Kuyacha – a New Late Upper Palaeolithic Site in the Peschanaya River Valley (Altai Mountains)
https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2024-23-7-55-72
Abstract
Purpose. The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of an informative find from the new Kuyacha site in the Peschanaya River valley in the northwestern part of the Altai Mountains, discovered during the survey of the channel alluvium of the left bank of the Kuyacha River in 2022.
Results. The artefact under discussion is examined from the point of view of technological and geologicalmineralogical analysis, and its cultural and chronological affiliation within the framework of the Upper Palaeolithic of the Altai is assessed. The analysis of published data allows us to say that the wedge-shaped core from the Kuyacha site is the first expressive evidence of Upper Palaeolithic microblade pressing technology in the valley of the Peschanaya River. For the microblades manufacture, effusive material of local origin with high consumer properties was used, a potential source of which could be the nearest rock outcrops of the Kuyagan Formation along the left tributary of the Kuyachonok River. The utilization of the wedge-shaped core involved several stages from the selection of a massive detachment and the creation of a preform by modifying the base with bilateral flattening removals, to the removal of the target blanks by the pressing method and the subsequent reforming of the core.
Conclusion. Based on a wide range of analogies, it was established that similar types of cores were widespread in Altai sites during the Late Upper Palaeolithic.
Keywords
Altai Mountains,
lithic assemblages,
Late Upper Palaeolithic,
microblade knapping,
technological analysis,
scar pattern analysis
Supporting agencies: The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 20-78-10125-П “The dynamics of cultural development and human colonization of Altai at the onset of the Upper Paleolithic: life support strategies, paleotechnologies, mobility”
About the Authors
A. Yu. Fedorchenko
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Aleksandr Yu. Fedorchenko, Researcher Scopus Author ID 57189367702 WoS Researcher ID D-5485-2016
Novosibirsk
N. E. Belousova
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Nataliya E. Belousova, Candidate of Sciences (History) Scopus Author ID 57191634232 WoS Researcher ID R-2153-2016
Novosibirsk
A. V. Vishnevsky
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Andrei V. Vishnevsky, Researcher
Novosibirsk
M. V. Seletsky
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Maksim V. Seletsky, Junior Researcher
Novosibirsk
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For citations:
Fedorchenko A.Yu., Belousova N.E., Vishnevsky A.V., Seletsky M.V. Kuyacha – a New Late Upper Palaeolithic Site in the Peschanaya River Valley (Altai Mountains). Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2024;23(7):55-72. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2024-23-7-55-72
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