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The stone industries with microblade complexes
are widespread in a the Late Paleolithic of Siberia and the Far East.
Researchers underline the big role of microblade technology in adaptive
processes during the transition period from Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene,
suggesting it as a strategy of the minimization of efforts of hunters and
intensifications of hunting. Archeological sites with microblade industry in
the Far Eastern region show that they existed in a wide time range — from
24.000-18.000 B.P., and between 10.000-8000 B.P.
There are similar archaeological complexes in
central, east and southwest parts of Primorye. They are located mainly on the
banks of the rivers of the Ussuri - Amur system. Existence of microblade
complexes in Primorye is traditionally connected with the Early Holocene. For
the present time there are three basic groups of sites: 1 - Ilistataya, 2 -
Zerkalnaya, 3 - Upper Ilistaya and Arsenyevka, which have been investigated to
different degrees. But many questions connected with microblade complexes
exist. These include dating and identification. Extensive investigations of
Late Paleolithic sites in the Zerkalnaya Valley permit the allocation of three
basic chronological stages of the microblade technological development, between
18.000 – 10.000 years B.P.
Most of the Late Paleolithic artifacts from the
Ilistaya River Basin sites are found in the soft white-yellow loam layer and
the upper part of the heavy reddish-brown strata. Pollen spores from these
horizons in the Molodezhnaya 1 site shows that their formation occurred during
a cold climate comparable to landscapes of betula-deciduous light forests on
permafrost soil. The spectrum from whitish loam corresponds to the
Partizansrkii horizon of the regional scheme for the Pleistocene with dates of
15.300±140 years B.P. and 17.400±150 years B.P. The composition of pollen from
the upper part of the reddish-brown heavy loam is comparable with a complex
from a terrace of the Ilistataya river, with a date of 26.120±280 years B.P.
This data from new sections of the Molodezhnaya 1 supports assumptions for the
existence Microblade complexes in the valley of the Ilistaya River occurring at
different times, and allow to interpolate a conclusion, based on materials from
this series of sites located in the Zerkalnaya River Valley to all of the
Primorye Region.
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