Natalia Е. Zaretskaya*, Konstantin N. Gavrilov**, Andrey V. Panin***, Roman I. Nechushkin*

* Geological Institute RAS, Moscow, Russia (n_zaretskaya@inbox.ru; nechrom@yandex.ru)
** Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia (k_gavrilov.68@mail.ru)
*** Institute of Geography RAS, Lomonosov MSU, Moscow, Russia (a.v.panin@yandex.ru)

Keywords: geochronology, archaeology, radiocarbon and calendar age, campsites, East Gravettian, Kostenki-Avdeevo culture.

The paper gives a historical outline of the views on the correlation between radiocarbon and archaeological chronology and presents the results of the first statistical analysis of large arrays of radiocarbon dates obtained over a long period of time in different laboratories for the East Gravettian campsites of Kostenki 1 (layer 1), Avdeevo, Zaraysk and Khotylevo 2. Chronological episodes of populating the campsites have been identified, and appear to ref lect a multistage (or stepwise) accumulation of the cultural layer. The studies have shown the feasibility of conducting statistical analysis alongside with investigating the microstratigraphy and overall spatial structure of a site, since that allows cross-validation of the results.