Upper Palaeolithic in Eastern Kazakhstan (Based on the Materials of the Ushbulak Site)

This article focuses on the Upper Paleolithic lithic industries from layers 5.1-4 of the Ushbulak site in Eastern Kazakhstan. These assemblages, dated approximately to ~24-21 kyr BP, show the appearance of pressure flaking technique, being thus chronologically consistent with the earliest manifestations of this knapping technique known in South Korea and Northeast China. The primary reduction and toolset composition of the Late Upper Paleolithic assemblages at Ushbulak show fundamental differences from both the preceding Initial Upper Paleolithic of layers 7-6 and the subsequent Final Upper Paleolithic assemblages of layers 3-2. Moreover, no direct analogies with the synchronous industries in Kazakhstan and its immediate neighboring regions (Russian Altai) can be identified for the time being. The available data suggest that the materials from layers 5.1-4 mark an episode of population replacement in this part of Kazakhstan, possibly associated with a migration from the Northern China

Ancient history · Archaeology · Geography · History · Marine and environmental studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology