A North American Plains Perspective on the Early Upper Paleolithic of the East European Plain

Abstract

The East European Plain (EEP), which is the dominant landform on the continent of Europe, exhibits many parallels to the High Plains of North America with respect to landscape and biota. These parallels are reflected in the early prehistoric archaeological record of both regions and a “North American Plains (NAP) perspective” is applied here to the early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) between ~45 000 and ~30 000 cal BP of the EEP. As among First Peoples on the NAP, EUP groups on the EEP used the distribution of springs and the topography of an arid, open landscape to hunt large mammals individually and in small herds (especially horse and reindeer). Many sites contain features (e. g., carcass processing areas) analogous to those in archaeological sites on the NAP. EUP culture-stratigraphy for the EEP is reinterpreted from a “NAP perspective.”