Chronology and models for industry expansion in the Initial Upper Paleolithic of Western Eurasia: view from the East

This article overviews the chronology, cultural characteristics, and interregional parallels of the western region of the Initial Upper Paleolithic technocomplex in comparison with the Initial Upper Paleolithic complexes of Southern Siberia and Central Asia. The distribution of this technological and typological set, possible similarities and differences in the diffusion patterns of the Initial Upper Paleolithic technocomplex of Eurasia in terms of cultures and populations are analyzed. The comparison is based on the Initial Upper Paleolithic industries of the Levant, the Balkans, and Central Europe. It was found that distribution of absolute dates for the main regions of the Initial Upper Paleolithic in Eurasia indicates synchronous appearance of the Initial Upper Paleolithic industries in the Levant and Altai, based on the dates for layer 1 at Boker-Tachtit. It overlaps with 14C dates of the UP layer 2 at Kara-Bom, not to mention much earlier dates of the luminescent chronology for the Upper Paleolithic horizons in the Eastern Gallery of Denisova cave. Therefore, any possibility of direct migration from the Levant during this chronological interval must be dismissed. The distribution models of the Initial Upper Paleolithic from the presumed ancestral region not only in Southern Siberia and Eastern Central Asia, but also in Western Eurasia show clear typological similarities. In all these regions, the tradition of the Initial Upper Paleolithic rapidly emerged in a single centre, followed by equally rapid proliferation of ideas or populations into the nearby regions where they subsequently underwent a transformation into Late Initial Upper Paleolithic industries.