Irkutsk National Research Technical University, 83 Lermontov St., Irkutsk, 664074, Russia [altet@list.ru]

Hokkaido University, 060–0808, Kita 8, Nishi 6, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan [ulanov.alexandr1998@gmail.com]

Abstract. The study of the Avdeikha, Kovrizhka IV and Bol’shoi Yakor’ I sites sheds an important light on bifacial traditions in the stone industry of the Late Upper Paleolithic of the Lower Vitim river. The period from about 19 to 8 kya witnessed a wide use of a number of methods of bifacial working. Bifaces served both as tools and preforms for wedge-shaped microcores. Bifacial preforms intended for transformation into microcores are characteristic of the Yubetsu and Kovrizhka techniques. The Yubetsu-like method of longitudinal reduction of bifaces was employed in both tool manufacture and core preparation. The Kovrizhka method was primarily focused on the preparation and operation of microcores, which could be manufactured not only from bifaces, but also from flakes. Both technical traditions existed in the Lower Vitim area throughout the whole of Late Upper Paleolithic. To explain the variability of technical traditions, the authors apply Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, using the Late Paleolithic of Hokkaido Island (Japan) to illustrate how the habitus can be reconstructed.

Keywords: late Upper Paleolithic, Lower Vitim, Northern Baikal, bifaces, microblade production, wedge shaped microcores, habitus.

Received 08.05.2023, accepted 21.06.2023

DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2023-2-108-132

For citation: Tetenkin A. V., Ulanov A. A. Bifaces in the Late Upper Paleolithic of the Lower Vitim (Northern Angara region). Prehistoric Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 2023 (2), 108–132, DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2023-2-108-132

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