Pages: 383-401
The paper deals with the preliminary results of the realization a salvage archaeology project connected with the construction of the railway from Kyzyl to Kuragino (Krasnoyarsk Region, South Siberia) in 2012 and 2015. During the exploration of the multicomponent habitation site of Irba 2 the Pleistocene remains were unearthed beneath the Holocene cultural layers. The finds include bones of bison, reindeer, red deer, giant deer, wild horse, brown bear and hare, lithics, and pieces of worked antler. Radiocarbon dates indicate the Final Pleistocene age (ca. 13 to 11 kyr BP). The assemblage belongs to the Afontova culture, which dominated in the upper reaches of Yenisei during the Final Upper Palaeolithic. Worthy of special note is a unique engraved oval-shaped flat pebble of white marble. It has 37 lateral grooves, cross-shaped engravings in the central parts of both lateral surfaces and traces of unfinished holes made by boring. The nearest analogs are agalmatolithic discs from the sites of Afontova Gora II and III located at Krasnoyarsk. These objects should probably be considered as amulets.
Keywords: Krasnoyarsk region, Sayan Mountains, Late Upper Palaeolithic, Afontova culture, stone and antler artefacts
Information about authors:
Andrey Polyakov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb, 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Petr Amzarakov (Abakan, Russian Federation). Khakass Research Institute of Language, Literature and History. Schetinkin St., 23, Abakan, 655017, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Sergey Vasil’ev (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb, 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Yurii Ryzhov (Irkutsk, Russian Federation). Doctor of Geographical Sciences. V. B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ulan-Batorskaya St., 1, Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation; Institute of the Earths Crust, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Lermontov St., 128, Irkutsk, 664033, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Tatyana Korneva (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb, 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Tatyana Sapelko (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Geographical Sciences. Institute of Limnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Sevostyanov St., 9, Saint Petersburg, 196105, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Gennady Baryshnikov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Doctor of Biological Sciences. Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Universitetskaya Emb., 1, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Natalya Burova (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb, 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Evgenii Girya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb, 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Galina Yamskikh (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation). Doctor of Geographical Sciences. Siberian Federal University. Svobodny Ave., 79, Krasnoyarsk, 6600041, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]