New data on the Paleolithic of the Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo plain

The Unkei site, discovered by V.S. Nikolaev in 2016, is located on the left bank of the Zalarinka River in Nukutsky District of Irkutsk Region. Archaeological and paleontological evidence was found in two layers. First layer was located in the buttom of the Early Holocene loam, and the second layer was located in the upper part of soluflucted Late Karginsky soil. Direct dating of bone samples taken from the lower stratum with artifacts indicated the chronological period from 23,380 ± 204 to 31,024 ± 311 BP. The complex of the Final Palaeolithic manifests the mixed features of the Badai and Ida types. The complex of the Kargisnky period is the most western point of the area where the Igetei flaking strategy appears. The upper layer is distinguished by the presence of unindefinable bone fragments or large mammals. Only reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) remains have been identified with certainty. The lower layer contained the bones of the fossil horse (Equus ferus), Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), and large bull or bison (Bos aut Bison sp). In 2018, V.S. Nikolaev discovered stone artifacts of the Final Paleolithic appearance in the western outskirts of the village of Novonukutsky, which can be correlated with the upper complex of Unkei according to their morphology and stratigraphic position. New site of Pervomaiskoe was discovered in 2017 in the left estuary area of the Unga Bay by the geologists S.G. Arzhannikov and A.V. Arzhannikova from the Institute of the Earth Crust of SB RAS. In the past two years, new stratified complexes of the Late and Upper Paleolithic have been discovered in the Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo Plain.