The stone industries of the Ust-Kutarey site in the North Angara region: new data based on the materials from layer 2

This paper presents a brief analysis of the lithic industries of the Kutarey River Mouth site located on the left bank of the Angara at 15 km downstream from Kezhma village in the Northern Angara Rregion. The main goal of this work is to define the specific features of the lithic industry of Kutarey River Mouth layer 2 through the techno-typological analysis in comparison with the collection of lithics and ceramics of layer 3 and to clarify the cultural and chronological affiliation of these complexes. The new analytical data significantly extend the source base of the Neolithic and Bronze Age in this region. The lithic industry associated with layer 2 includes retouched microblades, bladelets, tools on blades, flakes, scrapers and a microscraper, bifaces, several adzes and axes and a thrusting tool. Special attention is drawn to blades and trihedral and tetrahedral points. The most interesting parallel can be established with the Upper Kolyma Early Holocene complex with blade points, which is widely distributed in Northeast Asia. This technocomplex is present directly or indirectly in the materials of Chukotka, Yakutia, Kamchatka and is considered by researchers as a specific Yolbinsky tradition dated to the first half of the Holocene, i.e. 8800-6000 yr BP. It also seems perspective to compare these materials with those from other Kutarey sites and adjacent areas.