Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS, 18 Dvortsovaya emb., St. Petersburg, 191186, Russia [sergevasiimk@gmail.com]

Abstract. The paper aims to characterize the distribution of foliated bifaces in Siberia in the Late Upper Paleolithic (Late Sartan time). The author analyzes the types of bifaces found in the industries of the main regions of North Asia, including Altai, Yenisei, Priangarie, Transbaikal and Yakutia. No clear spatial division of Siberian cultures into uni- and bifacial ones can be detected, although in general the number of bifacial forms tends to increase towards the east. A special section is devoted to the overview of bifaces from the earliest cultures of American Beringia. The comparative analysis of bifacial tools from the Duktai culture sites (Northeast Asia) and Denali assemblages (Alaska) reveals no straightforward connection between the two, though it is still possible to speak of a somewhat Siberian appearance of Denali.

Keywords: bifaces, Siberia, Beringia, Alaska, Late Paleolithic, Paleoindians.

Received 29.10.2023, accepted 10.11.2023

DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2023-2-145-154

For citation: Vasil’ev S. A. Bifacial tools in the Late Upper Paleolithic of Siberia and Alaska. Prehistoric Archaeology. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 2023 (2), 145–154, DOI: 10.31600/2658-3925-2023-2-145-154

References:

Abramova Z. A. 1979. Paleolit Eniseya. Kokorevskaya kul’tura [Paleolithic of the Yenisei. Kokorevo culture]. Novosibirsk: ≪Nauka≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Akimova E. V. 2021. Problemy izucheniya i interpretatsii paleolita Ust’-Kovy [Problems in the study and interpretation of the Paleolithic of Ust-Kova]. Izvestiya laboratorii drevnikh tekhnologiy 17 (1): 9–32 (in Russian).

Akimova E. V., Anoykin A. A., Vasil’ev S. K., Galukhin L. L., Drozdov N. I., Dud’ko A. A., Zol’nikov I. D., Klement’ev A. M., Lysenko D. N., Razgil’deeva I. I., Slavinskiy V. S., Stasyuk I. V., Tomilova E. A., Kharevich V. M., Tsybankov A. A. 2021. In: Zenin V. N. (ed.). Pozdnepaleoliticheskaya stoyanka Afontova Gora II: itogi mul’tidistsiplinarnykh issledovaniy 2014 goda [Late Paleolithic site of Afontova Gora II: results of multidisciplinary works of 2014]. Novosibirsk: ≪IAET SO RAN≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Aksenov M. P. (ed.). 1980. Mezolit Verkhnego Priangar’ya [Mesolithic of the Upper Angara area]. Part 2. Irkutsk: ≪Izdatelstvo Irkutskogo universiteta≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Alekseev A. N. 1987. Kamennyy vek Olekmy [Stone Age of the Olekma]. Irkutsk: ≪Izdatelstvo Irkutskogo universiteta≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Astakhov S. N. 1999. Paleolit Eniseya. Paleoliticheskie stoyanki na Afontovoy Gore v g. Krasnoyarske [Paleolithic of the Yenisei. Paleolithic sites on Afontova mountain in Krasnoyarsk]. St. Peterburg: ≪Evropeyskiy Dom≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Baryshnikov G. Ya., Kungurov A. L., Markin M. M., Semibratov V. P. 2005. Paleolit Gornoy Shorii [Paleolithic of Mountain Shoria]. Barnaul: ≪Izdatelstvo Altayskogo universiteta≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Derevyanko A. P., Bolikhovskaya N. S., Markin S. V., Sobolev V. M. 2000. Paleogeografiya finala pleystotsena srednegornoy zony severo-zapadnogo Altaya po dannym izucheniya razrezov peshchery Kaminnoy [Final Pleistocene paleogeography in the mid-mountain zone of northwestern Altai as revealed by the study of the Kaminnaya cave deposits]. In: Markin S. V. (ed.). Problemy rekonstruktsii klimata i prirodnoy sredy golotsena i pleystotsena Sibiri. Vyp. 2. Novosibirsk: ≪IAET SO RAN≫ Publ., 154–161 (in Russian).

Dikov N. N. 1977. Arkheologicheskie pamyatniki Kamchatki, Chukotki i Verkhney Kolymy [Archaeological sites of Kamchatka, Chukotka and the Upper Kolyma]. Moscow: ≪Nauka≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Dikov N. N. 1979. Drevnie kul’tury Severo-vostochnoy Azii [Ancient cultures of Northeastern Asia]. Moscow: ≪Nauka≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Generalov A. G. 2000. Geoarkheologicheskiy ob”ekt Strizhovaya Gora [Geoarchaeological object of Strizhovaya Gora]. Irkutsk: ≪Izdateltsvo Irkutskogo universiteta≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Graf K., Goebel T. 2017. The Paleolithic of Eastern Beringia from Western Alaska to Canadian Yukon. In: Kotlyakov V. M., Velichko A. A., Vasil’ev S. A. (eds.). Human Colonization of the Arctic: the Interaction Between Early Migration and the Paleoenvironment. London: Elsevier, 311–338.

Ineshin E. M., Teten’kin A. V. 2010. Chelovek i prirodnaya sreda severa Baykal’skoy Sibiri v pozdnem pleystotsene. Mestonakhozhdenie Bol’shoy Yakor’ I [Man and environment in the north of Baikalian Siberia in the Late Pleistocene. Bol’shoy Yakor’ I site]. Novosibirsk: ≪Nauka≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Konstantinov M. V. 1994. Kamennyy vek vostochnogo regiona Baykal’skoy Azii [Stone Age of the eastern region of the Baikalian Asia]. Ulan-Ude — Chita: ≪ION BNTs RAN≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Kungurov A. L. 2002. Kamennyy vek Rudnogo Altaya [Stone Age of Rudny Alatai]. Part 1. Barnaul: ≪Izdatelstvo Altayskogo universiteta≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Medvedev G. I. (ed.). 1971. Mezolit Verkhnego Priangar’ya [Mesolithic of the Upper Angara area]. Part 1. Irkutsk: ≪Izd-vo Irkutskogo un-ta≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Mochanov Yu. A. 1977. Drevneyshie etapy zaseleniya chelovekom Severo-vostochnoy Azii [Earliest stages of human colonization of Northeastern Asia]. Novosibirsk: ≪Nauka ≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Molchanov G. N., Molchanov D. N., Lipnina E. A. 2019. Tekhnomorfologicheskiy analiz kamennoy i kostyanoy industrii iz kul’turosoderzhashchego gorizonta 2 mnogosloynogo mestonakhozhdeniya Kurla 1 na Severnom Baykale [Technomorphological analysis of the stone and bone industry from culture bearing horizon 2 of the multilayered site of Kurla I on Northern Baikal]. Izvestiya Irkutskogo gos. universiteta. Seriya Geoarkheologiya. Etnologiya. Antropologiya 28, 3–37 (in Russian).

Okladnikov A. P., Kirillov I. I. 1980. Yugo-vostochnoe Zabaykal’e v epokhu kamnya i ranney bronzy [Southeastern Transbaikalia in the Stone Age and Early Bronze periods]. Novosibirsk: ≪Nauka≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Pitul’ko V. V. 2019. Gonka so vremenem: v poiskakh nachal’nogo etapa osvoeniya chelovekom Sibirskoy Arktiki [Race against time: searching for the initial stage of the peopling of Siberian Arctic]. In: Vinogradov Yu. A., Vasil’ev S. A., Stepanova K. N. (eds.). Proshloe chelovechestva v trudakh peterburgskikh arkheologov na rubezhe tysyacheletiy: k 100-letiyu sozdaniya rossiyskoy akademicheskoy arkheologii. St. Petersburg: ≪Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie≫ Publ., 103–136 (in Russian).

Ptashinskiy A. V. 2012. Otkrytie novykh pamyatnikov final’nogo paleolita na Kamchatke [Discovery of new Final Paleolithic sites on Kamchatka]. Evraziya v kaynozoe 1, 155–170 (in Russian).

Slobodin S. B. 1999. Arkheologiya Kolymy i kontinental’nogo Priokhot’ya v pozdnem pleystotsene i rannem golotsene [Archaeology of the Kolyma and the Sea of Okhotsk mainland coast in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene]. Magadan: ≪SVKNII DVO RAN≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Tashak V. I., Kovychev E. V. 2020. Bifasial’nye orudiya v kamennoy industrii Sukhotino‑4 (Vostochnoe Zabaykal’e) [Bifacial tools in the stone industry of Sukhotino‑4 (Eastern Transbaikalia)]. Izvestiya laboratorii drevnikh tekhnologiy 16 (3): 9–31 (in Russian).

Vasil’ev S. A. 1996. Pozdniy paleolit Verkhnego Eniseya [Late Paleolithic of the Upper Yenisei].

St. Peterburg: ≪Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Vasil’ev S. A. 2011. The earliest Alaskan archaeological record: a view from Siberia. In: Goebel T., Buvit I. (eds.). From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia. College Station: Texas A&M University, 119–127.

Vasil’ev S. A., Berezkin Yu. E., Kozintsev A. G., Peyros I. I., Slobodin S. B., Tabarev A. V. 2015. Zaselenie chelovekom Novogo Sveta: opyt mezhdistsiplinarnogo issledovaniya [Peopling of the New World: A multidisciplinary study]. St. Peterburg: ≪Nestor-Istoriya≫ Publ. (in Russian).

Vasil’ev S. A., Polyakov A. V., Amzarakov P. B., Ryzhov Yu. V., Korneva T. V., Sapelko T. V.,

Baryshnikov G. F., Burova N. D., Girya E. Yu., Yamskikh G. Yu. 2019. Paleoliticheskiy chelovek v predgor’yakh Sayan: stoyanka Irba 2 bliz Kuragino (Krasnoyarskiy kray) [Paleolithic man at the foothills of Sayan: the Irba 2 sitenear Kuragino (Krasnoyarsk region)]. In: Vinogradov Yu. A., Vasil’ev S. A., Stepanova K. N. (eds.). Proshloe chelovechestva v trudakh peterburgskikh arkheologov na rubezhe tysyacheletiy: k 100-letiyu sozdaniya rossiyskoy akademicheskoy arkheologii. St. Peterburg: ≪Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie≫ Publ., 83–102 (in Russian).

Vasil’evskiy R. S., Burilov V. V., Drozdov N. I. 1988. Arkheologicheskie pamyatniki Severnogo Priangar’ya [Archaeological sites of the Northern Angara area]. Novosibirsk: ≪Nauka≫ (in Russian).

Volokitin A. V. 1982. Paleolit Sredney Angary (Angaro-Okinskaya gruppa mestonakhozhdeniy) [Paleolithic sites of the North Angara (Angara-Okinskaya group of sites)]. Ph.D. thesis abstract. Leningrad (in Russian).

Zubkov V. S., Vasil’ev S. A., Burova N. D., Makhlaev M. L., Yamskikh G. Yu. 2019. Pozdniy paleolit Verkhnego Abakana (Khakassia) [Late Paleolithic of the Upper Abakan (Khakassia)]. Stratum Plus 1, 279–294 (in Russian).