Archaeological survey in Zmeinogorsky and Kuryinsky districts of Altai krai in 2020

In 2020, the Zmeinogorsk Team of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS identified and surveyed four locations with surface occurrence of artifacts on the shore of the western part of Lake Kolyvan (Altai Krai). In total, 88 items were found; all of them were mainly small flakes made of stone. The toolkit contained an almond-shaped biconvex arrowhead, single-edged adze-like tool, and unidentifiable tool fragment. Preservation degree of objects ’surfaces, composition of their raw materials, and typology of the artifacts along with absence of pottery suggest that all this material evidence corresponds to lithic assemblages of the Initial Holocene. Analysis of geomorphological situation in the area of Lake Kolyvan indicates that this area is not very promising in terms of discovering stratified complexes of the Paleolithic. Another area where archaeological survey was carried out was the valley of the Belaya River (left tributary of the Charysh River) in its middle course. Inspection of the valley has shown extended subhorisontal high (up to 10-15 m) buttes of the first floodplain terrace, consisting of alluvial deposits of the Upper Pleistocene: sands, sandy loams, loams, and silts in some of its areas. In addition, river alluvium contains large amounts of pebbles and boulders of fine-grained siltstones with hardness reaching 5.5-6.0 on the Mohs scale, well suited for regular reduction. The valley of the Belaya River cannot be bypassed when moving from the mountainous regions of Southwestern Altai to the west, and occupies the intermediate position between the Paleolithic sites of the mountainous (Chagyrskaya and Strashnaya caves) and foothill (location on the Gilevsky Reservoir, etc.) parts of the Rudnyi Altai. High potential capacity of the Belaya River valley in terms of searching for Paleolithic sites is beyond doubt. However, the works in the area are hampered by large extension of the sites, absence of natural outcrops, and high grass vegetation.