Sergey B. Slobodin

North-East Interdisciplinary Science Research Institute FEB RAS, Magadan, Russia

E-mail: archaeol@neisri.ru

Keywords: archaeology of the Kolyma, Yakutia (Sakha), Kamchatka and Chukotka, Early Holocene, Mesolithic of Northeast Asia, blade stemmed points tradition, Beringia.

The article presents analysis and general characteristics of the Early Holocene tradition of blade stemmed points in the North-East of Russia. The author distinguishes it based on the materials opened and investigated by him in the Upper Kolyma as well as on studying the collections of other Early Holocene sites of Northeast Asia. The paper reviews the history of studying complexes with blade stemmed points in Eastern Siberia. The problems associated with their revealing, identification and dating, taking into consideration the available data on the archaeology of Yakutia, the Kolyma, Chukotka and Kamchatka are analyzed. Descriptions of the most informative sites of this tradition with the technical and typological analysis of their artifact complexes are given. The article specifies the spreading area of the tradition of the blade stemmed points, its age on the basis of the 14C-dating obtained, the tool set, and the most characteristic artefacts of it. Correlations of this Mesolithic tradition with other early Holocene cultures of Northeast Asia and Eurasia are made. The author outlines the issues of the genesis of this tradition and notes its influence on the appearance of the Neolithic cultures of the Kolyma River.

DOI: 10.31857/S086960630001641-4