Bâtons percés from Eastern Europe: an overview

Abstract

Bâtons percés are a specific type of antler artefacts, discovered and identified first on numerous Upper Palaeolithic sites in western Europe. However, they are also encountered at some of the eastern European sites, although their distribution varies considerably. In this paper will be provided an overview of thus far discovered bâtons percés in the eastern parts of Europe. In particular, the site of Sungir in present-day Russia, located in vicinity of the town of Vladimir, yielded an interesting assemblage: four bâtons percés in total, two produced from reindeer antler and two from an unusual raw material, ivory. The bâton percé from ivory is decorated with dots, while the bâton percé from antler has a row of parallel transversal incisions. Furthermore, two possible semi-finished pieces were identified. Several bâtons percés were also recovered at sites in Romania (Cotu Miculinti, Crasnaleuca), but, on the other hand, their absence in the Balkan area is conspicuous, although it may simply reflect the state of research in the region.