Tools for Stone Raw Material Treatment in the Initial and Early Upper Palaeolithic Industries of the Ust-Karakol-1 Site (Excavation Area, 1986)

Abstract

Purpose. This article studies tools for stone raw material treatment found in the Ust-Karakol-1 site collection in Altai (excavation area, 1986).Results. We have established that the latest industry of this site, tentatively correlated with the Middle stage of the Upper Palaeolithic, includes one hammer made of the endcore of fine-grained sedimentary rock. We have identified a pebble hammer flake and retouchers made of coarse-grained sedimentary rocks in the Ust-Karakolian horizon of the Early Upper Palaeolithic. The site inhabitants used flattened and end natural surfaces of pebbles’ fragments for retouching, in some cases the base was additionally modified by flakes. We only recorded tools for pecking on the horizons of the Early Upper Palaeolithic Kara-Bomian tradition. These tools are distinguished by the secondary use of cores and technical flakes as bases, the choice of workpieces from homogeneous fine-grained volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and the use of subrectangular sections of the flaked surface with pronounced edges. These tools are characterized by several working zones and intensive modification of the original relief as a result of utilization.Conclusion. We consider the noted features of percussive-abrasive tools at different stages of site settlement are conditioned by technological and raw material strategies of the bearers of the Early and Initial Upper Palaeolithic traditions, their economic and cultural stereotypes.