Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 51 (3) 2023   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2023.51.3.124-129

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   

Late Upper Paleolithic of the South Minusinsk Basin
and its Mountain Surroundings: Research Results and Problems

S.A. Vasiliev

Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab. 18, St. Petersburg, 191186, Russia

This paper briefly reviews the main Late Upper Paleolithic sites of the Upper Yenisei—in the South Minusinsk Basin and in the adjacent highlands of the West Sayan. Known sites mostly date to the Late Sartan period. They concentrate on the Upper Abakan River, in the Yenisei valley between Maina and Sayanogorsk, and on the Upper Tuba River. Information is provided on the composition of fauna and on pollen data, indicating the predominance of mosaic landscapes with alternating forested and open steppe spaces. Climate fluctuations of the Final Pleistocene were reflected in the alternation of phases of herbaceous and forest vegetation. The association of most sites with deposits of the second and third terraces has been established. Certain sites, however, are associated with cover deposits at high elevations, on the one hand, and with the first terrace lowered to the level of the high floodplain, on the other. In recent years, the Late Paleolithic of the Upper Yenisei has been considered in the context of the original version of catastrophic floods, which presumably occurred repeatedly in the Late Pleistocene. The nature of the stratigraphic sections of the multilayered sites of the Maina group on the Yenisei, however, disagrees with this hypothesis, and indicates continuous alluvial sedimentation in the Sartan Age. A conclusion is made about the predominance of remains of seasonal hunter-gatherer habitation sites on the riverbanks. But there are also traces of a lithic workshop near the quartzite outcrops (Kuibyshevo II). Unfortunately, no sites earlier than the Late Upper Paleolithic are known in the region, and Mesolithic ones are extremely rare.

Keywords: Yenisei, Abakan, Minusinsk Basin, Sartan Age, Late Upper Paleolithic, site location