The dynamics of stone industry transformation at the interface of lower and Middle Paleolithic in the Northwestern Caucasus

Modern data do not show a local evolutionary development of lithic industries throughout the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the Northwestern Caucasus. Human occupation of these territories was not continuous during the Pleistocene. On the contrary, the lacunarity of archaeological record in some periods and a generally cooler climate characteristic for Eastern Europe and the Northwestern Caucasus in late Middle Pleistocene suggest that major climatic deteriorations had a great impact on human settlement of the regions. The human colonization of the Northwestern Caucasus at the interface of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic demonstrates a peculiar dynamics associated with climate cycles of the late Middle Pleistocene - the first half of Upper Pleistocene.