Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 41 (2) 2013

Annotation:  The Kulbulak Bladelet Tradition in the Upper Paleolithic of Central Asia New Findings on Lithic Industries of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Boundary in Dagestan Exploitation of Lithic Raw Material in the Northwestern Caucasus Upper Paleolithic Analyzing Fertility and Attraction in the Paleolithic: The Venus Figurines On Neolithic Origins in Western Georgia Environmental Conditions of the Late Paleolithic and Early Neolithic Sites in Southern Sakhalin Paleochannel Studies in Archaeology: The Case of the Vychegda River, Northeastern European Russia Technological Analysis of the Earliest Ceramics from the Amur Region (13–10 Thousand Years BP) Fortifi cations at Idnakar Settlement: The Findings of Interdisciplinary Research The Plamya Sibiri Sanctuary A Hoard Found on the Uibat River, Minusinsk Basin Early Iron Age Burial Practices of the Ancient Khmer People: The Phum Snay Necropolis, Northwestern Distal Phalanx of the Hand of Homo from Denisova Cave Stratum 12: A Tentative Description   

Paleochannel Studies in Archaeology: The Case of the Vychegda River, Northeastern European Russia

V.N. Karmanov, A.V. Chernov, N.E. Zaretskaya, A.V. Panin, and A.V. Volokitin.

Geological and geomorphological settings are often taken into account when choosing strategy in archaeological studies. In the Vychegda River valley (Archangelsk Province, Komi Republic), at the end of the Late Pleistocene and in the Holocene, lateral channel migrations were the dominant process of riverine landscape changes and hence directly infl uenced human occupation of the valley. Therefore, to assess the physical settings of archaeological sites we employed paleochannel analysis, a geomorphological technique aimed at reconstructing river channel transformations in the historical and geological past. The potential application of paleochannel analysis in archaeology includes designing archaeological surveys and predicting destructive river actions at archaeological sites located in river valleys.

Keywords: Archaeology, adaptation, paleochannel studies, geomorphological mapping, geochronology, paleoenvironment, Holocene, northeastern European Russia, Vychegda River.