This flint Streletskian point is from Kostënki 12, an Upper Palaeolithic site on the Don River, Russia. The artefact dates to ca. 27,500-34,000 BP.

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This Streletskian point is from Kostënki 12, a large site excavated by A.N. Rogachev in the 1950s and early 1960s.  Two layers at Kostënki 12 are thought to belong to the Streletskian period: Layer Ia and the older Layer III. This Streletskian point was associated by Rogachev with the younger Layer Ia. Layer Ia dates to 27,500-34,000 BP, but questions have been raised as to whether this point was found within the layer.

The artefact is curated by the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Saint Petersburg.

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The Streletskian period is widely thought to document the arrival of modern Homo sapiens in European Russia, ca. 34,000-38,000 BP, although the technology could have been the work of Neanderthals.  Streletskian points—small triangular bifacial tools—are diagnostic of Streletskian technology, and, based on their size and shape, they are widely thought to be projectile points.  The combination of blade-making typical of the Upper Palaeolithic, and bifacial flaking typical of the Middle Palaeolithic, have led some researchers to label the Streletskian as Eastern Europe’s ‘transitional industry’.  In the latter scenario, Streletskian technology was the product of Neanderthals who were adopting blade-making through contact with modern human groups.