Стоянка финального палеолита Ирба 2 в предгорьях Саян (предварительные итоги исследований)
The Final Palaeolithic Site of Irba 2 in the Piedmonts of Sayan Mountains (preliminary results of investigations)

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the preliminary results of the realization a salvage archaeology project connected with the construction of the railway from Kyzyl to Kuragino (Krasnoyarsk Region, South Siberia) in 2012 and 2015. During the exploration of the multicomponent habitation site of Irba 2 the Pleistocene remains were unearthed beneath the Holocene cultural layers. The finds include bones of bison, reindeer, red deer, giant deer, wild horse, brown bear and hare, lithics, and pieces of worked antler. Radiocarbon dates indicate the Final Pleistocene age (ca. 13 to 11 kyr BP). The assemblage belongs to the Afontova culture, which dominated in the upper reaches of Yenisei during the Final Upper Palaeolithic. Worthy of special note is a unique engraved oval-shaped flat pebble of white marble. It has 37 lateral grooves, cross-shaped engravings in the central parts of both lateral surfaces and traces of unfinished holes made by boring. The nearest analogs are agalmatolithic discs from the sites of Afontova Gora II and III located at Krasnoyarsk. These objects should probably be considered as amulets.

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