Pages: 85-98

Factual information and its interpretation regarding the geological age of the Lower Palaeolithic site of Karama (Altai Mountains, Siberia) are considered. It is demonstrated that palynological data do not allow to date this site to earlier than ca. 800 kya; archaeological data are consistent with this estimate. The viewpoint of V. S. Zykin with coauthors, according to which the age of Karama is ca. 1.95—1.77 mya, finds no support in the light of the available geological and paleomagnetic evidence. The so-called “Karama suite” of the Upper Pliocene of Altai Mountains in reality does not exist. For the time being there are no reliable data indicating than the initial peopling of Siberia took place prior to ca. 1 mya.

Keywords: Siberia, Altai Mountains, Lower Palaeolithic, Karama site, geological age

Information about authors:

Yaroslav Kuzmin (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Doctor of Geographical Sciences. Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology and Mineralogy. Koptyug Ave., 3, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Aleksei Kazansky (Moscow, Russian Federation). Doctor of Geology and Mineralogy. Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. Lomonosov Ave., 27-4, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]