Newly Discovered Remains of a Late Upper Paleolithic Dwelling in the Northern Baikal Area: Cultural Horizon 3/2 at Kovrizhka IV on the Vitim River
Newly Discovered Remains of a Late Upper Paleolithic Dwelling in the Northern Baikal Area: Cultural Horizon 3/2 at Kovrizhka IV on the Vitim River
doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2024.52.1.047-057
A.V. Tetenkin1, A. Henry2, E. Gauvrit Roux3, E.I. Demonterova4, and I.I. Razgildeeva5 1Irkutsk National Research Technical University, Lermontova 83, Irkutsk, 664074, Russia 2Universite Cote d’Azur, CNRS UMR 7264 CEPAM, 24 Avenue des Diables Bleus, Nice, 06300, France 3Fondation Fyssen, 194 rue de Rivoli, Paris, 75001, France Zooscan, IRL 2013, CNRS, 3 rue Michel Ange, Paris, 75016, France 4Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Lermontova 128, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia 5Transbaikal State University, Aleksandro-Zavodskaya 30, Chita, 672039, Russia
We describe a new complex of remains in cultural horizon 3/2 of the Kovrizhka IV site on the Vitim River in the Baikal-Patom Highlands. This feature is a cluster of archaeological remains near the hearth, enclosed by an oval pavement 4.7 m by 3.2 m, consisting of eight slabs. The feature is interpreted as the remains of a dwelling. The spatial arrangement of finds is described. Rather than taking a central position, the hearth is shifted to the probable entrance in the northeastern part. Under one of the slabs of the pavement, an ocher spot was found. Qualitative and typological characteristics of the artifact assemblage are provided. The feature yielded about 2400 lithic artifacts. On the basis of the use-wear study of selected artifacts, four retouched and unretouched flakes are identified as knives. Other tools include a biface-wedge-shaped core, a bifacial scraper-knife, two fragments of unifacial scraper-like tools, a cutting tool, and retouched flakes (altogether 12 spec.). There are also three wedge-shaped narrow-faced microcores, one of which was knapped from a bifacial preform, and two from flakes. The comparison with two dwellings and a hearth complex previously discovered at Kovrizhka IV, the results of AMS-dating (the age of the complex is estimated at ca 18.9-18.6 ka BP), and the analysis of lithics have shown that the site belongs to the early stage of the Late Upper Paleolithic of the Lower Vitim. Anthracological data indicate a tundra-steppe landscape with islets of shrubs (dwarf or shrubby willow). We conclude that the dwelling evidences a short-term occupation episode. Along with the previously excavated features of Kovrizhka IV, the complex in cultural horizon 3/2 gives an idea of the culture and subsistence strategies of the Late Upper Paleolithic people at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum.
Keywords: Late Upper Paleolithic, Last Glacial Maximum, dwelling, hearth, microblade knapping, ocher
