Nouvelles données sur le Paléolithique supérieur du Bassin de Minoussinsk, Sibérie du Sud (le site d’Irba 2)

Abstract

The paper deals with the results of the realization a salvage archaeology project connected with the construction of the railway from Kyzyl to Kuragino (the Krasnoyarsk Region, South Siberia) in 2012 and 2015. During the exploration of the multicomponent habitation site of Irba 2 below the Holocene cultural strata Pleistocene remains have been unearthed. These include bones of bison (dominant), reindeer, red deer, wild horse, brown bear and the Don hare. It is interesting to note the discovery of an antler fragment belonging to a giant deer, probably Megaloceros giganteus. Radiocarbon dates indicate the Final Pleistocene age (ca. 13 to 11 kyr BP). Paleolithic remains are represented by concentrations of chipped stone and bones, round or oval-shaped in plain view separated by empty spaces. Spatial distribution of remains notably differs from well-known habitation of Final Paleolithic sites located in the Yenisei River valley. The spatial organization of these sites associated with laminated fluvial sediments forming low-lying terraces is structurally similar to the Magdalenian settlements of the Paris Basin while Irba 2 has resemblances with the Federmesser and Belloisian sites of Closeau type. The lithic industry of the site is characteristic of groups of sites belonging to the Afontova culture predominant in the upper reaches of Yenisei during the Final Upper Paleolithic. The rare finding, a unique engraved oval-shaped flat pebble of white marble is worth to mention. It has 37 lateral grooves, cross-shaped engravings in the central parts of both lateral surfaces and traces of unfinished hollows. The nearest analogs are agalmatolithic discs from the old excavations of the sites of Afontova Gora II and III located at Krasnoyarsk. These findings are rare in the Paleolithic and could be considered as amulets.