Surface assemblage of the Upper Paleolithic site of Sabanikha-3 (evidence of 2023)

This article presents the study of surface finds from the vicinity of the Sabanikha-3 site (Krasnoyarsk Reservoir, the Middle Yenisei region). Search for surface artifacts focused on two areas. The first area (130 m long) was located directly near the excavated part of the Sabanikha-3 site. The second area (over 800 m long) was between the Sabaniha-3 and Sidorikha sites. The assemblage recovered from area 1 amounted to 225 artifacts. It contained cores for producing large blades, end-scrapers on blades, and various pebble tools, blades, and flakes. The assemblage of lithic artifacts from area 2 contained 277 items. Cores were used for producing large blades, flakes, bladelets, and microblades. The toolkit included a variety of end-scrapers, side-scrapers, and chisel-like tools. The analysis of the typological composition of artifacts from the assemblage of area 1 has made it possible to confidently correlate it with the stratified part of the assemblage of the Early Upper Paleolithic from the Sabanikha-3 site. Only one core which was intended for producing microblades had a distinct extraneous appearance. Area 2 apparently contained mixed assemblages. A part of the artifacts had an Early Upper Paleolithic appearance similar to the assemblage from area 1 and stratified assemblage from the Sabanikha-3 site. Another part of finds had parallels in lithic assemblages from the sites of Derbin V (late complex) and Ust-Maltat I, which represent further development of the Early Upper Paleolithic assemblages of Derbin Bay in the Early Sartan period (beginning of MIS 2). The analysis of surface finds indicates that the territory of areas 1 and 2 was most actively inhabited in the Early Upper Paleolithic and at the boundary of the Early and Middle Upper Paleolithic of the Yenisei region.