Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 51 (3) 2023   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2023.51.3.050-058

Annotation:  A.P. Derevianko’s Multivolume Three Global Human Migrations in Eurasia and Its Place in Paleolithic Core-Shaped Tools from the Early Pleistocene Deposits at Bairaki, Moldova Early-Middle Acheulean Occupation of the Northern Transcaucasian Highland Nikolaevo-Otradnoye II—A New Early and Middle Paleolithic Site in the Northeastern Azov Region On the Attribution of Lithic Industry from the Early Paleolithic Site of Bogatyri/Sinyaya Balka, the Gazma Cave—A Final Middle Paleolithic Site in Azerbaijan: Paleogeography, Chronology, Archaeology Variability in the Sibiryachikha Assemblages of the Altai Mountains (Based on Materials from Okladni Spatial Structures of the Initial/Early Upper Paleolithic at Tolbor-21, Northern Mongolia A Complex of Stratifi ed Upper Paleolithic Sites in the Foothills of the Northern Tien Shan: General Late Pleistocene Environments of East Kazakhstan (Based on Ushbulak Site Materials) A New Type of IUP Settlement in the Selenga River Basin, Northern Mongolia: The Kharganyn Gol-13 Sho Morpho-Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Radiocarbon Chronology of Suyanggae Sites, Focusing on Loc. Khengerekte-Sukhotino—An Upper Paleolithic Culture in Transbaikalia Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene Paleoclimatic Boundaries and Human Settlement of the East Siberia Late Upper Paleolithic of the South Minusinsk Basin and its Mountain Surroundings: Research Results Ɖiem Cave: A Stratified Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Site in Northern Vietnam A Case of Systemic Connective Tissue Disorder in a Pazyryk Male from the Altai Mountains   

Variability in the Sibiryachikha Assemblages of the Altai Mountains
(Based on Materials from Okladnikov Cave Layer 2)

K.A. Kolobova^{1, 2}, I.E. Tyugashev¹, A.V. Kharevich¹, M.V. Seletsky¹, P.V. Chistyakov¹, S.V. Markin¹, and A.P. Derevianko^{1, 2}

¹Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

²Altai State University, Pr. Lenina 61, Barnaul, 656049, Russia

This article, based on new data from comprehensive studies of assemblage from Okladnikov Cave layer 2, explores the variability of Middle Paleolithic Sibiryachikha variant of the Altai Mountains. Using methods such as scar pattern analysis, experimental use-wear analysis, attributive analysis, etc., we specify the characteristics of the assemblage by extending the nomenclature of technical flakes relating to radial flaking, evaluating the share of the bifacial component including bifaces, their fragments, and bifacial technical flakes, revising the typology of the tools. The Sibiryachikha assemblage of Chagyrskaya Cave layer 6c/1 is correlated with that of Okladnikov Cave layers 1 and 2, revealing not only common features but also differences in primary and secondary reduction. At Okladnikov Cave, unlike Chagyrskaya, the reduction cycle is incomplete, the tools are smaller, and the share of convergent scrapers and chips resulting from the processing of bifaces is higher. We conclude that the distinctive feature of Okladnikov industry is a considerably more intense modification of raw materials owing to their less availability. Because Okladnikov Cave is situated in the immediate vicinity of the sources of raw material, implying its abundance, we suggest that pebbles of suitable quality and size were less available. As a result, rejuvenation of lithic tools was more intense, and bifacial thinning flakes were used as tool blanks. The Okladnikov Cave industry reveals the complex behavioral models, previously unknown, among eastern Neanderthals, which do not rule out the import of bifacial tools or blanks made of high-quality raw material.

Keywords: Middle Paleolithic, Sibiryachikha variant, Altai Mountains, bifacial technology, model of raw material use, Neanderthals