ИСТИНА

There are several Late Palaeolithic sites situated in the Desna River basin and only few sites attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic. One of them is the well-known Betovo Mousterian site (Briansk province). This site was opened and investigated by L.M. Tarasov (1977). Dr. A.K. Ocherednoy excavated this site during the last years (2008). The numerous radiocarbon dates fall in the interval 28 500 – 36 000 yr ca. So, it is a contradiction between the relatively young dates and the Middle Palaeolithic culture. The united list of small mammals of Betovo site (cultural layer 2): Lagomorpha: Ochotona pusilla Pallas (small or steppe pica) – 2 Lepus sp. (hare) – 1 Rodentia: Marmota bobac Müller, 1776 (bobac marmot) – 2 Spermophilus sp. (ground squirrel) – 2 Dicrostonyx guilielmi Sanford, 1840 (collared lemming) – 461 Lemmus sibiricus (Kerr, 1792) (Siberian lemming) – 3 Eolagurus luteus (Eversmann, 1840) (yellow steppe lemming) – 12 Lagurus lagurus (Pallas, 1773) (steppe lemming) – 58 Lasiopodomys (Stenocranius) gregalis (Pallas, 1779) (narrow skull vole) – 112 Microtus sp. (vole) – 3 Total - 657 identified bones. All small mammal species from Betovo belong to tundra and steppe ones. The collared lemming, narrow-skull vole and steppe lemming dominate in the Betovo fauna. This fauna reflects the strong cooling, which caused the whole disappearance of the forest zone in the center of the Russian Plain and the distribution of the open cold tundra-steppe, so called the “mammoth steppe” which has no analogues in recent time.