Characteristics of the upper unit from Strashnaya cave deposits: materials of the 2015 excavation campaign

Recent study in paleogenetics and new finds of early modern human remains heighten the interest in the investigation of the Middle - Upper Paleolithic boundary cultural complexes, associated with different representatives of the hominids. On the territory of the Altai Mountains, the earliest modern human remains were obtained in a Strashnaya cave, located in North-Western Altai at the Middle Inya River. The 2015 excavation campaign the Charysh Paleolithic team of IAET SB RAS continued to study this site. Expedition had a goal to specify the conditions of faunal and archaeological material bedding. In the course of the investigation we had studied the upper unit of cave deposits - lithological layers 1-4. As part of the field research team collected the archaeological material, numbering 1,597 artifacts, accumulated the significant paleontological material, sampled the soil for palynological analysis. The archeological collection from the Holocene deposits of layers 1-2, is associated with the Early Bronze Age and later stages of occupation. In addition to archaeological finds a human ungual phalanx was found in layer 3 1А horizon 2. The multi-method research of this bone will permit to make the present concept of the stone industry bearers clear.