2024 study of the Upper Paleolithic site Sabanikha-3

The article provides new materials from the Early Upper Paleolithic site Sabanikha-3 (Middle Yenisei), obtained during the 2024 fieldwork, which is intended to continue the site research begun in 2020, 2023-2023. The research is aimed to expand the evidence base for the Early Upper Paleolithic of the region. Main pit 3 (2024), covering an area of 9.5 sq. m, was connected to the southwestern walls of main pits 1 and 2. The main concentration of archaeological material was recorded in the southeastern part of the pit. The distribution of artifacts suggests that main pit 3 uncovered the western periphery of the site. In the collection of primary knapping, blade cores, mainly unidirectional and bidirectional cores, dominate. Cores for flakes and small blades were also found. Knapping tools are widely represented, including hammers and pecking tools. The toolkit is dominated by end scrapers on flakes and blades, with the presence of splintered pieces and pebble tools, as well as a burin on a retouched blade. The bone industry includes a fragment of a bone needle and an antler punch. The most notable find is a personal ornament in the form of an asymmetric segment of a disk made from soft stone. Based on the appearance of the lithic assemblage and bone tools, as well as the tradition of making ornaments from stone, the closest analogy to Sabanikha-3 is the complex from the Malaya Syya site. Significant similarities are observed with the materials from the Derbina IV site (stratified complex) and the Pokrovka II location. These assemblages appear to represent a single cultural tradition that existed during the EUP of the Yenisei.