Living environment of late Neanderthals in NW Altai: Evidences from Verkhnyaya Sibiryachikha and Okladnikov caves

IF 0.9 2区历史学 0 ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeological Research in Asia Pub Date : 2025-03-13 DOI:10.1016/j.ara.2025.100612

V.V. Alekseitseva , N.A. Rudaya , K.A. Kolobova

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Abstract

Today, the Altai Mountains remain the eastmost known border of Neanderthal habitat. They are known to have settled the area twice: hominins of the first wave are found in the Denisova Cave (Denisova 5), while Neanderthals of the second wave come from the Okladnikov, Chagyrskaya and Verkhnyaya Sibiryachikha caves. Late Neanderthals migrated to Altai from Europe at the end of MIS 4 and existed there throughout the beginning of MIS 3 to disappear afterwards. However, such issues as Neanderthals' choice of settlement place, their ecological niche and livelihood strategies that determined their living environment still remain relevant. The paper presents the results of a paleoecological study of Late Neanderthal habitat in the Altai, involving both contemporaneous loess sequences and archaeological sites. To reconstruct the living environment, pollen analysis of the Verkhnyaya Sibiryachikha Cave sediments was performed as well as the key functional plant types for the Verkhnyaya Sibiryachikha and Okladnikov caves were reconstructed. The study has demonstrated that Neanderthals appeared in the Altai in a cold and dry climate and survived in open steppe landscapes. For Europe, this period coincided with Weichselian harsh glacial conditions and was marked by a surge in Neanderthal populations activity. The new data complement those obtained from other studies in particular, paleofaunistic ones.

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阿尔泰西北部晚期尼安德特人的生活环境：来自Verkhnyaya Sibiryachikha和Okladnikov洞穴的证据

今天，阿尔泰山脉仍然是尼安德特人栖息地最东边的边界。据了解，尼安德特人曾两次在该地区定居：第一波的古人类是在丹尼索瓦洞穴（Denisova 5）中发现的，而第二波的尼安德特人则是在Okladnikov、Chagyrskaya和Verkhnyaya Sibiryachikha洞穴中发现的。晚期尼安德特人在MIS 4末期从欧洲迁移到阿尔泰，并在MIS 3初期一直存在，之后消失。然而，尼安德特人对居住地的选择、生态位和生计策略等决定其生存环境的问题仍然具有相关性。本文介绍了对阿尔泰地区晚期尼安德特人栖息地的古生态研究结果，包括同时期的黄土序列和考古遗址。为了重建生活环境，对Verkhnyaya Sibiryachikha洞穴沉积物进行了花粉分析，并对Verkhnyaya Sibiryachikha和Okladnikov洞穴的关键功能植物类型进行了重建。研究表明，尼安德特人出现在寒冷干燥的阿尔泰气候中，并在开阔的草原景观中生存下来。对于欧洲来说，这一时期恰逢魏奇塞利时期严酷的冰川条件，标志着尼安德特人人口活动的激增。新数据补充了从其他研究中获得的数据，特别是古动物研究。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Archaeological Research in Asia ARCHAEOLOGY-

CiteScore

2.50

自引率

13.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Archaeological Research in Asia presents high quality scholarly research conducted in between the Bosporus and the Pacific on a broad range of archaeological subjects of importance to audiences across Asia and around the world. The journal covers the traditional components of archaeology: placing events and patterns in time and space; analysis of past lifeways; and explanations for cultural processes and change. To this end, the publication will highlight theoretical and methodological advances in studying the past, present new data, and detail patterns that reshape our understanding of it. Archaeological Research in Asia publishes work on the full temporal range of archaeological inquiry from the earliest human presence in Asia with a special emphasis on time periods under-represented in other venues. Journal contributions are of three kinds: articles, case reports and short communications. Full length articles should present synthetic treatments, novel analyses, or theoretical approaches to unresolved issues. Case reports present basic data on subjects that are of broad interest because they represent key sites, sequences, and subjects that figure prominently, or should figure prominently, in how scholars both inside and outside Asia understand the archaeology of cultural and biological change through time. Short communications present new findings (e.g., radiocarbon dates) that are important to the extent that they reaffirm or change the way scholars in Asia and around the world think about Asian cultural or biological history.