The Epipaleolithic of the Caucasus after the Last Glacial Maximum

Abstract

This paper presents a review of the Epipaleolithic (EPP) sites postdating the Last Glacial Maximum in the northern and southern Caucasus. Although securely excavated EPP sites are as yet rare in the Caucasus, those that provide homogeneous artifact assemblages contain tool types characteristic of EPP industries in Europe and in the Near East. Tool types characteristic of the Caucasian Epipaleolithic are discussed, as well as development during more than 10,000 years. A climatostratigraphic scheme of the Caucasian Epipaleolithic is proposed on the basis of paleoenvironmental data and radiocarbon dates. A review of the available data and a critical approach to treating Epipaleolithic variability in the Caucasus recognizes that only several EPP occurrences in the southern and northern Caucasus might represent a specific Epipaleolithic industry that existed from ca 17/16 to ca 13/12 ka BP (cal) in the region. The old term “Imeretian Culture” may be applied only to this industry type. Contacts between the inhabitants of these EPP occupations are shown by new data concerning the EPP obsidian transport networks from sources located in the southwest Caucasus and in the central part of the northern Caucasus to EPP sites in the northwestern Caucasus. High mobility of human groups in the Epipaleolithic was one of the most significant factors providing affinity of the EPP industries across the Caucasus.