Minusinsk basin
PDFMinusinsk basin is bounded by East Sayan from the east, by Kuznetskiy Alatau from the west, by West Sayan from the south. In the north, the basin is closed by the Arga ridge. On the area, we know several sites of the Upper Palaeolithic with dated layers. The collection of personal ornamentation items from Malaya Syya (North Minusinsk basin) is quite homogeneous. The items are made of "exotic" raw materials — talcite — and are represented by ready-made artifacts, their blanks and raw materials prepared for further manufacturing. There are also items of expressed geometrical shape (round, rhombus-shaped, triangular). They are flattened, ornamented on the edges and surfaces. Greenish talcite shaped figured items are of particular interest. They have analogies in European Upper Palaeolithic complexes and are assosiated with female images.
The other palaeolithic sites of Kuznetskiy Alatau and Minusinsk basin foothills have also beads and stone geometric-shaped items in their collections. But such sites as Sabaniha, Irba, etc. related to later epoch of Palaeolithic (younger than 25 000 - 20 000 BP).
The area was colonized in the earle metal epoch by semi-nomadic and sedentary tribes.
Sites
Publications
Lisicyn N.F. Pozdnij paleolit Chulymo-Enisejskogo mezhdurech'ya. – SPb: izd-vo Centr «Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie», 2000. – S. 26–30 (in Russian).