Acquisition of Stone Raw Material and Pecularities of the Lithic Technology in the Initial Upper Paleolithic of Mongolia: the «Horizon of Hearths» at the Tolbor 21 Site

The valley of the Tolbor river featured one of the earliest traces of the Early Upper Paleolithic in Central Asia. The results of the authors' study provided new opportunities for understanding the behavioral characteristics of the population in the Early Upper Paleolithic. Two sub-horizons (4b and 4a) were identified in horizon 4 of the Tolbor-21 site. Horizon 4b includes two independent area of activity associated with two fire pits. The results of a technological study demonstrated that the set of artifacts originating from the fire pits is characterized by a very high specific weight of cores and tools, including those of rare and peculiar types. The stage of regular manufacture of large pointed blades completely drops out of the technological sequence of the 4b horizon industry. The proportion of flakes with a natural crust is small. The authors concluded that the peculiar technical and typological appearance of the studied collection was accounted for by a behavioral situation where certain labor activities were performed near the fire pits, and a significant portion of the artifacts were transferred from this area to be used in another location.