz flint working site in particular are characterized. It is concluded that the main part of the flint inventory from the excavation in 2021–2022 belongs to the Ust-Kama culture. Special attention should be paid to the large trapezium tool with retouched sides, made on the chip, which was found for the first time on the Syukeyevsky Vzvoz. Trapezia with retouched sides (arrowheads and inserts in the composite arrowhead) are culture-defining type of tools of the Ust-Kama culture. Until now, all the trapezia found at the site (in the 1989–90 excavation) were small. At the same time, large trapezia made on flakes and short chips are available in the collections of such camp sites of the Ust-Kama culture as Tetyushskaya III and Kosyakovskaya.