Pavlov excavations 2007-2011

This volume summarizes the actual results of the 2007-2011 excavations at smaller sites of the Pavlov site cluster. With the fresh sections opened in the field and with a variety of collaborating disciplines, the focus was on broader geological, chronological, and environmental contexts than was the case in the previous Pavlov volumes. Given the smaller extent of these sites and their better readability in the field, we could more precisely define the elementary unit of the Gravettian settlements, define the variety of human activities that took place there (Pavlov VI), and also turn our attention to the nature and structure of a site's peripheries (Pavlov II). Special issues concern a general presentation of Pavlov VI, the discovery of edible starch grain remains and its importance for understanding the Paleolithic diet, and a discussion of the symbolic objects. Until recently, complex Pavlovian art was associated with large, semi-permanent, or aggregation sites, but the 2007 excavation at Pavlov VI demonstrates that some aspects of symbolic behavior were practiced at the episodic sites as well.