| Abstract: |
The Altai is located in southern Siberia, Russia. Virtually all Altai Middle Paleolithic industries represent a single cultural tradition, within which two principal technological variants have been established-Denisova and Kara-Bom. Among the key features of the Denisova variant (Denisova and Okladnikov cave sites and the open-air Tiumechin-1 site) are the predominance of parallel and radial flaking, a large share of tools on medium-sized and short flakes, various racloirs, including diagonal and canted scrapers, and distincly Levallois tools. The techno-typological characteristics of the Kara-Bom variant (the sites of Kara-Bom, Ust-Karakol-1, Anui-3, Ust-Kan Cave) are somewhat different. Here, primary reduction was based on the Levallois techinique, mostly resulting in blades. The predominant tools are Levallois points and elongated Levallois flakes along with various notched-denticulate forms and Upper Paleolithic types. The likely technological precursors of the Altai Middle Paleolithic were Lower Paleolithic industries of the adjacent regions, characterized by advanced techniques of parallel and Levallois knapping and the manufacturing of standardized tools on a large scale. A wide distribution of Levallois-like Lower Paleolithic industries in territories bordering the Altai stimulated the autochthonous evolution of the Altai Middle Paleolithic as one of the Central Asian Paleolithic traditions.
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