Pages: 265-314

Multilayered site of Kovrizhka III on the Vitim River contains 5 cultural levels dated to 11.4—10.4 and 8.2—8.0 kyr BP. While the Final Pleistocene assemblages are identified as Final Palaeolithic ones, they also show some technological and typological elements characteristic of the Early Holocene Mesolithic assemblages (prismatic microcores, an axe-like biface). Of particular interest are linear artificial structures of gneiss slabs found in several cultural horizons. The most complex of these structures was built ca. 10.4 14C kyr BP and renovated some 2000 years later. Its construction involved a number of sophisticated technics. The presence of pumice from the Udokan volcanic field situated 500 km away from Kovrizhka is indicative of a high mobility of Final Palaeolithic populations and their ability to obtain and transport resources from very remote sources.

Keywords: Transbaikalia, the Lower Vitim River, Final Palaeolithic, Pleistocene-Holocene Transition, cultural variability.

Information about author:

Aleksey Tetenkin (Irkutsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Irkutsk National Research Technical University. Lermontov St., 83, Irkutsk, 664074, Russian Federation.
E-mail: [email protected]