Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Paleoenvironments, Human Settlement and Adaptations in the East Siberian Arctic

Abstract

Archaeological record of the Stone Age in the East Siberian Arctic spans approximately 50,000 years. There are three main stages reflecting steps in human settlement of the Arctic Eurasia driven by various abiotic and biotic factors: early (~50 to ~29 ka, MIS 3); middle (~29 to ~ 11,7 ka, MIS 2) and late (from 11,7 to ~8 ka). Successful peopling of the Arctic was largely facilitated by adoption of critically important innovations such as sewing technology based on the use of eyed bone needle, and manufacture of long shafts and pointed implements made of mammoth tusks. Mammoth exploitation is seen in mass accumulations of mammoth formed by hunting. Obvious connection between archaeological materials and such accumulations is observed in the archaeological record. In lithic technology, the early stage is presented by archaic-looking flake industries, the middle stage witnesses the spread of the wedge-core based microblade technology known as Beringian microblade tradition, and the late stage is characterized by microprismatic blade technology. Long-distance transport of artifacts, knowledge and genes was facilitated by the introduction of land transportation system. The initial peopling of the region was associated with the carriers of the West Eurasian genome, who were subsequently gradually replaced by populations of the East Asian ancestry moving North under the pressure of environmental changes.