LATE UPPER PALEOLITHIC OF THE LOWER VITIM (BASED ON THE DATA OF KOVRIZHKA-III–IV AND BOL’SHOI YAKOR’-I SITES)
Abstract
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.
Downloads
Metrics
No metrics found.
References
Aksenov M. P. Archaeological Stratigraphy and Lyer-by-layer Description of the Inventory of the Verkholenskaya Gora I Site. In: Mesolithic of Upper Angara. Irkutsk : Izd-vo Irkut. un-ta, 1980. Issue 2: Sites of the Irkutsk district. Pp. 45–93. (In Russ.)
Henry A., Bezrukova E. V., Tetenkin A. V., Kuzmin M. I. New Data for the Reconstruction of Vegetation and Climate in the Baikal-Patom Highlands (Eastern Siberia) during the Maximum of the Last Glaciation — the Early Holocene. Doklady Akademii nauk = Reports of the Academy of Sciences. 2018;478(5):584–587. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X18020113
Belousov V. M., Ineshin E. M., Burakov K. S., Nachasova I. E. Some Results of the Study of the Pleistocene Deposits of the Archaeological Sites of Lower Vitim. In: Chronostratigraphy of the Paleolithic of North, Central and East Asia and America. Novosibirsk : IAET SORAN, 1990. Pp. 60–65. (In Russ.)
Vasil’ev S. A. Paleolithic of Siberia: New Facts, New Concepts. In: Steppes of Eurasia in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. St. Petersburg : Izd-vo Gos. Ermitaga, 2002. Pp. 118–120. (In Russ.)
Vetrov V. M. Archeology of the Vitim plateau: Ust-Karenga Culture (13000–5000 BP). In: Actual problems of archeology of Siberia and the Far East. Ussuriysk : Izd-vo UGPI, 2011. Pp. 173–187. (In Russ.)
Demonterova E. I., Ivanov A. V., Ineshin E. M., Tetenkin A. V. On the Question of the Mobility of the Ancient Population of the North of Baikal Siberia at the End of the Pleistocene. Stratum plus. 2014;1:165–180. (In Russ.)
Derevyanko A. P., Markin S. V., Vasil’ev S. A. Paleolithic Studies: An Introduction and Fundamentals. Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1994. 288 p. (In Russ.)
Dikov N. N. Paleolithic of Kamchatka and Chukotka in Connection with the Problem of the Initial Settlement of America. Magadan : SVKNII DVO RAN, 1993. 68 p. (In Russ.)
Ineshin E. M., Tetenkin A. V. Adaptive Variability in Splitting Systems in the Final Pleistocene Deposits of the Lower Vitim. In: Archaic and Traditional Cultures of Northeast Asia. Problems of Origin and Transcontinental Connections. Irkutsk : Izd-vo Irkut. un-ta, 2000. Pp. 57–24. (In Russ.)
Ineshin E. M., Tetenkin A. V. Problems of Studying the Archaeological Sites of the Early Holocene on the Lower Vitim. In: Sociogenesis in North Asia. Irkutsk : Izd-vo IrGTU, 2005. Part 1. Pp. 96–104. (In Russ.)
Ineshin E. M., Tetenkin A. V. Human and Natural Environment in the North of Baikalian Siberia in Late Pleistocene. Archaeological site Bol’shoy Yakor’-I. Novosibirsk : Nauka, 2010. 270 p. (In Russ.)
Konstantinov A. V. Ancient Dwellings of Transbaikalia: Paleolithic, Mesolithic. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 2001. 224 p. (In Russ.)
Konstantinov M. V. Stone Age of the Eastern Region of Baikal Asia. Ulan-Ude; Chita : Izdvo ION BNC SO RAN, 1994. 180 p. (In Russ.)
Medvedev G. I. Archaeological Studies of the Multilayer Paleolithic site Krasny Yar I on the Angara in 1964–1965. In: Reports of Archaeological Expeditions for 1963–1965. Irkutsk : Irkut. obl. kraeved. muzej, 1966. Pp. 5–25. (In Russ.)
Molchanov G. N., Molchanov D. N., Lipnina E. A. Technomorphological Analysis of the Stone and Bone Industry from Cultural Horizon 2 of the Kurla I Multilayer Locality in Northern Baikal. Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya Geoarheologiya. Etnoarheologiya. Antropologiya = Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University. Series Geoarchaeology. Ethnoarchaeology. Anthropology. 2019;28:3–37. (In Russ.) DOI https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2019.28.3
Moroz P. V. Stone Industries at the Turn of the Pleistocene and Holocene of Western Transbaikalia. Chita : ZabGU, 2014. 182 p. (In Russ.)
Mochanov Yu. A. Stratigraphy and Absolute Chronology of the Paleolithic of Northeast Asia (according to the works of 1963-1973). Yakutia and Its Neighbors in Antiquity. Yakutsk : JaF SO AN SSSR, 1975. Pp. 9–31. (In Russ.)
Mochanov Yu. A. Th e Earliest Stages of Human Settlement in Northeast Asia. Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1977. 264 p. (In Russ.)
Pitulko V. V. Race against Time: in Search of the Initial Stage of Human Development of the Siberian Arctic. Th e Past of Humanity in the Works of St. Petersburg Archaeologists at the Turn of the Millennium (to the 100th anniversary of the creation of Russian academic archeology). St. Petersburg : Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie, 2019. Pp. 103–136. (In Russ.)
Pitulko V. V., Pavlova E. Yu. Geoarchaeology and Radiocarbon Chronology of the Stone Age of Northeast Asia. St. Petersburg : Nauka, 2010. 264 p. (In Russ.)
Razgildeeva I. I. Planigraphic Analysis of Dwelling-Living Features of the Upper Paleolithic in Transbaikalia. Chita : ZabGU, 2018. 208 p. (In Russ.)
Stepanov A. D., Kirillin A. S., Vorobyov S. A., Solovieva E. N., Efi mov N. N. Khaiyrgas Cave on the Middle Lena (results of research in 1998–1999). In: Ancient Cultures of Northeast Asia. Astroarcheology. Paleoinformatics. Novosibirsk : Nauka, 2003. Pp. 98–113. (In Russ.)
Sukhotino Geoarchaeological Complex: a Scientifi c Guide to the Paleolithic Sites of the Sukhotino Geoarchaeological Vomplex / comp. E.A. Filatov; Zabaikalsky state. un-t. Chita : ZabGU, 2016. 44 p. (In Russ.)
Tashak V. I. Paleolithic and Mesolithic Sites of Ust-Kyakhta. Ulan-Ude : Izd-vo BNC SO RAN, 2005. 130 p. (In Russ.)
Tashak V. I. Eastern Complex of the Paleolithic site Podzvonkaya in Western Transbaikalia. Irkutsk : Izd-vo In-ta geografi i im. V. B. Sochavy SO RAN, 2016. 185 p. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V. Research Materials of the Ensemble of Archaeological Sites Kovrizhka on Nizhny Vitim (1995–2009). Izvestiya Laboratorii drevnih tehnologij = Proceedings of the Laboratory of Ancient Technologies. 2010;8:64–134. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V. The Problem of Determining the Archaeological Specifi cs of the Baikal-Patom Highlands at the End of the Pleistocene — the First Half of the Holocene. In: Proceedings of the III (XIX) All-Russian Archaeological Congress. Vol. I. St. Petersburg; Moscow; Veliky Novgorod : IIMK RAN, 2011. Pp. 94–95. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V. Late Paleolithic Site Mamakan-VI on Vitim River. Izvestiya Laboratorii drevnih tehnologij = Proceedings of the Laboratory of Ancient Technologies. 2014a;4(12):9–26. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V. Th e Kovrizhka-III Site in the Archaeology of the Lower Vitim and the Baikal-Patom Highlands. In: Proceedings of the IV (XX) All-Russian Archaeological Congress in Kazan. Vol. I. Kazan : Otechestvo, 2014b. Pp. 163–168. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V. Multilayer site of Kovrizhka-III on Lower Vitim. Stratum plus. 2016;1:265–315. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V. Technological Context for the Production and Splitting of Microblade Cores Based on the Materials of Cultural Horizons 2B and 6 of the Kovrizhka-IV Site (Vitim, Baikal-Patom Highlands). Izvestiya IGU. Seriya: Geoarheologiya. Etnoarheologiya. Antropologiya = Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series: Geoarchaeology. Ethnology. Anthropology. 2017a;21:107–135. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V. Th e Late Paleolithic of Vitim Based on the Materials of the Multilayer Site Kovrizhka-IV (Baikal-Patom Highlands, Eastern Siberia). In: Proceedings of the V (XXI) All-Russian Archaeological Congress in Barnaul — Belokurikha: in 3 volumes. Barnaul : Izdvo Alt. un-ta, 2017b. Vol. I. Pp. 101–105. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V. Archaeology of the Late Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic of Lower Vitim and the Baikal-Patom Highlands. Izvestiya AltGU. Istoricheskie nauki i arheologiya = Bulletin of Altai State University. Historical Sciences and Archaeology. 2018;2(100):182–187. (In Russ.) DOI 10.14258/izvasu(2018)2-30
Tetenkin A. V. New Paleolithic Component of the Niryakan I Site on the Mama River (Baikal-Patom Highlands). Izvestiya Laboratorii drevnih tehnologij = Proceedings of the Laboratory of Ancient Technologies. 2021;17(3):9–21. (In Russ.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.21285/2415-8739-2021-3-9-21
Tetenkin A. V., Henry A., Klementiev A. M. Kovrizhka-IV site: Late Paleolithic Complex of the Cultural Horizon 6. Arheologicheskie vesti = Archaeological News. 2017;23:33–55. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V., Henry O., Jacquier J., Klementiev A. V., Ulanov A.A. Studies of the New Paleolithic Complex of the Cultural Horizon 2B of the Kovrizhka-IV Site on the Vitim River in 2015–2016 (preliminary report). Izvestiya laboratorii drevnih tehnologij = Proceedings of the Laboratory of Ancient Technologies. 2016;4(21):9–18. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.21285/2415-8739-2016-4-9-18
Tetenkin A. V., Vetrov V. M., Demonterova E. I., Pashkova G. V., Kaneva E. V. Argillite Artifacts and Final Pleistocene to Middle Holocene Cultural Links Across the Vitim River Basin (Baikal Region). Arheologiya, etnografi ya i antropologiya Evrazii = Archeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia. 2018;46(2):16–24. DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.2.016-024
Tetenkin A. V., Demonterova E. I., Kaneva E. V., Henry O., Gauvrit Roux E. Ocher in Late Paleolithic Contexts at the Kovrizhka-IV Site, the Baikal-Patom Highlands (Eastern Siberia, Russia). Arheologiya, etnografi ya i antropologiya Evrazii = Archeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia. 2020;48(3):33–42. DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.3.033-042
Tetenkin A. V., Demonterova E. I., Poplevko G. N., Razgildeeva I. I., Salnaya N. V., Henry O. Late Paleolithic Complex of Cultural Horizon 2G of the Kovrizhka-IV Site on the Vitim River (Baikal-Patom Highlands). Stratum Plus. 2021:259–300. (In Russ.)
Tetenkin A. V., Zhmur O. V., Demonterova E. I., Kaneva E. V., Salnaya N. V. Ivory Figurines and the Symbolic Context of a Paleolithic Dwelling at Kovrizhka-IV on the Lower Vitim River, Eastern Siberia. Arheologiya, etnografi ya i antropologiya Evrazii = Archeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia. 2018;46(4):3–12. DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.4.003-012
Shmygun P. E. Pre-ceramic Complexes from the Quaternary Deposits of Northern Baikal. In: Relief and Quaternary Deposits of the Stanovoy Upland. Moscow : Nauka, 1981. Pp. 120–128. (In Russ.)
Bezrukova E. V., Tarasov P. E., Solovieva N., Krivonogov S. K., Riedel F. Last Glacial-Interglacial Vegetation and Environmental Dynamics in Southern Siberia: Chronology, Forcing and Feedbacks. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 2010;296:185–198.doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.07.020
Gauvrit Roux E., Teten’kin A. V., Henry A. Which Uses for the Late Glacial Microblades of Eastern Siberia? Functional Analysis of the Lithic Assemblage of the Lithic Assemblage of Kovrizhka-IV, Level 6. Izvestiya Laboratorii drevnih tekhnologij = Proceedings of the Laboratory of Ancient Technologies. 2021;17(2):9–22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21285/2415-8739-2021-2-9-22
Goebel T. Th e “Microblade Adaptation” and Recolonization of Siberia during the Late Upper Pleistocene. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association. 2002;12:117–131.
Ineshin E. M., Teten’kin A. V. Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic Technological Variability in the Lower Vitim Valley, Eastern Siberia. In: From the Yenisei to the Yukon. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2011. Pp. 58–74.
Ineshin E. M. and Tetenkin A. V. Humans and the Environment in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Baikalian Siberia. Trans. and ed. P. Hommel and N. Reyolds. Newcastle : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017. 337 p.
Kılınc G. M., Kashuba N., Koptekin D., Bergfeldt N., Donertaş H. M., Rodriguez-Varela R., Shergin D., Ivanov G., Kichigin D., Pestereva K., Volkov D., Mandryka P., Kharinskii А., Tishkin A., Ineshin E., Kovychev E., Stepanov A., Dalen L., Gunther T., Kırdok E., Jakobsson M., Somel M., Krzewińska M., Stora J., Gotherstrom A. Human Population Dynamics and Yersinia Pestis in Ancient Northeast Asia. Science Advances. 2021;7(2):eabc4587; doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abc4587 (https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/2/eabc4587)
Margold M., Jansen K. N., Gurinov A. L., Codilean A. T., Fink D., Preusser F., Reznichenko N. V., Mifsud C. Extensive Glaciation in Transbaikalia, Siberia, at the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Review. 2016;132:161–174. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.11.018)
Mochanov Y. A., Fedoseeva S. A. Chapter 3. Aldansk: Aldan River Valley, Sakha Republic. In: American Beginnings. Th e Prehistory and Palaeoecology of Beringia, Edited by West C. F. Chicago and London : Th e University of Chicago Press, 1996. Pp. 157–214.
Morlan R. E. Technological Characteristics of Stone Wedge-shaped Cores in Northwestern North America and Northern Asia. Asian Perspectives. 1976; 19:96–106.
Nakazawa Y., Izuho M., Takakura J., Yamada S. Toward an Understanding of Technological Variability in Microblade Assemblages in Hokkaido, Japan. Asian Perspectives. 2005;44(2):276–292.
Testart A. Th e Signifi cance of Food Storage among Hunter-Gatherers: Residence Patterns, Population Densities, and Social Inequalities. Current Anthropology. 1982;23(5):523–537.
Teten’kin A. V., Smith H.L., Henry A. Archaeological Evidence for the Construction of Features at the Kovrizhka Site, Siberia, during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition. PaleoAmerica. 2016;2(4):343–361. DOI: 10.1080/20555563.2016.1204842
Theory and Practice of Archaeological Research is a golden publisher, as we allow self-archiving, but most importantly we are fully transparent about your rights.
Authors may present and discuss their findings ahead of publication: at biological or scientific conferences, on preprint servers, in public databases, and in blogs, wikis, tweets, and other informal communication channels.
Theory and Practice of Archaeological Research allows authors to deposit manuscripts (currently under review or those for intended submission to ABS) in non-commercial, pre-print servers such as ArXiv.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).