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Microblade Production in the Sukhotino-4 Industry, Eastern Transbaikalia
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.1.025-033
Abstract
We have analyzed microblade production at Sukhotino-4, a stratified site in the southern part of Chita, Eastern Transbaikalia, excavated in the 1970s and 1980s. Its lithic industry specialized in bifacial tools and, to a large extent, in microblades and tools made on them. The sample includes over 300 cores and their preforms intended for manufacturing microblades and found in eleven layers. On the basis of morphological and typological analyses, we reveal an absolute predominance of narrow-faced microcores, including wedge-shaped ones. Most microcores from all layers of Sukhotino-4 were made according to a standard scheme, which concerned all stages, from the choice of blanks to the use of the core. The analysis of metric parameters suggests that most microcores have a frontal height of 25–30 mm and a width of 9–11 mm. The predominance of a single standard in the preparation of blanks and in the utilization of cores allowed us to describe the Sukhotino type of narrow-faced microcores. Other types are represented by just a few specimens. Morphological and typological homogeneity of most microcores and bifacial tools from all layers, correlating with the Sartan glacial cooling, suggests that the Upper Paleolithic industry of Sukhotino-4 existed for a long time.
Keywords
Supporting agencies: The study was carried out under the R&D project of the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Project No. 121031000241-1).
About the Authors
V. I. Tashak
Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Tashak V.I., Leading Researcher
Sakhyanovoy 6, Ulan-Ude, 670047
E. V. Kovychev
Transbaikal State University ; Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Kovychev E.V., Associate Professor; Leading Researcher
Aleksandro-Zavodskaya 30, Chita, 672039
Pushkinskaya 89, Vladivostok, 690001
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For citations:
Tashak V.I., Kovychev E.V. Microblade Production in the Sukhotino-4 Industry, Eastern Transbaikalia. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2025;53(1):25-33. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.1.025-033
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