Abstract
We present the findings of excavations at the stratified site of Ushbulak, discovered during a joint Russian-Kazakhstan research project in 20I6. The site is located in the Shilikty Valley, northeastern Kazakhstan, at the junction of routes connecting southwestern Central Asia, southern Siberia, and northern China. On the basis of stratigraphy, chronology, and technological evidence, we identify three technological complexes, relating to the Metal Ages (stratum I), Final Upper Paleolithic (strata 2-4), and Initial Upper Paleolithic (strata 5.2-7). Focusing on the principal markers of the Initial Upper Paleolithic in the region, we conclude that finds from strata 5.2-7 belong to the southern Siberian-Mongolian variant of the Initial Upper Paleolithic, as evidenced by the uni- and bidirectional parallel volumetric blade core reduction, tool types, and absolute chronology. The tool kit includes mostly endscrapers, heavily retouched blades, and truncated-facetted or notched implements. Particularly diagnostic types include waisted blade, blade with a ventrally retouched distal edge, beveled point, backed blade, stemmed implement with a sharp tip, stemmed endscraper, and burin-core. Two AMS-dates from stratum 6 date this layer to ca 36,I80 ± 730 and 4I,II0 ± 302 BP. The closest known parallels to the industry of the lower strata of Ushbulak are finds from horizon UP2 of Kara-Bom in the Russian Altai. Our results suggest that Ushbulak strata 5.2-7 correlate with the Initial Upper Paleolithic industries of the Altai (Denisova Cave), northern China (Luotoshi), and Mongolia (Tolbor-4 and -2I).
Highlights
Kazakhstan is located in a vast territory connecting several large historically and culturally significant regions: southwestern Central Asia to the south, Siberia to the north, northern China to the east, and Eastern Europe to the west
Kazakhstan and southwestern Central Asia belong to the broader region of Central
Upper Paleolithic implements dominate these tool kits, with endscrapers on blades being most numerous. Another important feature in Siberian-Mongolian assemblages is the presence of several diagnostic artifacts, such as burin-cores, beveled points, points with thinned bases, backed point-bladelets, implements with traces of ventral retouching on the distal edge, bifaces, stemmed tools, and personal ornaments (Rybin, 2014)
Summary
Kazakhstan is located in a vast territory connecting several large historically and culturally significant regions: southwestern Central Asia to the south, Siberia to the north, northern China to the east, and Eastern Europe to the west. Over 20 localities containing archaeological remains attributable to the Late Middle and Upper Paleolithic (Zaisan-1–3, Bukhtarma-1–5, Kozybai-1–2, Espe-1–3, and others) are represented by surface assemblages of artifacts, whose number rarely exceeds 100 items (Derevianko, Petrin, Zenin, et al, 2003; Taimagambetov, Ozhereliev, 2009; Derevianko et al, 2016; Shunkov et al, 2016a). The presence of the above mentioned diagnostic tool types and characteristic features of the primary reduction process (such as the absolute predominance of doubleplatform blade cores for bipolar reduction; the prevalence of blades, including those whose length exceeds 20 cm; and the wide use of pecking for preparation of flaking surface) makes it possible to correlate the lower complex with the Initial Upper Paleolithic. Analysis of geomorphological situation nearby the site has demonstrated that the Vostochny in its upper reaches is actively eroding precisely these strata
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