The Concepts, Chronology and Dispersal Routes of the Initial Upper Paleolithic of South Siberia and Central Asia

Abstract

The article considers the chronology and distribution of the earliest blade of the Initial Upper Paleolithic in Central and Eastern Eurasia. Based on a review of the available evidence, it is concluded that the spread of the Initial Upper Paleolithic tradition is relatively rapid, with the difference between the older dates from the Altai Upper Paleolithic laminar assemblages (ca 45–49 ka BP, Kara-Bom UP2 level), and the younger dates from the industries east of Altai is minimal, and most often does not exceed one-two thousand years. Initial Upper Paleolithic industries replace Late Middle Paleolithic complexes on their way from the Altai. The early Initial Upper Paleolithic assemblages from Central Eurasia, being close in age, show a significant degree of technological and typological similarity, which may indicate the transfer of the tradition in its entirety. The earliest Initial Upper Paleolithic assemblages of Central Eurasia are synchronous, or slightly younger than the early Emiran Upper Paleolithic industries from the Boker Tachtit site in the Levant. The Initial Upper Paleolithic industries on the assumed route of dispersal between the Levant and Central Asia are unknown. At the same time, the earliest European Initial Upper Paleolithic can also be seen as an example of a rapid and directed transfer of Initial Upper Paleolithic cultural traditions from the Levant to the Balkans and to Central and Western Europe. The article suggests that the same scenario of the spread of the Initial Upper Paleolithic tradition, supposedly associated with the dispersal of the anthropologically modern type of humans, could also take place in the central part of Eurasia, where the territory of the mountains and foothills of Central Asia and South Siberia could become the center of Initial Upper Paleolithic formation.