The transition from the Late Paleolithic to the Initial Neolithic in the Baikal region: Technological aspects of the stone industries

The area east of Lake Baikal in Siberia is one of a small number of regions in Eurasia where pottery was already used in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene from the 12th millennium cal BC onwards. Here, the adoption of pottery by hunter–gatherer communities marks the end of the Late Paleolithic and the beginning of the Initial Neolithic. The cultural environment in which pottery emerged can indicate whether the ceramic innovation arrived as part of a wider complex of new technologies and cultural characteristics, or whether it was incorporated into an already-existing cultural sphere. The paper investigates the development of lithic technology as one part of material culture at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, concentrating on the primary reduction techniques. The study is based on data and material from the Krasnaya Gorka site, as well as published data from other sites of the Late Paleolithic and the Initial Neolithic. The comparative technological and typological analysis of the assemblages of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition reveals a continuity of lithic techniques, which is in accordance with the general tendency in most of North-East Asia. During the later stages of the Initial Neolithic, an innovation took place which is characterized by a further rationalization of the Yubetsu reduction technique, eventually leading to the microprismatic technique.