Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 43 (2) 2015

Annotation:  Blade and Microblade Industries in Northern, Eastern and Central Asia 1. African Origin and Spread t The Evidence of Rock Art in Iranian Makran: Aps-e Goalm and Kouhbodan-e Jor Petroglyphs, Qasr-e Qand New Findings Relating to the Maikop-Novosvobodnaya Burial Rite Horn Figurines from an Okunev Burial on Lake Itkul, Khakassia, Southern Siberia An Anthropomorphic Horn Figurine from the Northern Foothills of the Kuznetsky Alatau, Southern Siber A Funerary Complex of the Sintashta Age at Maloyuldashevo I, Western Orenburg Region Dwellings and Utility Structures at Linevo-1 – a Late Bronze to Early Iron Age Settlement in the Sal The Reconstruction of Cultural Processes in the Forest-Steppe Ob Basin During the Early Iron Age, B Unusual New Findings at Filippovka-1 Burial Mound 1, Southern Urals Ancient Turkic Stone Statues at Tuura-Suu, Kyrgyzstan Metal Details of Mongolian Age Belt-Sets from the Angara Taiga Gods and Humans: Living Under the Same Roof A Genetic Analysis of Human Remains from Ak-Alakha-3 Burial Mound 1, Gorny Altai The Nanay Clan Samar: The Structure of Gene Pool Based on Y-Chromosome Markers   

Blade and Microblade Industries in Northern, Eastern and Central Asia 1. African Origin and Spread to the Near East

A.P. Derevianko.

Being the fi rst in a series, this study addresses the place of the blade industry among those of Africa and Eurasia, and its origin and evolution in southern, eastern and northern Africa. The blade technology fi rst appeared in the Kapturin Formation some 500 ka BP. The Middle Stone Age industries of southern, eastern, and northern Africa were mostly based on the Levallois technique, which included points, blades, and fl akes; and on radial fl aking. In the late Middle and early Upper Pleistocene, two principal technologies, Aterian and Nubian, emerged in northern and northeastern Africa; whereas the principal industries of southern and partly eastern Africa were Howieson’s Poort (whose primary reduction technique was basically Upper Paleolithic), and an industry on predominantly geometric tools. Both were associated with anatomically modern humans, who migrated to Eurasia at various stages of the Upper Pleistocene.

Keywords: Kapturin Formation, Middle Stone Age (MSA I, II, III), Howieson’s Poort, Aterian industry, Nubian industry.