Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences / On the Reduction of Stone Tools in the Industries of the Krasnoyarsk Late Paleolithic Sites (Based on Materials from Strelka‑1 and Afontova Gora IV (Ovrazhnaya)

Full text (.pdf)
Issue
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2026 19 (8)
Authors
Kolesnik, Aleksandr V.; Barkov, Aleksandr V.; Murza, Elizaveta V.
Contact information
Kolesnik, Aleksandr V.: Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation); Donetsk State University (Donetsk, Russian Federation); ORCID: 0000-0002-4933-8438; Barkov, Aleksandr V.: LLC «Krasnoyarsk Geoarchaeology» (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation); ; ORCID: 0000-0002-3303-5635; Murza, Elizaveta V. : LLC «Krasnoyarsk Geoarchaeology» (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation); ORCID: 0009-0008-1568-2901
Keywords
Late Paleolithic; Yenisei Paleolithic; stone tools; reduction analysis; types of reduction
Abstract

The article addresses the methodological and empirical aspects of studying Final Upper Paleolithic lithic industries drawing on two well-stratified sites situated within the boundaries of modern Krasnoyarsk – Afontova Gora IV and Strelka-1. The focus is placed on the relationship between static typological descriptions of artifacts and the dynamic picture of their variability conditioned by technological necessity. This dissonance between formal typology and the actual variability of stone tool forms serves as a source for the development of both approaches to industry description. The paper presents a concise historiographic outline of the formation of reduction analysis in foreign and Russian scholarship, identifying key concepts – from the “Commont effect” to the notion of chaînes opératoires. The method of reduction analysis is then applied to verified cases of artifact shape transformation established through refitting and the analysis of flaking sequences. Three distinct lines of reduction are examined based on the empirical data from the sites. The first demonstrates how intensive resharpening of double longitudinal scrapers led to the need for core-like thinning of the dorsal surface – a technique aimed at reducing the massiveness of the tool and marking a distinct stage in the sequence of its manufacture and use. The second reveals the interconnection between controlled counterblow knapping and the subsequent production and cyclical rejuvenation of specific end-scraper forms, for which both biventral flakes and residual counterblow cores served as blanks. The third type is represented by the reduction of single-edged chopper-like tool into two- and three-edged forms, where the tools transformation proceeded not through intensive resharpening of a single working edge but through the transfer of the working edge to an adjacent unmodified area of the artifact. Such an approach allows for a transition from the formal enumeration of types to the analysis of the internal structure of the industry, revealing the technological links among various inventory categories. Comparing assemblages through the parameters of reduction sequences possesses greater analytical potential than the comparison of static tool kits

Pages
1620–1631
EDN
HMUTOK
Paper at repository of SibFU
https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/159335

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