New data on the serpentine personal ornaments of the Early Upper Palaeolithic from Ust-Karakol site

The article describes the main results of the study of technology and the function of serpentine-antigorite artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic assemblages of the Ust-Karakol site. It was established that the techniques of manufacturing stone ornaments included selection and transporting of a raw material, blank producing, processing by biconical drilling and grinding. Due to the fragility of the used serpentine nodule, the stage of preforms perforation preceded the treatment of their surfaces with abrasives. The traceological analysis did not reveal any use-wear traces on the products - there are no signs of wear inside the hole on the blank, as well as use-wear traces of macro- and micro-deformations on a fragment of the finished personal ornament with signs of polishing.