Results of the 2025 Field Season at the Upper Paleolithic Site of Sabanikha-3

This article reports the results of field investigations at the Upper Paleolithic site of Sabanikha-3 (Middle Yenisei), carried out in 2025 as a continuation of earlier excavations. The principal objective was to examine an area endangered by shoreline erosion. Pit 4, measuring 4.5 sq. m, was opened 9 m east of a previously studied sector. A cultural layer 10 cm thick lied at a depth of 4.5 m below the present ground surface. The most significant feature was a hearth with an adjacent artificial depression filled with ash, charcoal, and numerous fragments of split large-mammal bones. This context reflects a single, short-term occupation episode, in contrast to earlier excavations where the cultural deposits represented palimpsests of repeated visits. The lithic assemblage is relatively small (ca. 980 pieces) and comprises cores, blades, flakes, and production waste. The toolkit includes end scrapers on blades, double and single angle borers, and retouched blades. The bone industry is represented by a fragment of an antler rod. Personal ornamentation represented by a pendant made of soft stone, comparable in form and material to specimens recovered in previous seasons, was also identified. Typological parallels between the lithic and bone artifacts, together with the stratigraphic position of the cultural layer, allow attribution of Pit 4 to the same cultural tradition as earlier materials. The results support the interpretation of Sabanikha-3 as a site formed through a series of relatively brief occupations by Upper Paleolithic hunters

Aurignacian · Excavation · Middle Paleolithic · Mousterian · Shore · Upper Paleolithic · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology