|Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription Access
Rocks and Their Sources in the Upper Paleolithic of the Altai: Relevance to Bifacial Technologies
A. V. Vishnevsky,
N. Е. Belousova,
A. Y. Fedorchenko,
V. A. Mikhienko,
M. B. Kozlikin,
M. V. Shunkov https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2024.52.4.059-074
Abstract
On the basis of the analysis of thin leaf-shaped bifacial points, which are very elaborate and sensitive to the quality of rocks, we reconstruct the adaptive strategies of humans at the early stages of the Upper Paleolithic. Mineral raw materials and their exploitation relating to different resource bases of the central (the Ursul River basin) and northwestern (the Anuy River basin) parts of the Altai region are analyzed. To attribute the rock sources for bifaces, we have compiled a comparative database of petrographic and petrochemical characteristics of artifacts and pebbles from nearby rivers. Chemical criteria were proposed for differentiating rocks, including those that are hard to distinguish, and non-destructive techniques were applied to assess the chemical composition of rocks using a portable XRF spectrometer. Findings suggest that rocks available in the Anuy and Ursul basins met the conditions for biface manufacture. Bifaces from the Ursul valley were made of local fine-grained rocks—felsic volcanic tuff and ignimbrite; those from the Anuy valley were also of local rocks, but of lower quality—hornfels transformed (meta-sedimentary) siltstone and finegrained sandstone or felsic volcanic rocks. In the Anuy valley, scarcity of quality raw material was compensated for by imported high silica jasper-like rocks. Results suggest that the Early Upper Paleolithic inhabitants of the region, when implementing technical skills, showed stable behavioral and technological stereotypes despite habitat change and deterioration of the resource base.
Keywords
Thin bifaces,
raw material strategies,
petrochemistry,
X-ray fluorescence analysis (pXRF),
portable XRF,
scanning electron microscopy (SEM EDS)
Supporting agencies: This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Grant No. 20-78-10125
About the Authors
A. V. Vishnevsky
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences;
Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Researcher, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences; Senior Researcher, Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090,
pr. Akademika Koptyuga 3, Novosibirsk, 630090
N. Е. Belousova
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Senior Researcher
pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
A. Y. Fedorchenko
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Researcher
pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
V. A. Mikhienko
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Junior Researcher
pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
M. B. Kozlikin
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Senior Researcher
pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
M. V. Shunkov
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Chief Researcher, Department Head
pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
References
1. Belousova N.E. 2018 Kamenniye industrii nachala verkhnego paleolita Gornogo Altaya. Cand. Sc. (History) Dissertation. Novosibirsk.
2. Belousova N.E., Rodionov A.M., Vishnevsky A.V., Fedorchenko A.Y., Mikhienko V.A., Seletsky M.V. 2022 “Tonkiye” listovidniye bifasy nachala verkhnego paleolita Altaya: Tekhnologiya, formoobrazovaniye i kamennoye syrye. Stratum plus. Arkheologiya i kulturnaya antropologiya, No. 1: 329–353.
3. Belousova N.E., Rybin E.P., Fedorchenko A.Y., Kulik N.A. 2019 Listovidniy bifas nachala verkhnego paleolita so stoyanki Kara-Bom: Tekhnologiya, funktsiya, kontekst. In Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredelnykh territoriy, vol. XXV. Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN, pp. 36–43.
4. Derevianko A.P., Kulik N.A., Shunkov M.V. 2000 Geologo-petrograficheskiy kontrol kachestva syrya paleoliticheskikh industriy Severo-Zapadnogo i Tsentralnogo Altaya. In Tri veka gorno-geologicheskoy sluzhby Rossii, vol. 1. Tomsk: GalaPress, pp. 5–7.
5. Derevianko A.P., Markin S.V., Kulik N.A., Kolobova K.A. 2015 Lithic raw material exploitation in the Sibiryachikha facies, the Middle Paleolithic of Altai. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, vol. 43 (3): 3–16. (In Russian and English).
6. Derevianko A.P., Postnov A.V., Shunkov M.V., Anoikin A.A., Kulik N.A. 1998 Geologo-petrograficheskoye izucheniye materialov paleoliticheskikh obyektov basseina r. Anui. In Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredelnykh territoriy, vol. IV. Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN, pp. 52–55.
7. Derevianko A.P., Shunkov M.V., Agadjanian A.K., Baryshnikov G.F., Malaeva E.M., Ulyanov V.A., Kulik N.A., Postnov A.V., Anoikin A.A. 2003 Prirodnaya sreda i chelovek v paleolite Gornogo Altaya. Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN.
8. Gosudarstvennaya geologicheskaya karta Rossiyskoy Federatsii Masshtaba 1 : 200 000. 2001 Ser. Altaiskaya. List M-45-I (Soloneshnoye): Obyasnitelnaya zapiska. V.A. Krivchikov, P.F. Selin, G.G. Rusanov et al. [2nd edition]. St. Petersburg: VSEGEI.
9. Gosudarstvennaya geologicheskaya karta Rossiyskoy Federatsii Masshtaba 1 : 200 000. 2019 Ser. Gorno-Altaiskaya. List M-45-VIII (Shebalino): Obyasnitelnaya zapiska. O.M. Popova, V.I. Krupchatnikov, A.L. Ponomarev et al. [2nd edition]. Moscow: VSEGEI.
10. Herron M.M. 1988 Geochemical classifi cation of terrigenous sands and shales from core or log data. Journal of Sedimentary Research, vol. 58: 820–829.
11. Kulik N.A., Kozlikin M.B., Shunkov M.V. 2023 Kamennoye syrye kak ekologicheskiy faktor v paleolite Altaya. Teoriya i praktika arkheologicheskikh issledovaniy, No. 2: 166–176.
12. Kulik N.A., Postnov A.V. 2001 Petrografi ya industriy Ust-Kanskoy peshchery. In Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredelnykh territoriy, vol. VII. Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN, pp. 146–150.
13. Kulik N.A., Shunkov M.V., Petrin V.T. 2003 Rezultaty petrograficheskogo analiza paleoliticheskikh industriy Tsentralnogo Altaya. In Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredelnykh territoriy, vol. IX (1). Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN, pp. 154–158.
14. Kuznetsov V.A. 1963 Tektonicheskoye rayonirovaniye i osnovniye cherty endogennoy metallogenii Gornogo Altaya. In Voprosy geologii i metallogenii Gornogo Altaya. Novosibirsk: Izd. SO AN SSSR, pp. 7–66. (Trudy Inst. geologii i geofi ziki SO AN SSSR; iss. 13).
15. Postnov A.V., Anoikin A.A., Kulik N.A. 2000 Criteria for the selection of raw materials in Paleolithic industries of the Anui River basin (Gorny Altai). Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, No. 3: 18–30. (In Russian and English).
16. Rybin E.P., Shelepaev R.A., Popov A.Y., Khatsenovich A.M., Anoikin A.A., Pavlenok G.D. 2018 Ekspluatatsiya osadochnykh porod v verkhnepaleoliticheskikh tekhnologiyakh rasshchepleniya kamnya Tsentralnoy Azii – Yuzhnoy Sibiri. Teoriya i praktika arkheologicheskikh issledovaniy, No. 2 (22): 146–156.
17. Sokol E.V., Kozlikin M.B., Kokh S.N., Nekipelova A.V., Kulik N.A., Danilovsky V.A., Khvorov P.V., Shunkov M.V. 2022 Phosphate record in Pleistocene-Holocene sediments from Denisova Cave: Formation mechanisms and archaeological implications. Minerals, vol. 12, iss. 5, No. 553.
18. Vishnevsky A.V., Belousova N.E., Lavrenchuk A.V., Nevolko P.A. 2023 Portativniy RFA analizator: Noviye vozmozhnosti diagnostiki kamennogo syrya i identifi katsii yego istochnikov, otsenki validnosti primeneniya metoda syryevykh edinits. In Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredelnykh territoriy, vol. XXIX. Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN, pp. 90–96.
19. Wawryk M.J., Hancock E.A. 2022 Portable XRF analysis in the Joe Lord and Perth core libraries – methodology and case studies. Perth: Geological Survey of Western Australia, Record.
20. Yolkin E.A., Sennikov N.V., Buslov M.M., Yazikov A.Y., Gratsianova R.T., Bakharev N.K. 1994 Paleogeograficheskiye rekonstruktsii zapadnoy chasti Altaye-Sayanskoy oblasti v ordovike, silure i devone i ikh geodinamicheskaya interpretatsiya. Geologiya i geofizika, vol. 35 (7/8): 118–144.
Review
For citations:
Vishnevsky A.V., Belousova N.Е., Fedorchenko A.Y., Mikhienko V.A., Kozlikin M.B., Shunkov M.V. Rocks and Their Sources in the Upper Paleolithic of the Altai: Relevance to Bifacial Technologies. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2024;52(4):59-74. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2024.52.4.059-074
Views:
163
Email this article 