Palaeoenvironmental analysis of the Upper Palaeolithic site of Buzhanka 2, based on the 2025 investigations

[Ступак А., Ступа, Д, Нездолій, Є., Польська, В., Комар, М. Палеоекологічний аналіз верхньопалеолітичної стоянки Бужанка 2 (за результатами досліджень 2025 року)]

Alina Stupak¹,https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5178-498Xhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5178-498X

Dmytro Stupak²,https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0809-2179https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0809-2179

Yevhenia Nezdolii³,https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9453-6994https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9453-6994

Viktoria Polska¹,https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2354-4348https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2354-4348

Maryna Komar¹,https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7688-547Xhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7688-547X

¹National Museum of Natural History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine)

²Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine)

³Institute of Geological Sciences, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine)

Cite as

Stupak, A., Stupak, D., Nezdolii, Ye., Polska, V., & Komar, M. (2026). Palaeoenvironmental analysis of the Upper Palaeolithic site of Buzhanka 2, based on the 2025 investigations. GEO&BIO, 28, 69-82.

doi: https://doi.org/10.53452/gb2807

pdf: G&B №28-2026_69-82_Stupak.pdf

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the faunal analysis of the Upper Palaeolithic site of Buzhanka 2 obtained during the 2025 field season. The Buzhanka 2 archaeological site is located in the village of Buzhanka, Korop Amalgamated Territorial Community, Novhorod-Siverskyi District, Chernihiv Region. The site dates to the period following the Last Glacial Maximum. Its technological complex corresponds to the Mezhyrich type of the Epigravettian industry. In 2025, excavations were carried out in two squares of the site, revealing traces of a fireplace within their boundaries. The faunal collection obtained in 2025 consists mainly of burnt bone that served as the primary fuel for the fireplace, as well as a small number of intact remains of mammoth fauna. Standard archaeozoological methods were applied to study the collection, including taxonomic assignment, assessment of the minimum number of individuals, and age groups of mammals. The species composition of the 2025 collection generally corresponds to the results obtained in previous years. The dominant species at the site is the woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach, 1799). Among the mammoth remains from all stratigraphic horizons, infant and juvenile individuals predominate. Mammoth bones constitute the bulk of the fuel remains within the fireplace. These remains are supplemented by finds of predators, including the brown bear, wolf, and arctic fox. The wet-sieving from the site’s cultural layers revealed the remains of rodents, including the narrow-headed vole, steppe lemming, and water vole. These rodents were not hunted by humans but formed part of the natural environment surrounding the inhabitants of the Buzhanka 2 site. The interpretative section focuses on the role of animal resources in the subsistence strategies of the site’s inhabitants, the season of site occupation, and the reconstruction of the natural environment. The recovery of the remains of a newborn mammoth calf indicates the beginning of the growing season, whereas the remains of a 4–5-month-old bear cub suggest death in May or June. The dimensions of the mammoth calves’ ribs suggest that they belonged to individuals approximately 6–9 months old, corresponding to an autumnal period of human presence at the site. The discovery of bear remains corroborates the results of pollen analysis, which indicate the presence of shrub and tree communities in the area. These findings highlight the potential for further field research at the Buzhanka 2 site.

Key words

Ukraine, Upper Palaeolithic, Epigravettian, archaeozoology, microtheriology, pollen analysis

Correspondence to: Alina Stupak; Department of Palaeontology, National Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 15 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street, Kyiv 01054, Ukraine; e-mail: a.v.stupak1992@gmail.com

Article info

Submitted: 19.04.2026. Revised: 25.05.2026. Accepted: 26.05.2026

References

Bibikov, S. N. (1981). The oldest, made of mammoth-bone music complex. The brief of material culture and the ideology of Palaeolithic humans. Naukova dumka, Kyiv, 1–198. [Russian]

Bibikova, V. I., & Bilan N. G. (1973). The place based groups of mammals of Upper Palaeolithic fauna of Ukraine. Bulletin of Moscow Society of Naturalists. Biological Series, 84(3), 3–14 [Russian]

Driesh, A. von. (1976). A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites. Peabody Museum Bulletin, 1, 1–137.

Dykyy, I. V., & Shkvyria, M. G. (Eds). (2015). Brown bear (Ursus arctos): conservation issues and population research in Ukraine. Sik Group Ukraine LLC, Kyiv, 1–135. [Ukrainian], ISBN 978-617-7092-57-4

Garutt, V., & Foronova, I. V. (1976). The study of teeth of extinct elephants. Novosibirsk [Russian]

Hynes, G. (2017). Finding meaning in mammoth age profiles. Quaternary International, 443, 65–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.04.012

Komar, M., & Stupak, D. (2011). The new data about fauna and flora of the Llate Palaeolithic site Buzhanka 2. Paleontological collection, 43, 97–106. [Ukrainian]

Korniets, N. L. (1962). About the reasons for the mammoths' extinction. In: Vykopni fauny Ukrainy ta sumizhnykh terytorii, Vol. 1, Kyiv, Academy of Sciences URSR, 91–164. [Ukrainian]

Kosintsev, P. A., Lapteva, E. G., Trofimova, S. S., Zanina, O. G., Tikhonov, A. N., & Van der Plicht, J. (2012). Environmental reconstruction inferred from the intestinal contents of the Yamal baby mammoth Lyuba (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach, 1799). Quaternary International, 255(2), 231–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.03.027

Laws, R. M. (1966). Age criteria for the African Elephant, Loxodonta Africana. East African wildlife journal, 4, 1–36.

Lee Lyman, R. (2008). Quantitative Paleozoology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1–348.

Maschenko, E. (2002). Individual development, biology and evolution of the woolly mammoth. Cranium, 19(1), 4–120.

Nuzhnyi, D. Yu. (2015). Upper Palaeolithic of the western and northern Ukraine (techno-typological variability and periodisation). Publisher Oleg Filyk, Kyiv, 1–479. [Ukrainian]

Halfpenny, J. C. (1986). A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in North America. Johnson Books, Boulder, 1–176.

Pazhetnov, V. S. (1990). The brown bear. Agropromizdat, Moscow, 1–215. [Russian]

Pazhetnov, V. S., Pazhetnov, S. V., & Pazhetnova, S. I. (1999). Methods for raising orphaned bear cubs for release into the wild. Ushakov&K, Tver 1–48. [Russian]

Pean, S. Nuzhnyi, D. & Shіdlovskyі, P., & Stupak, D. (2010). Last mammoth and subsistence activities at Late Upper Palaeolithic in Central and Northern Ukraine. Quaternaire – Hors-serie, 3, 140–141.

Pidoplichko, I. G. (1976). Mezhyrich dwellings made of mammoth bones. Naukova dumka, Kyiv, 1–240. [Russian]

Rekovets, L. I. (1985). Microtheriofauna of the Upper Palaeolithic sites of the Desna and Dnieper river basins. Naukova dumka, Kyiv, 1–168. [Ukrainian]

Shylo, N. A., Lozhkyn, A. V., Tytov, E. E., & Shumylov, Yu. V. (1983). Kyrgilyakh mammoth. Nauka, Moscow, 1–215. [Russian]

Spassov, N., Spiridonov, G., Ivanov, V., & Assenov, L. (2016). Bear footprints and their use for monitoring and estimating numbers of brown bears (Ursus arctos L.) in Bulgaria. Historia Naturalis Bulgarica, 23, 119–126.

Stupak, D. (2008). Tools of the Palaeolithic site Buzhanka 2 on the Middle Desna region. Stone Age of Ukraine, 11, 122–130. [Ukrainian]

Stupak, D. (2011). Study of the Epigravettian sites of the south of the Desna River middle region. Archaeology, 1, 51–68.

Stupak, D. (2014). Les assemblages lithiques du site épigravettien de Buzhanka 2 (Ukraine) L’aAnthropologie, 118, 538–553.

Stupak, D. (2021). Specificity of the stone complex of excavation no. 3 of the Upper Paleolithic site Buzhanka 2 in the Desna region. Stone Age of Ukraine, 21, 157–164. [Ukrainian]