ON THE AGE AND TYPE OF THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC SITES BEREZOVSKIY RAZREZ 1 AND BEREZOVSKIY RAZREZ 2
Despite a long enough history of research, the Paleolithic of West Siberia is represented by a relatively small number of sites. There are known now about twenty Upper Paleolithic sites, most of which are rather poor in archaeological material. All the more important, then, is the discovery in 2002 of two new sites designated as Berezovskiy razrez 1 and Berezovskiy razrez 2. Their inventory is similar to that of the Afontovo culture. Radiocarbon analysis of several bone samples from the cultural layers of these sites produced dates older than 23 000 and ca. 34 000 and 35 000 years, respectively, which should be considered a relatively early age within the framework of the Upper Paleolithic epoch. The sites are situated 16 km north of the town of Sharypovo (Krasnoyarsk region) at a distance of 400 m from one another. The redeposited Upper Paleolithic cultural remains are associated with a buried soil of the Sartan age, which was strongly disturbed by frost processes. The excavation of Berezovskiy razrez 1 yielded 555 stone and osseous artifacts and 4500 faunal remains, the excavation of Berezovskiy razrez 2 gave 772 stone and osseous artifacts and 5300 faunal remains. Berezovskiy razrez 1 was a short-term camp situated near the place where the carcasses of reindeer killed by Paleolithic hunters were butchered; probably in the vicinity of a salt lick. The site of Berezovskiy razrez 2 appears to have had a slightly different specialization, since its faunal collection shows a higher percentage of bison and bird bones. Given the presence in the two faunal collections of the species typical for transpolar tundra landscapes, both sites can be dated to the Sartan glaciation.