The Technology of Primary Stone Splitting of the Early Upper Paleolithic Industry of the UP1 Cultural Layer at the Kara-Bom Site (Russian Altai)

The article investigates and reconstructs the strategies of primary splitting in the industry of the Upper Paleolithic layer 1 at the Kara-Bom site in the territory of the Altai Mountains Altai (UP1, radiocarbon age within 30-34 thousand years ago) which marks the settlement time in the early Upper Paleolithic. As a result, it was possible to identify a number of technological features of the UP1 industry demonstrating its difference from the underlying complex of the initial Upper Paleolithic, separated from it with the chronological gap of 10 thousand years (UP2, about 43 thousand years ago), and its attribution to the early Upper Paleolithic. Reconstruction of the stone materials processing technology was based on the technological, comparative and typological method. An additional tool to study the operation sequences of splitting was the refitting method and the method of raw units. The UP 1 industry involves two main methods of reduction. The first is aimed at the production of large blades; the second is aimed at the production of bladelets. Both exist within the frame of prizmatic and subprismatic technology. The data obtained suggest the gradual evolution of technology between the initial Upper Paleolithic and early Upper Palaeolithic.