Geoarchaeology and Radiocarbon Chronology of Stone Age Northeast Asia

This English translation of a work previously published inRussian (Geoarkheologiya i radiouglerodnaya khronologiyakamennogo veka Severo Vostochnoi Azii, St. Petersburg:Nauka, 2010) presents an overview of the Paleolithicarchaeology of Northeast Asia, with emphasis ongeoarchaeological and radiocarbon-based chronology.Although archaeological investigations above the ArcticCircle began more than two hundred years ago, accessto and publication of findings has been difficult. InGeoarchaeology and Radiocarbon Chronology of Stone AgeNortheast Asia, veteran researchers Vladimir V. Pitul’koand Elena Yu. Pavlova have gathered and analyzed theavailable data to provide comprehensive documentationof human occupation of continental territories far abovethe Arctic Circle in the late Neopleistocene (also known asthe Late Pleistocene era). By using uncalibrated radiocarbondating, Pitul’ko and Pavlova have been able to establish reliablecorrelations between the artifacts and phenomena being studied.The increased number of radiocarbon age determinations forthese Arctic sites is the most important data to come from thelatest studies of Northeast Asia, offering a significant opportunityfor re-evaluation of older materials in light of these new findings.

The authors include reporting on recent work performed at two of the most important sites in the region: the “mammoth cemetery”site at Berelekh and the Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site.