"From Central Asia to Alaska: Prehistoric Colonization and Adaptations in Siberia"

Anthropology

General view of the Ui River valleyInstructor: Professor Sergey A. Vasil'ev, Institute for the Material Culture History, St.Petersburg, Russia
Course outline
The course is organized as a series of 15 lectures (one semester). The main topics are as follows:
  1. Chronological and paleogeographical framework. Geographical position of the area under study. Main physiographical regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East. Modern environments. Quaternary history of Siberia. Paleogeographical features of the Early and Middle Pleistocene. Detailed radiocarbon-based chronology and stratigraphic succession of the Late Pleistocene deposits as a framework for dating Paleolithic occurrences. Faunal assemblages in the Pleistocene and Holocene.
  2. Paleolithic research in Siberia: retrospect and prospects. Short glance at the history of archaeological research in Northern Asia. Main contemporary research centers, their field and publishing activity. New syntheses. Some key organizational and methodological problems. International co-operation of prehistorians in the North Pacific area.
  3. Background to the colonization of Siberia: new evidence from Central Asia. Paleogeographical conditions of the innermost Asia in the Pleistocene. Discovery of stratified Early Paleolithic occurrences in loess deposits at Tadjikistan. Acheulian and Pebble-culture localities at Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China. Possible ways of earliest human entry in Northern Asia.
  4. First human traces in Northern Asia. Search for early Hominids in Siberia. Dubious occurrences. Lower Paleolithic sites (Mokhovo I, Diring, etc.) and heated debates around it. Discoveries of Acheulian bifaces.
  5. The Mousterian of Siberia and the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition. A cluster of Mousterian cave- and open-air sites at the Altai Mountains, their chronology and cultural affiliation. Levallois-Mousterian occurrences in other portions of Siberia. Faunal exploitation, lithic procurement and functional diversification of habitations in the Middle Paleolithic. New light on the Early Upper Paleolithic. The Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Northern Asia, Europe and Near East: a comp arison.
  6. The Upper Paleolithic. Regional evidence I: Western Siberia and Altai. Particular features of Pleistocene paleogeography in the West Siberia Plains. Occurrences at the Tobol, Irtysh and Ob' Rivers. Problems of the identification of kill-and-b utchering sites. Early blade industries at Altai. Final Paleolithic occupation of caves. Sites at the piedmonts of Altai and the Kuzbass region.
  7. The Upper Paleolithic. Regional evidence II: The Yenisei Basin and adjacent areas. Sites at the Chulym and Kan Rivers. Main clusters of prehistoric occurrences along the Yenisei valley. Middle Upper Paleolithic bladelet industries. Final Pleis tocene diversity of culture variants. Cultural versus functional variability.
  8. The Upper Paleolithic. Regional evidence III: The Angara and Lena Basins. Culture sequence at the Upper Angara and the Lena waterhead region. The flourishing of the Upper Paleolithic culture as represented by the Mal'ta and Buret' sites. Final Pleistocene living sites and lithic workshops. Occurrences along the Lake Baikal shoreline, the Lena, Nizhniaia Tunguska and Vitim Rivers.
  9. The Upper Paleolithic. Regional evidence IV: The Trans-Baikal. Early Upper Paleolithic sites with slab-lined dwelling structures. Controversy around the Middle Upper Paleolithic phase. Final Paleolithic sites clustered in the valleys of Selen ga, Uda, Khilok, Chikoi, Ingoda and Onon.
  10. The Upper Paleolithic. Regional evidence V: The Russian Far East. Final Paleolithic industries in the Maritime Territory, the Amur basin, and the Sakhalin Island, its correlation with Japanese, Korean and Chinese sequences. Early appearance of pottery production.
  11. The Paleolithic of Northeastern Siberia and the problem of the first entry to the New World. The "Diuktai culture", its significance and chronology. Presumable Pleistocene occurrences at Kamchatka, Chukotka, and the Kolyma River Basin. Paleoge ography of the Bering Land Bridge. Comparison of Asian and Alaskan sequences.
  12. Time-space systematics in the Upper Paleolithic of Siberia. Different models of the Upper Paleolithic diversification in Russian prehistory. Evolutionary, diffusionist, migrationist, stadial and particularistic local culture approaches. Temporal and spatial differentiation of lithic industries. General features of the North Asian culture pattern, its comparison with the European pattern.
  13. Subsistence and settlement in the Upper Paleolithic of Siberia. Paleoecological settings of sites. Settlement systems and functional differentiation of localities in different portions of Siberia. Structural features and domestic units. Subsis tence activities (big game hunting, gathering, fishing). Lithic procurement and technology.
  14. Spiritual life and artistic manifestations in the Upper Paleolithic of Siberia. Series of feminine statuettes and other mobile art objects from Mal'ta and Buret'. Discoveries of Paleolithic art in the other parts of Siberia. Personal ornaments. An unique burial structure from Mal'ta. Problem of the identification of racial type of the Upper Paleolithic Men in Siberia.
  15. Environmental changes and culture responses at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. Climatic changes and paleogeographical consequences. Disappearance of ice sheets and human colonization of High Latitudes. Microlithic industries of Western Sibe ria and Altai. Sites around the Baikal Lake. The Sumnagin culture. Early Holocene cultures of the Pacific Coast. Subsistence changes - an increase of the exploitation of riverine and maritime resources.