The Early Upper Paleolithic in the Altai Mountains

Mikhail Shunkov∗1

1Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAET SB RAS) – 17, Acad. Lavrentiev avenue, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia, Russia

Abstract

The Altai Paleolithic is the best-studied part of the Quaternary history of Central and Northern Asia. Archaeological research in the Anui River valley in the northwestern Altai has yielded stratified sites allowing for the construction of chronological sequences covering the Middle and Upper Pleistocene. This time span encompasses the development of human culture and environment from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic. In the period of 50–40 ka BP in the territory of the Altai, a gradual formation of the cultural complex of the Early Upper Paleolithic on the basis of local traditions was taking place. The Altai assemblages of stone artifacts of the Early Upper Paleolithic testify to mass production of narrow thin blades that were used as a basis for various special tools. A tool set acquired a novel thing, microblades that serve as blades for composite tools. Tools and ornaments made of bone, mollusk shell and gem stones are yet another innovation. The set of adornments include: miniature needles with a bored eye, pendants made of animal teeth, bone cylindrical beads with symmetrical rows of deep and wide incisions, beads and rings made of mammoth tusk, flat bead-rings made of fossil ostrich egg-shell, mollusk shells with man-made holes, pendants made of soft minerals, ring made of marble and bangle made of chloritolite. These artifacts were found in Early Upper Paleolithic layers of the Denisova Cave associated with the human fossils of a formerly unknown hominin type named as the Denisovan. The Denisovan popula- tion co-inhabited the Altai region with the easternmost Neanderthal population group. The Neanderthal fossils were discovered in the Chagyrskaya, Okladnikov and Denisova Cave. The lithic culture practiced by the Denisovans was rooted in the earliest strata in the Denisova sediment sequence. Subsistence strategy of the Denisovans was not inferior and even superior in some aspect to that of the anatomically modern humans who lived in other places during this period.

Keywords: Central and Northern Asia, Altai, Early Upper Palaeolithic, Denisovan, Neanderthal

∗Speaker

sciencesconf.org:uispp2018:180459