LATE UPPER PALEOLITHIC OF THE LOWER VITIM (BASED ON THE DATA OF KOVRIZHKA-III–IV AND BOL’SHOI YAKOR’-I SITES)

• Published in: Teoriya i praktika arkheologicheskikh issledovaniy
• Main Author: Тетенькин, А.В.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Altai State University 2022
• Subjects: Eastern Siberia; Baikal-Patom Highlands; Late Upper Paleolithic; Sartan glaciation; Final Pleistocene; lithic industry; microblade splitting; dwelling; ocher; art; Восточная Сибирь; Байкало-Патомское нагорье; поздний верхний палеолит; сартанское оледенение; финальный плейстоцен; каменная индустрия; микропластинчатое расщепление; жилище; охра; искусство; Dyuktai culture; Yakutia; Siberia
• Online Access: http://journal.asu.ru/tpai/article/view/11935; https://doi.org/10.14258/tpai(2022)34(3).-04

The multilayer sites Kovrizhka-IV and Bol’shoi Yakor’-I, Kovrizhka-III (Baikal-Patom Highlands, Lower Vitim) make it possible to characterize the Late Upper Paleolithic (LUP) at the early, 19–17 Kyr BP, and late, 15–13 Kyr BC, stages, respectively. The high information potential makes it possible to highlight the culture and activities of the inhabitants in terms of lithic production and microblade splitting, living features, settling, hunting, the transportation of mineral resources from remote sources, sign-symbolic activity and art. Th e lithic assemblages of LUP appearance, in general, show continuity from the early stage to the late one. In microblade splitting, this is expressed in the translation of the Kovrizhka and Yubetsu-Bol’shoi Yakor’ techniques for preparing the wedge-shaped microcore and reducing the biface. For the early stage, chisel-shaped tools are more typical than for the late stage, for the late stage - transversal burins. On Kovrizhka-IV (early stage), the remains of dwelling features were found, art objects were discovered as well as numerous evidence of the use of ocher. Bol’shoi Yakor’-I and Kovrizhka-III (late stage) show various hearth complexes and specifi c structures made of gneiss slabs. Culturally and typologically, the LUP of the Lower Vitim correlates with the Studenovskaya culture of Southern Transbaikalia at an early stage, the Dyuktai culture of Yakutia, and the Verkholenskaya culture of Southwestern Cisbaikalia at a later stage. In the early Holocene, LUP traditions were continued in a number of sites. However, already along with the appeared complexes of the Mesolithic appearance. Многослойные памятники Коврижка-IV и Большой Якорь-I, Коврижка-III (Байкало-Патомское нагорье, Нижний Витим) дают возможность характеризовать поздний верхний палеолит (ПВП) на раннем, 19–17 тыс. л.н., и позднем, 15–13 тыс. л.н., этапах соответственно. Высокий информационный потенциал позволяет описывать культуру и деятельность обитателей в аспектах каменного производства и микропластинчатого ...