Kizil-Koba is a Middle Paleolithic culture belonging to a people who lived in the 9th–8th millennia BC in the Eastern

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

n territory and ancestral to

Tauri The Tauri (; in Ancient Greek), or Taurians, also Scythotauri, Tauri Scythae, Tauroscythae (Pliny, ''H. N.'' 4.85) were an ancient people settled on the southern coast of the Crimea peninsula, inhabiting the Crimean Mountains in the 1st millenni ...

. It is known as the first Eastern European settlement, where

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

remains were found. The Kizil-Koba culture is represented by the materials from two caves: the Kizil-Koba cave and Prolom I. Both settlements are located in the foothills of the

Crimean Mountains The Crimean Mountains ( uk, Кримські гори, translit. ''Krymski hory''; russian: Крымские горы, translit. ''Krymskie gory''; crh, Qırım dağları) are a range of mountains running parallel to the south-eastern coast o ...

in the East Crimea. The similarity between the Kizil-Koba culture and the

Koban culture The Koban culture (c. 1100 to 400 BC) is a late Bronze Age and Iron Age culture of the northern and central Caucasus. It is preceded by the Colchian culture of the western Caucasus and the Kharachoi culture further east. It is named after the ...

created by the

Cimmerian The Cimmerians (Akkadian: , romanized: ; Hebrew: , romanized: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people originating in the Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into Wes ...

tribes in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

leads to suppose that the Kizil-Koba culture emerged in the Caucasus.

Kizil-Koba Cave

Name

Kizil-Koba (The Krasnaya Cave -literally translates as the Red Cave) is the biggest grotto of the

and one of the karst cave that appear on the limestone in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. The cave is known as the "Kiikin-Kobasy" (Savage's Cave) by local

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

or “Kiik-Koba” (Wild Cave) chosen by the archeologist Bonch-Osmolowski.

Geography

Kizil-Koba is located on the right bank of the Zuya River, 7 km south of Zuya city, 20 km south-west of

Belogorsk Belogorsk or Bilohirsk (russian: Белогорск; uk, Білогірськ) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia and Ukraine. ;Urban localities *Belogorsk, Amur Oblast, a town in Amur Oblast; administratively incorporated as a ...

district, 25 km east of

Simferopol Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, ...

in the Salgir river system. The cave belongs to the South foothill valley-cuesta region with 44 º 58” Northern Latitude and 34 º 20” Eastern Longitude. The cave located 150 m over the river level has a depth of 9 m, length of 9 m and width of 11 m.

History

Kizil Koba cave was discovered by G. A. Bonch-Osmolovsky in 1924 and investigated over 2 years by him along with N. L. Ernst, S.A. Trusova, E.V.Zhirov and others. G. A. Bonch-Osmolovsky published monographs and articles about the results of cave materials and excavations in 1934, 1940, 1941, 1954. Finding the Kizil-Koba created the conditions for the discovery of the new

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

settlements in

and extensive study of the Quaternary period.

Cultural remainings

A large number of ceramic artefacts, including bronze arrow heads, choker, bracelets and rings dating back to the 7th to 6th centuries B.C. were found by N. L. Ernst and G. A. Bonch-Osmolovsky. Bonch-Osmolovsky identified 7 layers in Kiik Koba cave and labeled them I-VII from the top to the bottom. These layers reflect 2 separate Middle Paleolithic occupation – Upper MP occupation (layers II-IV) and Lower MP occupation (layers V-VI). 12874 lithics were revealed from the lower occupation, 4.755 from the upper occupation. In layer IIa, Mesolithic remains were found (50 pieces). Two Neanderthal interments (an adult and a child) were uncovered in 1924 from Kizil-Koba cave. They were identified as Kiik-Koba 1 (adult) and Kiik-Koba 2 (child). Kiik-koba 1 buried in limestone soil was found in layer VI. 73 skeletal remains belonging to the 40–45 years old adult have been found and they date about 35,000 years ago. Findings consist of canine, hand fragments, foot remains, right

patella The patella, also known as the kneecap, is a flat, rounded triangular bone which articulates with the femur (thigh bone) and covers and protects the anterior articular surface of the knee joint. The patella is found in many tetrapods, such as m ...

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

and

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

. The height of this person estimated to be nearly 164 cm and weight to be 78 kg. The gender of this

Neandertal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...

is controversial, as some scholars (Alexeev) assumed that it was female, however, according to the tibial maximum and body proportions of

Neandertals Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...

, it is presumed that the skeleton belonged to a man. Kizil-Koba 2 – the more intact skeleton was discovered close to the adult's remains in a separate grave and considered to be belong to an infant (younger than 12 months old at death).{{Cite journal, last1=Cowgill, first1=Libby, last2=B. MEDNIKOVA, first2=MARIA, last3=TRINKAUS, first3=ERIK, date=2016, title=The Appendicular Remains of the Kiik-Koba 2 Neandertal Infant, journal=PaleoAnthropology, pages=186–210, issn=1545-0031 In the upper occupation of Kizil Koba remains of different animals were detected. According to the faunistic data, people mainly (65.5%) hunted

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

saiga The saiga antelope (, ''Saiga tatarica''), or saiga, is a critically endangered antelope which during antiquity inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe spanning the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the northwest and Caucasus in t ...

and giant

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

. 8 species (ass,

bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...

, ram,

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

woolly rhinoceros The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived until the end of the last glacial period. The woolly rhinoceros was a me ...

) were constituted the remaining part (34.5%). (1) Based on the pollen spectra, it is believed that Upper layer had larger areas covered with trees (

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

) than Lower layer. Some of other tree species (

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

and buckthorn) were determined from the charcoal relics.

Prolom I

The materials found in the Prolom I cave are similar to the Kilik-Koba findings. The lithic industry characteristic to the upper layer of Kilik-Koba and two layers of Prolom I is called as “Para-Micoquien”. The Prolom I cave was explored by Yu. G. Kolosov in 1973. The Prolom I cave is located on the left side of the river Kuchuk Karasu Valley, 10 km north-east of

district, in the Salgir river system with 45º07” Northern Latitude, 34 º42” Eastern Longitude. 7 lithological layers were identified here. Generally, the set of layers were divided into 2 parts: Upper layer with significant limestone remains and Lower layer composed of nummulithic sand having a small amount of remains. The cave is covered with limestone in the south-eastern part dating back to the Middle Eocene age. The cave has 2 caverns. The larger one is 4 m high, 5 m long and 7 m wide, while the other has 1.5 m height, 5 m length and 2.5 m width. The cave has 12 m height.

References

Koban culture Ancient Crimea