Environmental Conditions of the Late Paleolithic and Early Neolithic Sites in Southern Sakhalin

Environmental Conditions of the Late Paleolithic and Early Neolithic Sites in Southern Sakhalin

N.A. Rudaya, A.A. Vasilevski, V.A. Grishchenko, and A.V. Mozhaev.

The article presents the results of a palynological study conducted at Late Paleolithic (Olympiya-5 and Ogonki-5) and Early Neolithic (Slavnaya-5) sites located in the southern part of Sakhalin Island. The reconstructed environments оf Late Paleolithic sites in southern Sakhalin included dark coniferous (fi r and spruce) forests, indicative of a relatively warm phases of the last stadial coinciding with Daansgard-Oeschger oscillations. The Early Holocene conditions in southern Sakhalin were relatively warm although a virtually complete absence of pollen of deciduous trees suggests that the Boreal period was not the Holocene climatic optimum in that region.

Keywords: Pollen analysis, reconstruction, paleoenvironment, Late Paleolithic, Early Neolithic, Sakhalin