Assemblages of surface artifacts from Ushbulak-1 and Ushbulak-2 sites (based on 2016 research data)

As a result of the 2016 field survey, two new Paleolithic sites associated with creeks in the Ushbulak area were discovered in the northeastern foothills of the Shiliktinskaya Valley. Abundant archaeological remains were recorded in the watercourse of Vostochny creek (the Ushbulak-1 site). Field survey yielded a collection of lithic artifacts including 1477 specimens. The lithic industry clearly reveals a tendency toward the blade-oriented production. Blades were predominantly removed from cores with a wide working surface and narrow-faceted cores. The availability of burin-cores, semi-crested and crested blades, semi-’tablets’, end-scrapers, truncated pieces, knives, pieces with the trimmed distal end, a variety of retouched blades suggest that the basic assemblage of finds can be attributed to the Initial Upper Paleolithic. A small collection of surface finds identified on both sides of the Severny creek (the Ushbulak-2 site) was tentatively dated to the developed Upper Paleolithic.