Studies of paleolithic sites in Ikh-Tulberiin-gol river valley (Northern Mongolia) in 2021

The authors present results of excavations of the Tolbor 21 and Tolbor 4 sites, situated in the Tolbor River valley, a tributary of the Selenga River, Northern Mongolia. In 2021, studies of the multilayered Tolbor-21 site that documents human habitation throughout the Upper Paleolithic were resumed. We focus on the stratigraphy, spatial distribution of the finds, zooarcheological data and description of lithic artifacts recovered from the continuing excavation of Pit 2 in the eastern part of site. Preliminary results presented here provide the evidence of residential activity during accumulation of the Initial Upper Paleolithic horizon 4, the exploitation of medium/large herbivores, and a potential structured use of space. We present the division of the site cultural sequence into 6 horizons and description of a newly discovered storage pit. We also provide the overall results of studies at the multilayer Tolbor-4 site carried out in 2017 and 2021. The site is the key object for understanding the Upper Paleolithic sequence of lithic industry development in northern Mongolia. The goal of the new phase of research in 2021 was to clarify the site stratigraphy and collect samples for new series of radiocarbon and OSL dates.