Pages: 257-275 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp241257275

This article focuses on the Upper Paleolithic lithic industries from layers 5.1—4 of the Ushbulak site in Eastern Kazakhstan. These assemblages, dated approximately to ~24—21 kyr BP, show the appearance of pressure flaking technique, being thus chronologically consistent with the earliest manifestations of this knapping technique known in South Korea and Northeast China. The primary reduction and toolset composition of the Late Upper Paleolithic assemblages at Ushbulak show fundamental differences from both the preceding Initial Upper Paleolithic of layers 7—6 and the subsequent Final Upper Paleolithic assemblages of layers 3—2. Moreover, no direct analogies with the synchronous industries in Kazakhstan and its immediate neighboring regions (Russian Altai) can be identified for the time being. The available data suggest that the materials from layers 5.1—4 mark an episode of population replacement in this part of Kazakhstan, possibly associated with a migration from the Northern China.

Keywords: lithic industry, cores, microblades, pressure flaking technique

Information about authors:

Galina Pavlenok (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]
ORCID: 0000-0003-3727-776X
Ekaterina Bocharova (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]
ORCID: 0000-0002-7961-0818
Evgeny 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]
ORCID: 0000-0002-2037-9826
Zhaken Taimagambetov (Astana, Kazakhstan). Doctor of Historical Sciences, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan. National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Tauelsizdik Ave., 54, Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-3541-0600
Anton Anoikin (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]
ORCID: 0000-0003-2383-2259