The twilight of Paleolithic Siberia: Humans and their environments east of Lake Baikal at the late-glacial/Holocene transition

Numerous archaeological sites in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East are assigned to the Younger Dryas that testify to human occupation of the area despite a re-advance of steppe biota beginning around 11,000 14C BP (ca. 12,850 cal BP). Archaeological sites are primarily associated with low-energy alluvial landforms where preservation is excellent, but some are heavily disturbed by cryogenic processes. Fish bones and other direct evidence of aquatic resource exploitation appeared while terrestrial hunting persisted. Technologically there was continuation of microblades, bifaces, and burins, but also harpoons, composite tools, and even pottery emerged in some areas. The Younger Dryas in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East was in many ways a watershed between Upper Paleolithic lifeways of the late Pleistocene and more settled Mesolithic traditions of the early Holocene.