Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-d8cs5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-19T00:35:22.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chronological Framework of the Siberian Paleolithic: Recent Achievements and Future Directions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Yaroslav V Kuzmin
Yaroslav V Kuzmin*
Affiliation:
Pacific Institute of Geography, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Radio St. 7, Vladivostok 690041, Russia. Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In Siberia, the accumulation of radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites since the 1960s makes it possible to compile a general Paleolithic 14C database, which contains about 440 entries as of late 2005. With these data, we can reveal the main chronological patterns of Paleolithic complexes, with a focus on the late Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) and Upper Paleolithic. The 14C dates for late Middle Paleolithic industries in Siberia are quite “young,” up to about 30,000–28,500 BP and perhaps ∼27,000 BP. The emergence of the Upper Paleolithic in Siberia took place relatively early compared with Eastern Europe. At about 43,000–35,000 BP, blade-dominated industries existed in the Altai Mountains and Lake Baikal region, and numerous adornments are known from several sites of that age. The late Upper Paleolithic complexes with microblade technology from the Altai Mountains are 14C dated to about 35,000–28,000 BP, and represent the earliest unequivocal evidence of microblade manufacture in northern Eurasia. The end of the Paleolithic in Siberia is related to the appearance of pottery, which indicates the beginning of the Neolithic period. In northern Transbaikal, the earliest pottery complexes are dated to about 12,000–11,000 BP and in the Russian Far East even to ∼13,000 BP, while in most of Siberia they date to approximately 8000–6000 BP. The most important features of the Siberian Paleolithic chronology are: a) the long persistence of Middle Paleolithic complexes, until about 30,000–27,000 BP; b) very early Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition, ∼43,000 BP, closely connected with the emergence of art and symbolic behavior in the earliest Upper Paleolithic at this time; c) the very early origin of microblade complexes, at least at about 35,000 BP; and d) a gradual Paleolithic–Neolithic transition, beginning in the Russian Far East at ∼13,000 BP and in Transbaikal about 12,000–11,000 BP, in most of Siberia at about 8000–6000 BP, and even later in some northern regions.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 2007 , pp. 757 - 766
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Anikovich, MV. 2003. The early Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 5(2)[no. 14]: 15–29.Google Scholar
Anikovich, MV, Sinitsyn, AA, Hoffecker, JF, Holliday, VT, Popov, VV, Lisitsyn, SN, Forman, SL, Levkovskaya, GM, Pospelova, GA, Kuz'mina, IE, Burova, ND, Goldberg, P, Macphail, RI, Giaccio, B, Praslov, ND. 2007. Early Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe and implications for the dispersal of modern humans. Science 315(5809):223–6.Google Scholar
Arkhipov, SA. 1999. Natural habitat of early man in Siberia. In: Chlachula, J, Kemp, RA, Tyráček, J, editors. Quaternary of Siberia: Quaternary Geology, Palaeontology, and Palaeolithic Archaeology [Sborník Geologichých Věd (Antopozoikum), Český Geologický Ústav, Praha, Special Volume 23]. Prague: Czech Geological Survey. p 133–40.Google Scholar
Astashkin, AV, Derevianko, AP, Milov, AD, Nikolaev, SV, Petrin, VT, Tsvetkov, YD. 1993. EPR dating: the comparison of data about the bone dating on the archaeological site Orkhon 7 (Mongolia) by EPR and 14C. Altaica 3:9–16.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef, O. 2000. The impact of radiocarbon dating on Old World archaeology: past achievements and future expectations. Radiocarbon 42(1):23–39.Google Scholar
Chlachula, J, Drozdov, NI, Ovodov, ND. 2003. Last Inter-glacial peopling of Siberia: the Middle Palaeolithic site Ust‘-Izhul’, the upper Yenisei area. Boreas 32(3):506–20.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP. 2001. The Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in the Altai (Mongolia and Siberia). Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 2(2)[no. 6]:70–103.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP. 2005. Formation of blade industries in Eastern Asia. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 6(4)[no. 24]:2–29.Google Scholar
Derev'anko, A, Markin, S. 1998. The Paleolithic of the Altai. In: Derev'anko, AP, Shimkin, DB, Powers, WR, editors. The Paleolithic of Siberia: New Discoveries and Interpretations. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p 84–106.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP, Rybin, EP. 2003. The earliest representations of symbolic behaviour by Paleolithic humans in the Altai Mountains. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 4(4)[no. 16]:27–50.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP, Shunkov, MV. 2004. Formation of the Upper Paleolithic traditions in Altai. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 5 (3)[no. 19]:12–40.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP, Nikolaev, SV, Petrin, VT. 1993. The dating of the Paleolithic site Kara-Bom with physical methods (14C and EPR). Altaica 3:3–8.Google Scholar
Derev'anko, AP, Shimkin, DB, Powers, WR, editors. 1998. The Paleolithic of Siberia: New Discoveries and Interpretations. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 406 p.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP, Shunkov, MV, Agadjanian, AK, Baryshnikov, GF, Malaeva, EM, Ulianov, VA, Kulik, NA, Postnov, AV, Anoikin, AA. 2003. Prirodnaya Sreda i Chelovek v Paleolite Gornogo Altaya [Paleoenvironment and Paleolithic Humans of the Mountainous Altai]. Novosibirsk: Izdatelstvo Instituta Arkheologii i Etnografii Sibirskogo Otdeleniya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk. 448 p. In Russian and English.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP, Postnov, AV, Rybin, EP, Kuzmin, YV, Keates, SG. 2005. The Pleistocene peopling of Siberia: a review of environmental and behavioural aspects. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 25: 57–68.Google Scholar
Derevianko, AP, Kuzmin, YV, Burr, GS, Jull, AJT, Kim, JC. 2004. AMS 14C age of the earliest pottery from the Russian Far East: 1996–2002 results. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223–224: 735–9.Google Scholar
Dolukhanov, PM, Shukurov, AM, Tarasov, PE, Zaitseva, GI. 2002. Colonization of northern Eurasia by modern humans: radiocarbon chronology and environment. Journal of Archaeological Science 29(6):593–606.Google Scholar
Dolukhanov, PM, Shukurov, AM, Tarasov, PE, Zaitseva, GI. 2005. Reply to Y.V. Kuzmin, S.G. Keates (Journal of Archaeological Science 31 (2004) 141–143). Journal of Archaeological Science 32(7):1125–30.Google Scholar
Fiedel, SJ, Kuzmin, YV. 2007. Radiocarbon date frequency as an index of intensity of Paleolithic occupation of Siberia: Did humans react predictably to climate oscillations? Radiocarbon , these proceedings.Google Scholar
Gamble, C, Davies, W, Pettitt, P, Richards, M. 2004. Climate change and evolving human diversity in Europe during the last glacial. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B 359(1442):243–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gamble, C, Davies, W, Pettitt, P, Hazelwood, L, Richards, M. 2005. The archaeological and genetic foundations of the European population during the Late Glacial: implications of ‘agricultural thinking.’ Cambridge Archaeological Journal 15(2):193–223.Google Scholar
Goebel, T. 2002. The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Siberia. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska New Series 2(1):94–114.Google Scholar
Goebel, T. 2004. The search for a Clovis progenitor in subarctic Siberia. In: Madsen, DB, editor. Entering America: Northeast Asia and Beringia Before the Last Glacial Maximum. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p 311–56.Google Scholar
Goebel, T, Slobodin, SB. 1999. The colonization of Western Beringia: technology, ecology, and adaptations. In: Bonnichsen, R, Turnmire, KL, editors. Ice Age Peoples of North America: Environments, Origins, and Adaptations of the First Americans. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press. p 104–55.Google Scholar
Goebel, T, Derevianko, AP, Petrin, VT. 1993. Dating the Middle-to-Upper-Paleolithic transition at Kara-Bom. Current Anthropology 34(4):452–8.Google Scholar
Huntley, DJ. 1992. Vlasov and Kulikov's method. Ancient TL 10(3):57–8.Google Scholar
Koltsov, LV, editor. 1989. Mezolit SSSR [The Mesolithic of the USSR]. Moscow: Nauka. 352 p. In Russian.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV. 2000a. Geoarchaeology of the Lower, Middle, and Early Upper Palaeolithic of Siberia: a review of current evidence. The Review of Archaeology 21(1):32–40.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV. 2000b. Radiocarbon chronology of the Stone Age cultures on the Pacific coast of Northeastern Siberia. Arctic Anthropology 37(1):120–31.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV. 2002. The earliest centres of pottery origin in the Russian Far East and Siberia: review of chronology for the oldest Neolithic cultures. Documenta Praehistorica 29:37–46.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV. 2004. Origin of the Upper Paleolithic in Siberia: a geoarchaeological perspective. In: Brantingham, PJ, Kuhn, SL, Kerry, KW, editors. The Early Upper Paleolithic Beyond Western Europe. Berkeley: University of California Press. p 196–206.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV. 2006. Chronology of the earliest pottery in East Asia: progress and pitfalls. Antiquity 80(308):362–71.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Keates, SG. 2004. Comment on “Colonization of northern Eurasia by modern humans: radiocarbon chronology and environment” by Dolukhanov, P.M., Shukurov, A.M., Tarasov, P.E. and Zaitseva, G.I. Journal of Archaeological Science 29, 593–606 (2002). Journal of Archaeological Science 31(2):141–3.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Keates, SG. 2005. Dates are not just data: Paleolithic settlement patterns in Siberia derived from radiocarbon records. American Antiquity 70(4):773–89.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Keates, SG. 2006. Response to “Reply to Y.V. Kuzmin, S.G. Keates (Journal of Archaeological Science 31 (2004) 141–143)” by Dolukhanov, P.M., Shukurov, A.M., Tarasov, P.E., Zaitseva, G.I. (Journal of Archaeological Science 32 (2005) 1125–1130). Journal of Archaeological Science 33(6):889–92.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Orlova, LA. 1998. Radiocarbon chronology of the Siberian Paleolithic. Journal of World Prehistory 12(1):1–53.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Orlova, LA. 2000. The Neolithization of Siberia and the Russian Far East: radiocarbon evidence. Antiquity 74(284):356–65.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Orlova, LA. 2004. Radiocarbon chronology and environment of woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blum.) in northern Asia: results and perspectives. Earth-Science Reviews 68(1–2):133–69.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, YV, Rybin, EP. 2005. The Palaeolithic of north-east Asia and Beringia from the Siberian perspective: when quality suffers. The Review of Archaeology 26(1):39–52.Google Scholar
Lbova, LV. 2002. The transition from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic in the western Trans-Baikal. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 3 (3)[no. 11]: 59–75.Google Scholar
Lbova, LV, Rezanov, IN, Kalmykov, NP, Kolomiets, VL, Dergacheva, MI, Fedeneva, IN, Vashukevich, NV, Volkov, PV, Savinova, VV, Bazarov, BA, Namsaraev, DV. 2003. Prirodnaya Sreda i Chelovek v Neopleistotsene (Zapadnoe Zabaikalye i Yugo-Vostochnoe Pribaikalye) [Environment and Humans in the Neopleistocene (Western Transbaikal and South-Eastern Cis-Baikal)]. Ulan-Ude: Izdatelstvo Buriatskogo Nauchnogo Tsentra Sibirskogo Otdeleniya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk. 174 p. In Russian.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. 2006a. A new radiocarbon revolution and the dispersal of modern humans in Eurasia. Nature 439(7079):931–5.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. 2006b. Going east: new genetic and archaeological perspectives on the modern human colonization of Eurasia. Science 313(5788):796–800.Google Scholar
Mochanov, YA. 1992. Drevneishy Paleolit Diringa i Problema Vnetropichskoi Rodiny Chelovechestva [The Ancient Paleolithic Site of Diring and the Problem of a Nontropical Origin for Humankind]. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 254 p. In Russian.Google Scholar
Mochanov, YA. 1993. The most ancient Paleolithic of the Diring and the problem of a nontropical origin for humanity. Arctic Anthropology 30(1):22–53.Google Scholar
Nesterov, SP, Alkin, SV, Petrov, VG, Kang, CH, Orlova, LA, Kuzmin, YV, Imamura, M, Sakamoto, M. 2005. Rezultaty radiouglerodnogo datirovaniya eponimnykh pamyatnikov gromatukhinskoi i novopetrovskoi kultur Zapadnogo Priamurya [Results of radiocarbon dating of eponym sites of the Gromatukha and Novopetrovka cultures in western Amur Basin]. In: Derevianko, AP, Molodin, VI, editors. Problems Arkhaeologii, Etnografii, Antropologii Sibiri i Sopredelnykh Territorii. Tom 11. Chast 1. Novosibirsk: Izdatelstvo Instituta Arkheologii i Etnografii Sibirskogo Otdeleniya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk. p 168–72. In Russian.Google Scholar
Orlova, LA, Kuzmin, YV, Lbova, LV. 2005. Radiouglerodnye daty pamyatnikov paleolita i mezolita Zabaikalya i Mongolii [Radiocarbon dates of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic of the Transbaikal and Mongolia]. In: Lbova, LV, editor. Paleoliticheskie Kultury Zabaikalya i Mongolii (Novye Fakty, Metody i Gipotezy). Novosibirsk: Izdatelstvo Instituta Arkheologii i Etnografii Sibirskogo Otdeleniya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk. p 88–92. In Russian.Google Scholar
Phillips, JL. 1994. The Upper Paleolithic chronology of the Levant and the Nile Valley. In: Bar-Yosef, O, Kra, RS, editors. Late Quaternary Chronology and Paleoclimates of the Eastern Mediterranean. Tucson: Radiocarbon. p 169–76.Google Scholar
Pitulko, VV, Nikolsky, PA, Girya, EY, Basilyan, AE, Tumskoy, VE, Koulakov, SA, Astakhov, SN, Pavlova, EY, Anisimov, MA. 2004. The Yana RHS site: humans in the Arctic before the Last Glacial Maximum. Science 303(5654):52–6.Google Scholar
Rick, JW. 1987. Dates as data: an examination of the Peruvian preceramic radiocarbon record. American Antiquity 52(1):55–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinitsyn, AA, Hoffecker, JF. 2006. Radiocarbon dating and chronology of the Early Upper Paleolithic at Kostenki. Quaternary International 152–153:164–74.Google Scholar
Vasil'ev, SA, Kuzmin, YV, Orlova, LA, Dementiev, VN. 2002. Radiocarbon-based chronology of the Paleolithic of Siberia and its relevance to the peopling of the New World. Radiocarbon 44(2):503–30.Google Scholar
Vetrov, VM, Kuzmin, YV. 2005. K istorii izucheniya drevnei keramiki na Verkhnem Vitime [To the history of study of the ancient pottery in the Upper Vitim River valley]. In: Kharinsky, AV, editor. Sotsiogenez v Severnoi Azii. Chast 1. Irkutsk: Izdatelstvo Irkutskogo Gosudarstvennogo Tekhnicheskogo Universiteta. p 59–63. In Russian.Google Scholar
Vlasov, VK, Kulikov, OA. 1989. Radiothermoluminescence dating and applications to Pleistocene sediments. Physics and Chemistry of Minerals 16:551–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waters, MR, Forman, SL, Pierson, JM. 1999. Late Quaternary geology and geochronology of Diring Yuriakh, an Early Paleolithic site in central Siberia. Quaternary Research 51(2):195–211.Google Scholar
Zenin, VN. 2002. Major stages in the human occupation of the West Siberian Plain during the Paleolithic. Archeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 3 (4)[no. 12]:22–44.Google Scholar