Mongolia’s unique geographical location between northern China and the Siberian Plateau of Russia has facilitated its role as a corridor of regional cultural connection since the Pleistocene. It is evident that the Early Upper Paleolithic of Mongolia dates to 33-27 kaBP from the archaeological studies of those Upper Paleolithic sites at Tsagaan Agui and Chikhen Agui in Bayankhongor Province (Southwest Mongolia). Here, we present the results of archaeological analysis of Paleolithic remains from the six sites in the Tsagaan Turuut River Valley located in Galuut district, northern Bayankhongor Province. These newly discovered sites significantly expand our knowledge of the prehistory of central Mongolia and most of Central Asian region. The knapping technology at these sites is based on radial cores and unidirectional prismatic cores. By analyzing the lithic artifacts from these six sites, we believe that these cultures have continuity from early to late stages of the Early Upper Paleolithic. Special tools such as points and large bifaces were recovered. The ¹⁴C dating results of a bone sample from the lower layer of a test pit indicate that the Tsagaan Baast Valley sites are no later than 43500 BP cal (β-TSTC1).

The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is a chrono-cultural phase corresponding with the onset of systematic production of pointed blades in various regions in Eurasia. This phenomenon is often conceived to correlate with the MIS 3 modern human expansion. Originally defined after the site Boker Tachtit in the Negev Desert, Israel, the Levantine IUP is composed of two consecutive superimposed lithic industries. The lower, named Emiran, is characterized with bidirectional blade technology, whereas the upper industry with unidirectional blades. Until recently the chronology of Boker Tachtit was insecure but new radiometric ages have shown that the Emiran is contemporaneous with the local Late Mousterian, thus supporting the assumption of this industry being imported. Similar technological features and chronological proximities between Boker Tachtit and assemblages from the Nile Valley and southern Arabia suggest the early Boker Tachtit inhabitants may have originated from these regions. The Emiran industry developed in Boker Tachtit into a later variant, the unidirectional industry, but it also expanded northward to central Europe and north-central Asia. The later variant acted in a similar manner as it developed locally into the early Ahmarian techno-complex but also expanded into the northern Levant and the Balkans. It is proposed the IUP phase featured at least two dispersal events. The first is the expansion from the Nile Valley/Arabia to the Levant from where it expanded rapidly to central Europe and north-central Asia. The second dispersal occurred slightly later and began in the southern Levant from where it spread to the northern Levant and the Balkans.

First, trends in the Upper Paleolithic (UP) industries on the eastern China, Korean Peninsula, and Japan Archipelago in Far Eastern Eurasia (FE Eurasia) are outlined. Next, developments in the UP industries in those regions are analyzed from the perspectives of relocation diffusion and expansion diffusion (contact diffusion). As a result, it is possible to gain an understanding of the following events. At the beginning of the UP (before 40 kaBP cal), southern human groups bearing a pebble and flake tool industry moved north and diffused in the southern part of eastern China. In the early stage of the UP (40-28 kaBP cal), regional groups formed, and they contacted each other. As a result, UP techno-cultural elements were diffused between those regional groups. In the late stage of the UP (after 28 kaBP cal), human groups with the microblade industries moved and spread widely in FE Eurasia, and as a result of contact between those groups, microblade industries widely diffused in this area. A glimpse of several entering of western or northern human groups (e.g., the human group with Initial Upper Paleolithic industry) into the FE Eurasia and its neighborhoods were able to catch, all of these, however, proved to be local and temporary ones. From the analysis on Paleolithic industries in this paper, it can be said that the movement of human groups with UP industries as generally consistent with the movements of East Asian ancestral populations that revealed by genomic analysis.

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.

Dispersals, colonisation, immigration and population assimilation or replacement are fundamental themes in the Palaeolithic record of East Asia. Some of these issues can be studied within a biogeographic framework that explains why and how the distribution of hominin species changed over time and space in response to climatic and environmental change. Because hominins (and especially humans) can change their behaviour through technical, social and cognitive developments, biogeographic models also have to incorporate this factor when investigating dispersals. This is particularly important with the dispersals in East Asia by Homo sapiens into rainforests, across open sea to off-shore islands, to the Arctic and the highest parts of the Tibetan Plateau. This paper suggests how hominin and human dispersals in East Asia might be investigated by using a biogeographic framework that can incorporate changes in hominin adaptability and behaviour.