New archaeological investigations at the key Palaeolithic Russian site of Kara-Bom have further characterised its stratigraphy through analysis of the rich lithic complex recovered. This evidence both complements and supplements our understanding of central and northern Asian Initial Upper Palaeolithic populations.
Comprehensive mineralogical and geochemical studies of fossil bones of herbivorous mammals were carried out at the unique Paleolithic site Ushbulak (North-East Kazakhstan), dating from 45 to less than 10 thousand years ago. The geological conditions of the occurrence of fossil bones and the lithological and mineralogical properties of bone-bearing soils are described. The microstructure of bones, the composition of impurities illuviated in them, epigenetic minerals, the composition of microelements, the crystallochemical properties of bioapatite, thermal properties, and the elemental and amino acid composition of bone collagen were analyzed. Regularities of changes in the properties of fossil bones in the process of their fossilization are revealed. The isotopic composition of C, O in bioapatite, C, N in bone collagen was studied, and paleoclimatic and paleoecological reconstructions were carried out.
The Upper Neo-Pleistocene alluvial deposits lie in a close hypsometric position in outcrops of the Lower Ob Region right bank. Their top usually does not rise above the level of 5 m above the tow-path edge. At the same level, glacial erratic masses of the Middle Pleistocene alluvium were recorded in a number of areas. The height of the 1st and 2nd sites of terraces (on average from 5 to 10–15 m) depends on the thickness of subaerial deposits overlapping the alluvium. The 3rd terrace above flood-plain of the Bolshaya (Big) Ob has no geomorphological expression, since the alluvium of the first Late Neo-Pleistocene interglacial period without ablation is drape overlain by parallely bedded precipitates of the glacier-ice-blocked lake of the first Late Neo-Pleistocene glaciation. Thus, the height of sites of terraced surfaces does not directly correlate with the age of their alluvial basement. Therefore, the geomorphological method for differentiation of river sediments is not effective for this region. In addition, the problems of differentiation and correlation of alluvial deposits of the Lower Ob Region right bank are complicated by the presence of fluvioglacial incisions of deglaciation stages of the Middle Neo-Pleistocene and Upper Neo-Pleistocene glaciations.
Аннотация. Проведен анализ первичного расщепления в каменной индустрии слоев 6 и 7 стоянки Ушбулак (Республика Казахстан), открытой и исследованной в 2016-2017 гг. В соответствии с типологическим обликом и радиоуглеродной датой 41 110±302 BP комплекс слоев 6 и 7 отнесен к начальным этапам верхнего палеолита. Сопоставление системы первичного расщепления в каменной индустрии горизонтов 6 и 7 с классическими для Северной Евразии комплексами начального верхнего палеолита-Кара-Бом (ВП 1 и 2) и Толбор 4 (горизонты 5 и 6)-позволяет утверждать, что каменная индустрия стоянки Ушбулак не только типологически, но и технологически относится к этой стадии верхнего палеолита. Ключевые слова: Восточный Казахстан, каменная индустрия, первичное расщепление, начальный верхний палеолит, ранний верхний палеолит.
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