Archaeology of the Late Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic of the Lower Vitim and Baikal-Patom Upland

Abstract

More than 50 archaeological sites are known in the lower part of the Vitim river in the Baikal-Patom Upland. The main sites - Avdeyiha, Bolshoi Yakor, Invalidny III, Kovrizhka I-V, Mamakan VI all together contain over 30 stratified cultural horizons of the Late Upper Paleolithic — Mesolithic Period. The earliest complex of Mamakan VI dates from the first half of the Sartan glaciation (MIS-2).

Stone tools, represented by terminal microcores, end-scrapers, incisors, large blades and atypical flakes, do not resemble all known pre-ceramic complexes of the region, which is associated with a population change, or with a large chronological gap. During the entire subsequent radiocarbon time, 16,000-6,000 BP, the archaeological assemblages reveal features of similarity and continuity in the traditions of stone splitting, allowing one to see a common cultural history, the essence of which was the development of cultural variability in the Finale Pleistocene — Early Holocene. The beginning of this cultural process is represented by Kovrizhka IV complexes, attributed to the Middle Sartan time. The existence of assemblages of the Avdeikha Type and the Bolshoi Yakor Type are dated to the 14-10 Kyr. B.P The main differentiating feature is the presence or absence of bifacial yubetsu-like technique of stone splitting. Both groups show similarities with the Late Upper Paleolithic of Yakutia and Transbaikalia. In the Early Holocene assemblages of the Bolshaya Severnaya Type, having a Mesolithic appearance, are added. They are characterized by a change of raw materials, a microblade splitting from prismatic cores, and an entire change of the tool set.

The proposed cultural-chronological scheme of the preceramic complexes of the Lower Vitim consists of the Mamakansky, the Kovrizhkinsky, the Bolsheyakorsky and the Invalidny stages of development.

DOI 10.14258/izvasu(2018)2-30