Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 38 (3) 2010

Annotation:  Three Scenarios of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition. Scenario 1: The Middle to Upper Paleo Chronology and Periodization of Upper Paleolithic Sites in Mongolia Projectile Points and their Implications The “Malta Realism”: On Interpreting Siberian Anthropomorphic Figurines from the Upper Paleolithic Private Collection of Seima-Turbino Bronzes from the Irtysh: The Tragedy of a Unique Site Destroyed Sargat Burial Sites in the Middle Irtysh Area: A Gender Analysis The Archaeological and Geophysical Study of Defense Works Yenisei Kyrgyz “Forts” in the Russian Reports of the 17th Century and the Archaeological Reality The Wusun in Northeastern Central Asia Eighteenth Century Trends in the Development of Buryat Clothing Field Trip by B.N. Gorodkov and G.M. Dmitirev-Sadovnikov to the Vakh River Valley in 1913 A Comparison of the Medieval and Modern Populations of the Novgorod Region, Based on Facial Reconst The Origin of the Late Medieval Population of the Novgorod Republic (13th–16th Centuries), Based on   

Three Scenarios of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition. Scenario 1: The Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition in Northern Asia

A.P. Derevianko.

The work addresses one of the major issues in Paleolithic studies – the transition from Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic cultures. Based on key stratifi ed sites in the Altai, three tendencies in the evolution of Middle Paleolithic industries are described: Karakol, Kara-Bom, and Sibiryachikha. For each tendency, primary reduction techniques, technical and typological characteristics of the toolkits, and non-utilitarian objects are analyzed. Middle Paleolithic evolution and specifi c features of the Upper Paleolithic transition are outlined for each tendency in a chronological framework. In the early Upper Paleolithic, two traditions are traceable in Southern Siberia – Kara-Bom and Ust- Karakol. The specifi c features of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in the Altai include prolonged survival of Middle Paleolithic forms and a convergent appearance and evolution of Aurignacoid elements. The conclusion is made that the Middle to Upper transition in the Altai was an autochthonous process that affected the Upper Paleolithic industries of the adjacent regions of Southern Siberia.

Keywords: Transitional industries, early Upper Paleolithic, industrial tradition, primary reduction, toolkit, Homo sapiens sapiens, H. sapiens neanderthalensis, Denisova Cave.