The Late Pleistocene Microblade Component of Ushki Lake (Kamchatka, Russian Far East)

International audienceThe Late Pleistocene sites from Ushki Lake (Kamchatka) are among the most important sites for the understanding of the early archaeology of Beringia. This article presents a descriptive technological analysis of the stone-tool productions from Ushki-1 and Ushki-5, focusing on the late Pleistocene microblade component (layer VI). Microblade sites from late Pleistocene northeast Asia and North America represent one of the earliest migration waves to colonize the Americas. This particular technology originated in the Far East before spreading towards Alaska. The understanding of this migration process is thus essential, especially since the discovery of the Swan Point CZ4 microblade industry, the oldest human occupation so far in Alaska

Tracking the Adoption of Early Pottery Traditions into Maritime Northeast Asia : Emerging Insights and New Questions

Understanding the emergence and development of coastal adaptations is a central theme in the archaeology of Maritime Northeast Asia. The capacity to harvest, store and share aquatic resources offered a novel economic strategy that could support greater sedentism and new forms of social life. In turn, growing reliance on the exploitation of rich coastal resources wouldhave generated powerful incentives to invent, adopt or refine food-processing technologies such as pottery. By the end of the Holocene, marine-adapted cultures were present along all habitable coastlines and most of them maintained some kind of pottery tradition, though the deeper origins of the apparent relationship remain obscure. To explore evolving associationsbetween early pottery dispersals and the emergence of coastal adaptations we undertake a broad-scale chrono-spatial analysis of the expansion of these two phenomena across Northeast Asia and into Alaska, and then use this framework to discuss regional trajectories in more detail. Our preliminary results suggest that pottery and coastal economies have complex, andlargely separate histories, and that closer associations only start to emerge in later times. While limitations in the quality and coverage of data make these insights tentative, this mapping exercise highlights important themes requiring further research. Improved chronological frameworks are needed in all areas to better correlate cultural developments with climatic and environmental changes. Many regions would also benefit from large-scale analysis of food residues preserved in pottery to clarify general patterns in vessel function. More contextual analysis is needed to clarify how pottery use relates to other food processing and storage technologies, and to explain why some only contemporary sites contain pottery while others do not. Finally, comparative insights from ethnography and oral history can shed light on laterdevelopments in food-processing technologies and will improve understanding of how ancestral cooking traditions continue to inform northern Indigenous food cultures

Late Glacial to Holocene paleoenvironmental change on the northwestern Pacific seaboard, Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia)

We used a new sedimentary record from a small kettle wetland to reconstruct the Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation and fire history of the Krutoberegovo-Ust Kamchatsk region in eastern Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia). Pollen and charcoal data suggest that the Late Glacial landscape was dominated by a relatively fire-prone Larix forest-tundra during the Greenland Interstadial complex (GI 1) and a subarctic steppe during the Younger Dryas (GS1). The onset of the Holocene is marked by the reappearance of trees (mainly Alnus incana) within a fern and shrub dominated landscape. The Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) features shifting vegetational communities dominated by Alnus shrubs, diverse forb species, and locally abundant aquatic plants. The HTM is further defined by the first appearance of stone birch forests (Betula ermanii) – Kamchatka's most abundant modern tree species. The Late Holocene is marked by shifts in forest dynamics and forest-graminoid ratio and the appearance of new non-arboreal taxa such as bayberry (Myrica) and meadow rue (Filipendula). Kamchatka is one of Earth's most active volcanic regions. During the Late Glacial and Holocene, Kamchatka's volcanoes spread large quantities of tephra over the study region. Thirty-four tephra falls have been identified at the site. The events represented by most of these tephra falls have not left evidence of major impacts on the vegetation although some of the thicker tephras caused expansion of grasses (Poaceae) and, at least in one case, forest die-out and increased fire activity

Late Glacial to Holocene paleoenvironmental change on the northwestern Pacific seaboard, Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia)

We used a new sedimentary record from a small kettle wetland to reconstruct the Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation and fire history of the Krutoberegovo-Ust Kamchatsk region in eastern Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia). Pollen and charcoal data suggest that the Late Glacial landscape was dominated by a relatively fire-prone Larix forest-tundra during the Greenland Interstadial complex (GI 1) and a subarctic steppe during the Younger Dryas (GS1). The onset of the Holocene is marked by the reappearance of trees (mainly Alnus incana) within a fern and shrub dominated landscape. The Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) features shifting vegetational communities dominated by Alnus shrubs, diverse forb species, and locally abundant aquatic plants. The HTM is further defined by the first appearance of stone birch forests (Betula ermanii) – Kamchatka's most abundant modern tree species. The Late Holocene is marked by shifts in forest dynamics and forest-graminoid ratio and the appearance of new non-arboreal taxa such as bayberry (Myrica) and meadow rue (Filipendula). Kamchatka is one of Earth's most active volcanic regions. During the Late Glacial and Holocene, Kamchatka's volcanoes spread large quantities of tephra over the study region. Thirty-four tephra falls have been identified at the site. The events represented by most of these tephra falls have not left evidence of major impacts on the vegetation although some of the thicker tephras caused expansion of grasses (Poaceae) and, at least in one case, forest die-out and increased fire activity