Exploitation of Lithic Raw Material in the Northwestern Caucasus Upper Paleolithic

Exploitation of Lithic Raw Material in the Northwestern Caucasus Upper Paleolithic

E.V. Doronicheva, M.A. Kulkova, and M.S. Shackley.

Sources of lithic raw material discovered by the authors are described with special regard to methods of transporting stone to Upper Paleolithic sites in the northwestern Caucasus. The analysis of obsidian artifacts suggests that materials were imported from remote regions such as the central and South Caucasus, evidencing mobility patterns in the Upper Paleolithic.

Keywords: Upper Paleolithic, lithic raw material, raw material outcrops, northwestern Caucasus, mobility.