Pages: 285-328 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp221285328

Northern Mongolia and southwest Transbaikalia, encompassing the Selenga River Basin, constitute the geographical core of the earliest known Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) laminar industries. Comparison of the broad spectrum of criteria presented here allows reconstructing variability within these IUP industries, determining regional traits in settlement systems, and the character of population mobility. Workshops were the main site-type identified, visible as several short-term occupational episodes. One of our foci is illuminating the role of the Selenga River Valley and its tributaries as the principal migration corridors for population diffusion in the Upper Paleolithic. Although some unique regional features are apparent, the technology and typology of the lithic industries demonstrate great similarity. We suggest that the cumulative evidence indicates the recent divergence of Mongolian and Transbaikalian IUP populations stemming from a common ancestral group of humans.

Keywords: Transbaikalia, Mongolia, Initial Upper Paleolithic, lithic technology, variability, mobility systems, settlement patterns, substistеnce

Information about authors:

Evgeny Rybin (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademik Lavrentiev Ave., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Yuliya Antonova (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademik Lavrentiev Ave., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Vasilii Tashak (Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist, and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Sakhyanova St., 6, 670047, Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Dmitriy Kobylkin (Irkutsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Geography. V.B. Sochava Institite of Geography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ulanbatorskaya St., 1, Irkutsk, 664033, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Arina Khatsenovich (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademik Lavrentiev Ave., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Byambaa Gunchinsuren (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia). Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor. Institute of Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. Zhukov St., 77, Ulaanbaatar, 13343, Mongolia
E-mail: [email protected]