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Mountain Altai

The archaeological locations of the Palaeolithic time on the territory of Gorny Altai are complex, multi-temporal and multi-cultural objects, reflecting a complex, mosaic picture of colonizing the territory by different groups of people over the past 50 thousand years.

The collections obtained as a result of long-term stationary excavations of Altai Paleolithic sites (and first of all obtained from the Denisova Cave) are the most ancient in chronological terms. The items are diverse in form and material, and are quantitatively representative. In the collections of the Initial Upper Paleolithic, “decorations” made of animal's teeth, bone, ivory, shells, eggshells are especially distinguished. Drilled small pebbles from various types of ornamental stone are typical for this area and period. Technologically, these collections, like others, can be divided into modified natural forms and intentionally made, three-dimensional items that are jewelry or items of prestige.

Among the Altai collections, one should also mention single items defined as personal adornments presented in the materials of both the Upper Paleolithic blade complexes as Kara-Bom, Anuya-2, Ust-Karakol, and in the materials of the Middle Paleolithic complexes of the Strashnaya, Ust-Kansk, Maloyaloansky caves, etc.

Sites

Strashnaya Cave

Multi-layered archaeological site, including cultural layers of the Middle Paleolithic, as well as the Early Upper Paleolithic and the classical stage of the Upper Paleolithic

Kara-Bom

Multi-layered complex of open type, including cultural layers of the Middle Paleolithic and Initial and Early Upper Paleolithic.

Maloyalomanskaya cave

Ust'-Kanskaya cave

Publications

Derevyanko A.P. Perekhod ot srednego k verhnemu paleolitu i problema formirovaniya Homo sapiens sapiens  v Vostochnoj, Central'noj i Severnoj Azii. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAEHT SO RAN, 2009. 560s.

Derevyanko A. P., Rybin E. P. Drevnejshee proyavlenie simvolicheskoj deyatel'nosti paleoliticheskogo cheloveka na Gornom Altae // Arheologiya, ehtnografiya i antropologiya Evrazii. – 2003. - № 3. – S. 27 - 50.

Derevyanko A.P., SHun'kov M.V. Stanovlenie verhnepaleoliticheskih tradicij na Altae // Arheologiya, ehtnografiya i antropologiya Evrazii. – 2004. – № 3. – S. 12–40.

Derevyanko A.P., Zenin A.N. Verhnepaleoliticheskie kompleksy peshchery Strashnaya // Problemy ohrany, izucheniya i ispol'zovaniya kul'turnogo naslediya Altaya. – Barnaul: Izd-vo Alt. gos. un-ta, 1995. – Vyp. VI. – S. 24 – 26.

Krivoshapkin A. I., Zenin V. N., Vasil'ev S. K., SHalagina A. V. Rezul'taty polevyh issledovanij peshchery Strashnaya v 2013 godu // Problemy arheologii, ehtnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredel'nyh territorij. – Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAEHT SO RAN, 2013. – T. XIX. – S. 94–99.

Okladnikov A. P., Muratov V. M., Ovodov N. D., Fridenberg E. O. Peshchera Strashnaya – novyj pamyatnik paleolita Altaya // Mat-ly po arheologii Sibiri i Dal'nego Vostoka. –Novosibirsk, 1973. – CH. 2. – S. 3–54.

Krivoshapkin, A., Shalagina, A., Baumann, M., Shnaider, S., & Kolobova, K. Between Denisovans and Neanderthals: Strashnaya Cave in the Altai Mountains. Antiquity, 92(365). P. 2., Figure 4.1 https://doi.org/10.15184/AQY.2018.221