Поздний палеолит Верхнего Абакана (Хакасия)
Late Palaeolithic of the Upper Abakan River (Khakassiya)

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the preliminary results of a long-term research project oriented toward the Stone Age studies in a previously unexplored area of the upper reaches of the Abakan River (Republic of Khakasiya, South Siberia). Several stratified Late Palaeolithic sites have been discovered and excavated. The lithic workshop of Kuibyshevo II, located at the elevated terrace levels in the Dzhebash River valley near the quartzite outcrops, was the main target for the study. The site with no analogs in the Palaeolithic of Yenisei produced a rich collection of lithics demonstrating an original combination of traits of different cultures, which were thought to be isolated. The core of the lithic industry is similar to the Afontova culture with the dominance of flake technology, large single-platform cores, wedge-shaped microcores, sidescrapers, and endscrapers. At the same time, the site yielded a series of elongated burins on retouched blades typical for the Kokorevo culture of the Middle Yenisei region. Moreover, the assemblage includes thin foliated bifaces previously known at Yenisei only at the sites of the Derbina area. The site of Krivoi Chistobai I, located nearby, is the first assemblage of the Kokorevo culture identified in the region. A series of other sites located at the Abakan River valley (Mozharov Uval I), and at the Bolshie Arbaty River (Matros I and Bolshie Arbaty I), could be considered as belonging to the Late Palaeolithic Afontova culture. The sites have been radiocarbon-dated to ca. 15,000 to 13,000 BP.

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