Paleoenvironment, the stone age. Рубрика в журнале - Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia
Статья научная
Primary reduction techniques used at the site of Kara-Bom in the Altai Mountains, are analyzed using the refi tting method. In previous studies, the Kara-Bom assemblages provided the basis for reconstructing the evolution of lithic industries in the Altai Mountains over most of the Middle Paleolithic and at the early stages of the Upper Paleolithic (ca 60–30 ka BP). Under the new stratigraphic subdivision of Kara-Bom, four habitation stages are described. The refi tting of artifacts from the Middle Paleolithic (MP2) layer indicates Levallois unidirectional convergent fl aking aimed at producing points and blades as a co-product of reduction sequences. Based on cores and groups of spalls from the Upper Paleolithic layers UP2 and UP1, the variation of Upper Paleolithic reduction techniques is reconstructed and a conclusion is made that signifi cant changes in core reduction occurred: the Middle Paleolithic (Levallois) fl at unidirectional technique gave way to bidirectional volumetric subprismatic and prismatic reduction of the Upper Paleolithic type. The Kara-Bom assemblages appear to have been stable variants of blade technology aimed at producing large and medium-sized blades as well as reduction of narrow-faced cores aimed at producing bladelets. The comparison of Kara-Bom with contemporaneous industries of northern and eastern Central Asia suggests that the earliest Upper Paleolithic assemblages (before 35 ka BP) show a marked predominance of the Kara-Bom-type reduction techniques.
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Статья научная
My article in the previous issue, based on findings of archaeological excavations of Paleolithic sites in the Altai, primarily in Denisova Cave, as well as facts concerning the time of origin of Neanderthal anatomy and genetics in Europe, challenged the view, based on the genetic analysis of the Altaian Neanderthals, that they had migrated to the Altai before 175 ka BP and occupied Denisova Cave by turns with Denisovans. In fact, the Neanderthal occupation of the Altai began apparently no earlier than 60 ka BP. Thus far, Neanderthal fossils with a Micoquian Mousteroid industry have been found in three caves: Chagyrskaya, Okladnikov, and Strashnaya. This group of Neanderthals, evidencing the easternmost dispersal wave of those humans in Asia, was termed the Chagyrskaya group.
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