About the functionality of the animal lower jaw in the economy of the Late Bronze Age (from finds of Bay-Kiyat I settlement, Tarkhankut peninsula)

Investigations of functional features of the lower jaws of animals were carried out at the Late Bronze Age site Bai-Kiyat I. The Bai-Kiyat I settlement is one of the most significant settlements in North-Western Crimea, which was excavated by V.I. Kolotukhin in the 1990s. About 14 living structures, numerous household structures, as well as finds of ceramic fragments; clay artifacts, bones and horns, and stone, and bronze tools were found. Archival materials on archaeozoological collection from this settlement showed that domestic animals (96%) are represented by agricultural species, among which sheep have a large proportion. The lower jaws of sheep were processed and used by the population of this settlement as tools in economic activities. Similar tools are widely known in the Late Bronze Age at many sites, as well in the south of the European part and in Central Asia, and on the Altai sites. According to their functional specifics, they were defined as sickles, tools for working leather, anvils in blacksmithing, etc. Determination of traces of human activity on the bone surfaces and microtomographic scanning showed that the lower jaws of sheep from the Bai-Kiyat I settlement were used for processing animal skin. Thus, complex scientific and historical – archival research for the first time established the role of sheep breeding in the economic system of settled pastoral settlements of the Late Bronze Age and the presence of leather production on the territory of the North-Western Crimea.