Levallois Productions in Altai

Résumé du livre

The Altai range, in southern Russia, has yielded an important series of prehistoric assemblages in various contexts (caves, shelters and open-air sites). Recent anthropological and archaeological studies have established the significance of this area, with complex peopling events involving at least three different human species, Neanderthals, Modern Humans and Denisovans, the latter being exclusively associated with Altai assemblages. The cultural background of these hominins' occupation is already well defined for the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic. This study aims to better characterize the previous period's productions, through one of its important cultural features, the Levallois technology.To address this issue, we have undertaken a review of material coming from the some of the key Altai sequences, while trying to reconstruct the different chaînes opératoires implemented for the production of the desired products that had been previously recognized as Levallois. The analysed artefacts cover a large time span, from Early Middle Palaeolithic (Denisova, stratum 22 of the Central Chamber, RTL dated to 220-280 ky) to layers associated with Upper Palaeolithic (Ust'-Kanskaya, strata 3 to 1), and come from both caves and open-air sites. This allowed us to establish a chronological comparison, as well as regional. Results have shown that the Levallois assemblages of the region are quite homogenous; also, that Levallois technology may not have been present in Altai as early as it has been previously claimed, with a difference of ~100.000 years; and finally, that it is mostly analogous to what we can find in neighbouring regions. These extra-regional common features probably express contacts and exchanges to and from the Altai region.