Pages: 285-307

The paper deals with the products of the Levallois convergent unidirectional technology, namely the points with the Y-arete pattern, coming from the Palaeolithic sites of Siberia and Central Asia. The unidirectional Levallois points appear to be indicative of the presence of a particular specialized technology. Three distribution areas of the typical Levallois unidirectional convergent knapping can be singled out: the Rusian Altai; the Middle Yenisei region, and Central and Northern Mongolia. Тhe earliest assemblages containing the products associated with the typical Levallois unidirectional convergent flaking can be found in the territory of the Altai Mountains among the Middle Palaeolithic industries. They can be dated to MIS-5 a–d. The most representative and well developed variant of this technology can be seen in the industries of the late stage of the Middle Palaeolithic of Altai, dated to MIS-4 and the beginning of MIS-3. The latest evidence of the use of the Levallois unidirectional convergent method in the Altai Mountains is found in the industries that existed 35 000—43 000 years BP. As to the regions peripheral to central area where the Levallois unidirectional convergent method was spread, probably not a single industry containing typical and atypical Levallois points can be reliably dated to the period earlier than 33 000—35 000 years BP; while in Mongolia (Chikhen agui) the latest of them seem to have survived up to ca. 27 000 years BP and 29 000 years BP in South-Western foothills of Kazakhstan Altai (Bystrukha-2).

Keywords: Southern Siberia, Mongolia, Middle Palaeolithic, Initial Upper Palaeolithic, knapping technology, Levallois points, Levallois convergent unidirectional technology.

Information about authors:

Evgeny Rybin (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. Akademik Lavrentyev Pr., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation; Altai State University. Lenin Pr., 61, Barnaul, 656049, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]

Vyacheslav Slavinskiy (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. Akademik Lavrentyev Pr., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]