The Knapping Method in the Earliest Blade Industries of the Siberian Upper Paleolithic: Between Theory and Experiment.
https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2025-24-7-31-49
Abstract
Purpose. This study investigates the earliest forms of blade production in the Initial Upper Paleolithic in the Altai. Despite the widespread availability of high-quality lithic raw materials during the period from 47 to 40 ka uncal BP, the tradition of producing and using large blades reached its peak development here. These traditions retained characteristic features of the era. Results. The research specifically focuses on the knapping method, which is a complex and multifaceted aspect of the technology. This method integrates conceptually related and diverse techniques for organizing and managing the flaking process. Our primary goal was to experimentally test theoretically reconstructed knapping methods for Initial Upper Paleolithic blade industries. For this testing, we used raw materials from the Altai region. First, we reviewed and synthesized published data. This allowed us to develop a theoretical framework for the experiment. Next, we conducted practical experimental modeling of a universal production strategy. In this modeling, we employed both mineral and organic hammers. Conclusion. The results of the experiment confirm the first confirmation of the core principles within the theoretical model of blade production for the Altai Initial Upper Paleolithic. They clearly demonstrate the model's technical feasibility and effectiveness. Furthermore, the experiment enabled us to refine the implementation of the reconstructed technology. Additionally, we developed new approaches for interpreting traces of the modeled techniques in archaeological materials
Keywords
Altai Mountain,
Initial Upper Paleolithic,
Blade knapping,
Knapping method,
Method to control knapping,
Experimental modelling,
Stone raw material,
Knapping technique
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
N. E. Belousova
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Natalia E. Belousova, Candidate of Sciences (History)
V. A. Mikhienko
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Valeria A. Mikhienko
A. M. Rodionov
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Anton M. Rodionov, Candidate of Sciences (History)
M. V. Seletskiy
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Maxim V. Seletskiy
References
1. Belousova N. E. Kamennye industrii nachala verkhnego paleolita Gornogo Altaya [Stone industries of the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic of the Altai Mountains]. Cand. Hist. Sci. Diss. Novosibirsk, 2018, 199 р. (in Russ.)
2. Belousova N. E., Plotnikov D. R., Fedorchenko A. Yu. Paleoliticheskaya stoyanka Kara-Tenesh na Altae: polevye issledovaniya 1970–1990-kh godov [The Paleolithic site Kara-Tenesh in Altai: field research of the 1970s–1990s]. In: Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredel'nykh territorii [Problems of archaeology, ethnography, anthropology of Siberia and adjacent territories]. Novosibirsk, IAET SB RAS Publ., 2023, vol. 29, pp. 49–56. (in Russ.)
3. Belousova N. E., Rodionov A. M., Vikhirev A. V., Fedorchenko A. Yu., Mikheinko V. A., Seletskiy M. V. “Tonkie” listovidnye bifasy nachala verkhnego paleolita Altaya: tekhnologiya, formoobrazovanie i kamenoe syr'e [“Thin” leaf-shaped bifaces of the early Upper Paleolithic of Altai: technology, shaping and lithic raw materials]. Stratum plus. Arkheologiya i kul'turnaya antropologiya [Stratum plus. Archaeology and cultural anthropology], 2022, no. 1, pp. 329–353. (in Russ.)
4. Belousova N. E., Rybin E. P., Fedorchenko A. Yu. Strategii obrabotki kamennogo syr'ya v nachale verkhnego paleolita Gornogo Altaya (po materialam kul'turnogo gorizonta VP2 stoyanki Kara-Bom) [Strategies of lithic raw material processing in the early Upper Paleolithic of the Altai Mountains (based on materials from cultural horizon UP2 of the Kara-Bom site)]. Stratum plus: Arkheologiya i kul'turnaya antropologiya [Stratum plus: Archaeology and cultural anthropology], 2019, no. 1, pp. 225–250. (in Russ.)
5. Belousova N. E., Seletskiy M. V., Fedorchenko A. Yu. Instrumenty dlya obrabotki kamennogo syr'ya v industriyakh nachal'nogo i rannego verkhnego paleolita stoyanki Ust'-Karakol-1 (raskop 1986 goda) [Tools for processing lithic raw materials in the Initial and Early Upper Paleo lithic industries of the Ust-Karakol-1 site (trench 1986)]. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology], 2023, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 36–48. (in Russ.)
6. Derevianko A. P., Petrin V. T., Krivoshapkin A. I., Nikolaev S. V. Industriya stoyanki Kara Tenesh [Industry of the Kara-Tenesh site]. Gumanitarnyye nauki v Sibiri. Seriya Arkheologiya i etnografiya [Humanities in Siberia. Series Archaeology and Ethnography], 1999, no. 3, pp. 3–13. (in Russ.)
7. Derevianko A. P., Petrin V. T., Rybin E. P. Kharakter perekhoda ot must'e k pozdnemu paleolitu na Altae (po materialam stoyanki Kara-Bom) [The nature of the transition from Mousterian to Late Paleolithic in the Altai (based on materials from the Kara-Bom site)]. Arkheologiya, etno-grafiya i antropologiya Evrazii [Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia], 2000, no. 2, pp. 33–52. (in Russ.)
8. Derevianko A. P., Shunkov M. V., Agadzhanyan A. K., Baryshnikov G. F., Malaeva E. M., Ulyanov V. A., Kulik N. A., Postnov A. V., Anoykin A. A. Prirodnaya sreda i chelovek v paleolite Gornogo Altaya [Natural environment and man in the Paleolithic of the Altai Moun tains]. Novosibirsk, IAET SB RAS Publ., 2003, 448 p. (in Russ.)
9. Girya E. Yu. Tekhnologicheskii analiz kamennikh industrii (Metodika mikro-makroanaliza drevnikh orudii truda. Ch. 2) [Technological analysis of stone industries (Methods of micro-macroanalysis of ancient tools. Part 2)]. St. Petersburg, IIMK RAN Publ., 1997, 198 p. (in Russ.)
10. Kharevich V., Kharevich A., Pavlenok G., Bocharova E., Taimagambetov Zh., Anoykin A. Ten millennia without the Levallois technique: primary knapping methods in Initial Upper Paleolithic industries at the Ushbulak site, eastern Kazakhstan. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2022, vol. 14, p. 207.
11. Khaverich V. M., Rybin E. P., Khatsenovich A. M. Tekhnika skola v nachale verkhnego paleolita: eksperimental'nye kriterii vydeleniya razlichnykh tipov otboinikov (po materialam stoya nok doliny r. Tolbor, Severnaya Mongoliya) [Knapping technique in the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic: experimental criteria for distinguishing different types of hammerstones (based on materials from sites in the Tolbor River valley, Northern Mongolia)]. Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniya [Siberian Historical Research], 2021, no. 4, pp. 206–228. (in Russ.)
12. Nekhoroshev P. E. Tekhnologicheskii metod izucheniya pervichnogo rasshchepleniya kamnya srednego paleolita [Technological method for studying primary stone knapping in the Middle Paleolithic]. St. Petersburg, Evropeyskii Dom Publ., 1999, 173 p. (in Russ.)
13. Rybin E. P. K voprosu ob izmenenii tekhniki skola na rubezhe must'e i verkhnego paleolita [On the change in knapping technique at the turn of the Mousterian and Upper Paleolithic]. In: Sovremennye problemy Evraziiskogo paleolitovedeniya [Current problems of Eurasian Paleolithic studies]. Novosibirsk, IAET SB RAS Publ., 2001, pp. 331–337. (in Russ.)
14. Rybin E. P. Regional'naya variabel'nost' kamennikh industrii nachala verkhnego paleolita v Yuzhnoi Sibiri i Vostochnoi chasti Tsentral'noi Azii [Regional variability of stone industries of the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic in Southern Siberia and the Eastern part of Central Asia]. Dr. Hist. Sci. Diss. Novosibirsk, 2020, 549 p. (in Russ.)
15. Rybin E. P., Belousova N. E., Derevianko A. P., Douka K., Higham T. The Initial Upper Paleolithic of the Altai: New radiocarbon determinations for the Kara-Bom site. Journal of Human Evolution, 2023, vol. 185, p. 103453.
16. Rybin E. P., Khatsenovich A. M. Middle and Upper Paleolithic Levallois technology in Eastern Central Asia. Quaternary International, 2020, vol. 535, pp. 117–138.
17. Rybin E. P., Shelepaev R. A., Popov A. Yu., Khatsenovich A. M., Anoykin A. A., Pavle nok G. D. Ekspluatatsiya osadochnykh porod v verkhnepaleoliticheskikh tekhnologiyakh ras shchepleniya kamnya Tsentral'noi Azii – Yuzhnoi Sibiri [Exploitation of sedimentary rocks in Upper Paleolithic stone knapping technologies of Central Asia – Southern Siberia]. Teoriya i praktika arkheologicheskikh issledovanii [Theory and practice of archaeological research], 2018, no. 2 (22), pp. 146–156. (in Russ.)
18. Slavinskiy V. S. Industrii ranneverkhnepaleoliticheskikh urovnei obitaniya stoyanki Ust'-Karakol (materialy raskopa 1986 g.) [Industries of the early Upper Paleolithic habitation levels of the Ust-Karakol site (materials from the 1986 excavation)]. In: Severnaya Aziya v antropogene: chelovek, paleotekhnologii, geoekologiya, etnologiya i antropologiya [North Asia in the Anthropogene: man, paleotechnologies, geoecology, ethnology and anthropology]. Irkutsk, Ottisk Publ., 2007, vol. 2, pp. 197–214. (in Russ.)
19. Slavinskiy V. S. Rasshcheplenie kamnya v industriyakh final'nogo srednego i nachal'nogo verkh nego paleolita stoyanki Kara-Bom po rezul'tatam remontazha (tekhnologiya, blizhaishie analogii, khronologiya) [Stone knapping in the industries of the Final Middle and Initial Upper Paleolithic of the Kara-Bom site based on refitting results (technology, closest analogues,chronology)]. Pervobytnaya arkheologiya. Zhurnal mezhdistsiplinarnykh issledovanii [Primi tive Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Research], 2021, no. 1, pp. 5–51. (in Russ.)
20. Slavinskiy V. S., Rybin E. P. Prizmaticheskaya tekhnologiya rasshchepleniya kamnya v nachal'nom verkhnem paleolite Altaya [Prismatic knapping technology in the Initial Upper Paleolithic of Altai]. Izvestiya Altayskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [News of Altai State University], 2015, no. 3-2 (87), pp. 222–228. (in Russ.)
21. Slavinskiy V. S., Rybin E. P., Belousova N. E., Fedorchenko A. Yu., Khatsenovich A. M., Anoykin A. A. Spetsificheskii sposob podgotovki zony rasshchepleniya nukleusov v nachal'nom verkhnem paleolite Yuzhnoi Sibiri i Tsentral'noi Azii [A specific way of preparing the knapping zone of cores in the Initial Upper Paleolithic of Southern Siberia and Central Asia]. Stratum plus. Arkheologiya i kul'turnaya antropologiya [Stratum plus. Archaeology and cultural anthropology], 2017, no. 1, pp. 221–244. (in Russ.)
22. Vishnevskiy A. V., Belousova N. E., Fedorchenko A. Yu., Mikheinko V. A., Kozlikin M. B., Shunkov M. V. Kamennoe syr'e i ego istochniki v verkhnem paleolite Altaya cherez prizmu bifasial'nykh tekhnologii [Lithic raw materials and their sources in the Upper Paleolithic of Al tai through the prism of bifacial technologies]. Arkheologiya, etnografiya i antropologiya Evrazii [Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia], 2024, no. 4 (52), pp. 59–74. (in Russ.)
23. Zwyns N. Laminar Technology and the Onset of the Upper Paleolithic in the Altai, Siberia (Studies in Human Evolution). Doctoral Thesis. Leiden, Leiden Uni. Press, 2012, 414 p.
Review
For citations:
Belousova N.E., Mikhienko V.A., Rodionov A.M., Seletskiy M.V. The Knapping Method in the Earliest Blade Industries of the Siberian Upper Paleolithic: Between Theory and Experiment. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2025;24(7):31-49. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2025-24-7-31-49
Views:
8
Email this article 