Selenga River human dispersal path in Initial Upper Paleolithic
Received date: 2021-05-11
Revised date: 2021-11-28
Online published: 2021-11-29
Here, we consider earlier Upper Paleolithic sites in the Selenga River Basin, the main fluvial input of Lake Baikal that flows through northern Mongolia and the southwestern Transbaikal region of Russia. Lithic industries from these sites can be attributed to the laminar Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) technocomplex, widespread in southern Siberia and Central Asia. IUP industries appear in the Selenga Basin about 45 kaBP cal. Aspects of regional typological variability and the transport of exotic raw materials over long distances indicate that these populations participated in developed exchange networks and employed high mobility targeting the acquisition of necessary raw materials. Two site types are present: quarry-workshops in northern Mongolia and generalized activity settlements in the southwestern Transbaikal. Although faunal data are limited, we interpret available information as indicating a specialization on hunting, focusing on migrating steppe game species. The distribution of sites in the mid-altitudes and landscapes of the Selenga-Orkhon geographical region and the geomorphological homogeneity of this territory also supported interregional human moves during the IUP.
Key words: Central Asia; Initial Upper Paleolithic; migration; raw material; hunting
Evgeny P RYBIN , Arina M KHATSENOVICH . Selenga River human dispersal path in Initial Upper Paleolithic[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2024 , 43(05) : 780 -796 . DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2022.0017
[1] | Zwyns N. Laminar Technology and the Onset of the Upper Paleolithic in the Altai, Siberia. Studies in Human Evolution[M]. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2012 |
[2] | Rybin EP. Tools, beads, and migrations: specific cultural traits in the Initial Upper Paleolithic of southern Siberia and central Asia[J]. Quat Int, 2014, 347: 39-52 |
[3] | Kuhn SL, Zwyns N. Rethinking the Initial Upper Paleolithic[J]. Quat Int, 2014, 347, 29-38 |
[4] | Khatsenovich AM, Rybin EP, Gunchinsuren B, et al. New evidence for Paleolithic human behavior in Mongolia: The Kharganyn Gol 5 site[J]. Quat Int, 2017, 442: 78-94 |
[5] | Rybin EP, Khatsenovich AM. Middle and Upper Paleolithic Levallois technology in eastern Central Asia[J]. Quat Int, 2020, 535: 117-138 |
[6] | Fu Q, Li H, Moorjani P, et al. Genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western Siberia[J]. Nature, 2014, 514: 445-450 |
[7] | Derevianko AP, Rybin EP. The earliest evidence of symbolic hunan behaviour in Mountain Altai[J]. Archeol Ethnol Anthropol Eurasia, 2003, 3: 27-50 |
[8] | Hublin JJ, Sirakov N, Aldeias V, et al. Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria[J]. Nature, 2020, 581: 299-302 |
[9] | Douka K, Bergman CA, Hedges REM, et al. Chronology of Ksar Akil (Lebanon) and implications for the colonization of Europe by anatomically modern humans[J]. PLoS One, 2013, 8: e72931 |
[10] | Hajdinjak M, Mafessoni F, Skov L, et al. Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry[J]. Nature, 2021, 592(7853): 253-257 |
[11] | Rybin EP. Regionalnaya variabelnost kamennykh industriy nachala verkhnego paleolita v Yuzhnoi Sibiri i vostochnoi chasti Tsentralnoi Azii(Regional Variability of Initial Upper Paleolithic Lithic Industries of Southern Siberia and Eastern Central Asia)[M]. Novosibirsk: IAET SB RAS(Doctor habil Thesis), 2020: 1-549 |
[12] | Zhang XL, Ha BB, Wang SJ, et al. The earliest human occupation of the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau 40 thousand to 30 thousand years ago[J]. Science, 2018, 362(6418): 1049-1051 |
[13] | Khatsenovich AM, Rybin EP, Bazargur D, et al. Middle Palaeolithic human dispersal in Central Asia: new archaeological investigations in the Orkhon Valley, Mongolia[J]. Antiquity, 2019, 93(370): e20 |
[14] | Goebel T, Derevianko AP, Petrin VT. Dating the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition at Kara Bom[J]. Curr Anthropol, 1993, 34: 452-458 |
[15] | Lbova LV. Paleolithic of the Northern Zone of the Western Transbaikal[M]. Publication of the Buryat Science Center, Ulan-Ude, 2000: 1-240 (In Russ) |
[16] | Kuzmin YV, Orlova LA, Zenin VN, et al. Radiocarbon Dating of the Palaeolithic of Siberia and the Russian Far East: Materials for 14C Data Catalogue (as of the End of 2010)[J]. Stratum Plus, 2011, 1: 171-200 (In Russ) |
[17] | Tashak VI. Khronologiya rannego etapa verkhnego paleolita zapadnogo Zabaikalia (po materialam Podzvonkoi) (Chronology of Early Upper Paleolithic of western Transbaikalia (on the basis of Podzvonkaya))[J]. Rossiyskiy arkheologicheskiy ezhegodnik, 2011, 1: 100-110 (In Russ) |
[18] | Tashak VI. East Complex of Paleolithic Settlement Podzvonkaya in the Western Transbaikal Region[M]. Irkutsk: V. B. Sochava IG SO RAN Publ, 2016 (In Russ) |
[19] | Rybin EP, Khatsenovich AM, Gunchinsuren B, et al. The significance of the specific stone raw material in occupation of Middle Selenga by the Paleolithic population[J]. PAEAS, 2016, 22: 159-163 (In Russ) |
[20] | Rybin EP, Paine CN, Khatsenovich A M, et al. A new Upper Paleolithic occupation at the site of Tolbor-21 (Mongolia): site formation, human behavior and implications for the regional sequence[J]. Quat Int, 2020, 559: 133-149 |
[21] | Zwyns N, Paine CH, Bolorbat Т, et al. The Northern Route for human dispersal in Central and Northeast Asia: New evidence from the site of Tolbor-16, Mongolia[J]. Sci Rep, 2019, 9: e11759 |
[22] | Anoikin AA, Pavlenok GD, Kharevich VM, et al. Ushbulak - a new stratified Upper Paleolithic site in northeastern Kazakhstan[J]. Archeol Ethnol Anthropol Eurasia, 2019, 4(47): 16-29 |
[23] | Khatsenovich AM, Vishnevskaya IA, Bazargur D, et al. Late Pleistocene paleoenvironments and episodic human occupations in the Orkhon Valley of central Mongolia[J]. Archaeol Ethnol Anthropol Eurasia, 2021, 2(49): 3-22 |
[24] | Germonpré M, Lbova LV. Mammalian remains from the Upper Paleolithic site of Kamenka, Buryatia (Siberia)[J]. J Archaeol Sci, 1996, 23: 35-57 |
[25] | Wrinn PJ. Middle Paleolithic settlement and land use in the Altai mountains, Siberia[A]. In: Conard NJ, Delagnes A (Eds.). Settlement Dynamics of the Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age, Volume III[M]. Tübingen: Kerns Verlag, 2010: 163-194 |
[26] | Klementiev AM. About possible hunting meaning of dzeren in the Paleolithic of western Transbaikal[A]. In: Current Problems of Eurasian Paleolithic Study[C]. Novosibirsk: IAET SB RAS Publ, 2001: 171-176 (In Russ) |
[27] | Vasiliev SG, Rybin EP. Tolbaga: Upper Paleolithic settlement patterns in the Transbaikal region[J]. Archaeol Ethnol Anthropol Eurasia, 2009, 37: 13-34 |
[28] | Turner II CG, Ovodov ND, Pavlova OV. Animal Teeth and Human Tools: A Taphonomic Odyssey in Ice Age Siberia[M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013: 1-490 |
[29] | Antonova YE, Tashak VI, Kobylkin DV. Palaeoenvironment and hunting activity of the Upper Palaeolithic population in Western Transbaikalia: A case study on the Podzvonkaya Settlement, South Siberia[J]. Int J of Osteoarchaeol, 2020, 30(2): 131-144 |
[30] | Zenin VN, Leshchinskiy SV, Zolotarev KV, et al. Lugovskoe: geoarchaeology and culture of Paleolithic site[J]. Archaeol Ethnol Anthropol Eurasia, 2006, 1(25): 41-53 |
[31] | Abramova ZA, Grechkina TY. About hunting and hunting weaponry in the Late Paleolithic of Eastern Siberia[J]. KSIA, 1985, 181: 44-49 (In Russ) |
[32] | Seitsonen O, Houle JL, Broderick LG, et al. Lithics in the steppe landscape: An off-site spatial analysis of stone artefacts in the Khanuy Valley, Mongolia[J]. Archaeol R Asia, 2018, 16: 1-13 |
[33] | Rybin EP, Shelepaev RA, Khatsenovich AM. A study of raw material sources for Paleolithic objects in the Ikh-Tulbariin-Gol and Kharganyn-Gol River valleys in northern Mongolia[J]. PAEAS, 2014, 20: 87-90 (In Russ) |
[34] | Khatsenovich AM, Rybin EP, Shelepaev RA, et al. The impact of raw material sources on the distribution of Initial Upper Paleolithic humans in Central Asia[A]. In: 20th Congress of the INQUA. Book of Abstracts[M]. 2019: O-0056 |
[35] | Derevianko AP, Kandyba AV, Petrin VT. Paleolithic of Orkhon[M]. Novosibirsk: IEAT SB RAS, 2010: 1-384 (In Russ) |
[36] | Derevianko AP, Zenin AN, Rybin EP. The technology of early Upper Paleolithic lithic reduction in northern Mongolia: the Tolbor-4 site[J]. Archaeol Ethnol Anthropol Eurasia, 2007, 29: 16-38 |
[37] | Lbova LV, Rezanov IN, Kalmykov NP, et al. Environment and Humans in the Neopleistocene (Western Transbaikal and South-Eastern Cis-Baikal))[M]. Ulan-Ude: Publication of the Buryat Science Center, 2003: 1-174 (In Russ.) |
[38] | Klementiev AM. Landscapes of the Uda River (Transbaikalia) in the Late Pleistocene (on the fauna of large mammals)[D]. Tomsk: Tomsk State University, 2011 (In Russ) |
[39] | Goebel T, Aksenov M. Accelerator radiocarbon dating of the Initial Upper Paleolithic in Southeast Siberia[J]. Antiquity, 1995, 69: 349-357 |
[40] | Ovodov ND. Fauna paleolithicheskikh poseleniy Tolbaga i Varvarina Gora d `zapadnom Zabaikalie (Fauna of Tolbaga and Varvarina Gora Paleolithic sites in western Transbaikalia)[A]. In: Prirodnaya Sreda I Chelovek V Pozdnem Antropogene (Environment and Human in Late Anthropogene)[M]. Ulan Ude: Geolog Institute BF SB AN USSR, 1987: 35-50 (In Russ) |
[41] | Derevianko AP, Nikolaev SV, Petrin VT. Geologiya i arkheologiya paleo- liticheskikh pamyatnikov Hangaya (Mongolia) (Geology and archaeology of Paleolithic sites of Khangai (Mongolia)[A]. In: International Symposium “Paleoecology and Ancient Human Occupation in Northern Asia and America”[M]. Krasnoyarsk, 1992: 79-83 (In Russ) |
[42] | Zwyns N, Lbova LV. The Initial Upper Paleolithic of Kamenka site, Zabaikal region (Siberia): A closer look at the blade technology[J]. Archaeol R Asia, 2018, 17: 24-49 |
[43] | Hughes S, Hayden TJ, Douady CJ, et al. Molecular phylogeny of the extinct giant deer, Megaloceros giganteus[J]. Mol Phylogenet Evol, 2006, 40(1): 285-291 |
[44] | Buvit I, Izuho M, Terry K, et al. Radiocarbon dates, microblades and Late Pleistocene human migrations in the Transbaikal, Russia and the Paleo-Sakhalin-Hokkaido-Kuril Peninsula[J]. Quat Int, 2016, 425: 100-119 |
[45] | Abramova ZA Paleolithic of Northern Asia[A]. In: Paleolithic of the World: Caucasus and Northern Asia[M]. Leningrad: Nauka, 1989: 145-244 (In Russ) |
[46] | Konstantinov MV. The Stone Age of the Eastern Part of Baikal Asia[M]. Chita - Ulan-Ude: Chita State Pedagogical Institute - Buryat Science Center, 1994: 1-179 (In Russ) |
[47] | Rybin EP, Lbova LV, Klementiev AM. Tool kit and settlement specifics of Early Upper Paleolithic complexes in western Transbaikal[A]. In: Paleolithic cultures of the Transbaikal and Mongolia (new sites, methods, hypothesis)[M]. Novosibirsk: IAET SB RAS Publ., 2005: 69-80 (In Russ) |
[48] | Kasimov M. Environmental Atlas-monograph “Selenga-Baikal[M]. Moscow: Faculty of Geography, MSU, 2019: 1-288 (In Russ) |
[49] | Lbova LV, Kolomiets VL, Dergacheva MI, et al. Environment and climate during the Late Upper Pleistocene in the Western Transbaikalia region[J]. Archaeol Ethnol Anthropol Eurasia, 2005, 2(22): 2-17 |
[50] | Tashak VI, Savinova VV. Paleoenvironment of the south of Western Transbaikal in final Pleistocene-Holocene (on the materials of Podzvonkaya)[J]. Reports of the Laboratory of ancient technologies, 2009, 7: 39-51 (In Russ) |
[51] | Shaposhnikov FD. Wild sheep of Western Tian Shian[J]. Priroda, 1956, 1: 109-110 (In Russ) |
[52] | Lhagvasuren B, Milner-Gulland EJ. The status and management of the Mongolian gazelle, Procapra gutturosa population[J]. ORYX, 1997, 31: 127-134 |
[53] | Leimgruber P, McShea WJ, Brooks CJ, et al. Spatial patterns in relative primary productivity and gazelle migration in the eastern steppes of Mongolia[J]. Biol Conserv, 2001, 102 (2): 205-212 |
[54] | Foley RA. Another Unique Species: Patterns in Human Evolutionary Ecology[M]. London: Longman, 1987, 1-313 |
[55] | Binford LR. Willow smoke and dogs’ tails: Hunter-gatherer settlement systems and archaeological site formation[J]. Am Antiquity, 1980, 45: 4-20 |
[56] | Frison CG, Stanford DJ. The Agate Basin Site[M]. NY: Academic Press, 1982: 1-398 |
[57] | Frison CG. Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains[M]. NY: Academic Press, 1991: 1-532 |
[58] | Wiesniewski A, Lauer T, Ch?on M, et al. Looking for provisioning places of shaped tools of the late Neanderthals: a study of a Micoquian open-air site, Pietraszyn 49a (southwestern Poland)[J]. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2019, 18: 367-389 |
[59] | Rybin EP, Kolobova KA. The structure of the lithic industries and the functions of Paleolithic sites in the Altai Mountains[J]. Archaeol Ethnol Anthropol Eurasia, 2004, 4(20): 20-34 |
[60] | Khatsenovich AM, Shelepaev RA, Rybin EP, et al. Long distance transport and use of mica in the Initial Upper Paleolithic of Central Asia: An example from the Kharganyn Gol 5 site (northern Mongolia)[J]. J Arch Sci: Rep, 2020, 31: e102307 |
/
〈 | 〉 |