Multilayered Site Malta-most 3 in the Valley of the Belaya River (Based on the Materials of Rescue Excavation in 2024)

The article presents the preliminary results of the research work of the 2024 field season at the multilayered site Malta-Most 3 site in the Usolye district of the Irkutsk region (Belaya River valley). The research is a continuation of the rescue archaeological works of 2020–2021. The study site is located on the watershed surface between the Belaya River and its right tributary, the Maltinka River, on a slightly sloping slope surface with relative elevations of 35–38 m. As a result of the conducted research, the strata of geological formations of the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene of subaerial genesis have been uncovered. There are 6 culture-bearing horizons in the stratigraphic occurrence, which, according to preliminary estimates, date from the Late Karginian period to the Early Holocene time. Numerous fauna remains are mainly represented by horse and reindeer bones. Fewer bones of bison, woolly rhinoceros, and mammoth have been found. The total number of stone artifacts and manuports for all the sectors of excavation area in 2024 and cultural horizons amounted to 1053 units. The collections of lithic artifacts are dominated by waste from various stages of rock knapping. There are various types of cores for producing flakes and blades, and terminal-edge (narrow-faced) cores, including wedge-shaped forms, for microblades. The lithic collection also includes scrapers, choppers, knives, blanks and fragments of different tools. Thus, the source base of the Malta-Most 3 site has been replenished with new original samples of artifacts. In the process of studying the stratigraphy of geological deposits, traces of paleo-processes associated with cryogenesis and tectonic events were recorded. The obtained results allow us to detail and model socio-cultural phenomena and processes in the context of natural events and the evolution of paleo-ecological living conditions of Upper Paleolithic hunting and gathering communities not only in Baikal Siberia, but also in Northern Asia as a whole

Excavation · Fault scarp · Holocene · Mammoth · Pleistocene · Subaerial · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Marine and environmental studies · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Stratigraphy