New data on the Paleolithic of the Upper Lena basin

In 2022-2023, a team from the IAET SB RAS worked in the areas of the upper Lena River basin. Paleolithic evidence was found at three sites. The site of Ust-Karolikha is located on the left bank of the Lena River in the mouth area on the left side of the Karolikha River valley. In 2022, the team from IAET SB RAS discovered archaeological evidence of the Paleolithic appearance in two exploration pits in the upper part of the Upper Pleistocene deposits. Paleolithic evidence included decortication spall and faunal remains. Bone fragment gave the date indicating the age of the site of 15,461 ± 80 BP (GV-4376). The Bamovskaya site, located on the right side of the Ulkan River valley, was discovered in 2007 by V.V. Krasnoshchekov. Based on charcoal and soil samples obtained during excavations in 2007, the age of18,370 ± 340 BP (S0AN-6910) was established for the cultural layer. In 2023, archaeological evidence was found in exploration pit at a depth of 2.40 m at the base of a lens of sandy loam deposits in the thickness of a redeposited layer at the Bamovskaya site. Permafrost and slope processes in the thickness of loose sediments at the site complicate precise identification of the planigraphic context for the evidence. The Krivaya Luka-2 site, located on the left bank of the Lena River close to the village of Krivaya Luka in Kirensk District of Irkutsk Region, was discovered by O.V. Zadonin in 1985. In 2023, a single-platform narrow faced core was found in exploration pit in solifluctuated deposits Kr2-Sr1. The evidence from the Krivaya Luka-2 site illustrates diverse technical and cultural development during the Early Upper Paleolithic in the Upper Lena region.