Ukrainian LGM refuge
Encyclopedia
The Late Glacial Maximum (ca. 13,000-10,000 years ago), or Tardiglacial ("Late Glacial"), is defined primarily by climate
s in the northern hemisphere
warming substantially, causing a process of accelerated deglaciation following the Last Glacial Maximum
(ca. 25,000-13,000 years ago). It is at this time that human populations, previously forced into refuge areas
as a result of Last Glacial Maximum
climatic conditions, gradually begin to repopulate the northern hemisphere's Eurasian landmass and eventually populate North America
via Beringia for the first time.
Evidence for the occurrence of the Late GM stems from two main types of analysis. The first is the use of oxygen isotope stages (OIS) gathered from stratified deep sea sediment
cores. Samples are gathered and measured for change in isotope levels to determine temperature fluctuation for given periods of time. The second is a proxy measurement, namely, the observation of certain reappearing fauna and flora fossils that can only survive in temperate
climates thus indicating warming trends for a given geographic area. Archaeological evidence of settlement and re-settlement in certain areas by humans also serves as a proxy measurement. Towards the end of OIS 2 in which the Late Glacial Maximum occurs, the deep sea sediment cores indicate a gradually warming climate and the reappearance of certain warm weather flora and fauna remains throughout the Northern Hemisphere correlate with this trend. A period of relatively brief cold oscillation, referred to as the Younger Dryas
, is detected during OIS 2 as can be inferred from an increase in isotope weight.
and the North European plain ca. 16,000-15,000 years ago. The environmental landscape becomes increasing boreal except in the far north, where conditions remain arctic
. Sites of human occupation reappear in northern France, Belgium, northwest Germany, and southern Britain between 15,500 to 14,000 years ago. Many of these sites are classified as Magdalenian
though other industries containing distinctive curved back and tanged points appear as well. As the Fennoscandian ice sheet continued to shrink, plants and people began to repopulate the freshly deglaciated areas of southern Scandinavia. Between 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, the western coast of Norway and southern Sweden up to latitude 65 degrees North becomes occupied by sites belonging to the Fosna-Hensbacka complex. They are defined by the appearance of tanged points and other artifacts similar to those found earlier in Northwest Germany. Komsa
sites are found ca. 7000 years ago along Norway's Finnmark county above 70 degrees North and further east on the Kola Peninsula
. They are defined by surface finds of tanged points, burins, scrapers, and adzes. The primary game of Magdalenian hunters appears to have been reindeer, though evidence of bird and shellfish consumption persist as well.
during this time, although climates ameliorated slightly during several brief interstadials and began to warm significantly after the beginning of the Late Glacial Maximum. Pollen profiles for this time indicate a pine birch woodland interspersed with the steppe
in the deglaciated northern plain, birch-pine forest with some broad leaf trees in the central region and steppe in the south. This pattern reflects the reemergence of a marked zonation of biomes with the decline of glacial conditions. Human site occupation density was most prevalent in the Crimea region and increased as early as ca. 16,000 years before the present. However reoccupation of northern territories of the East European Plain did not occur until 13,000 years before the present. Prior to this settlement of the central portion of the East European Plain was significantly reduced during a period of maximum cold ca. 21,000-17,000 years before the present. Overall, there is little archaeological evidence to suggest major shifting settlement pattern during this time on the East European plain. This is unlike what was occurring in Western Europe, where Magdalenian industry producers were rapidly repopulating much of Europe. Evidence of this can be found as far east at Kunda
sites (ca. 10,000 years ago) located throughout Baltic country territory where tanged point and other tool making traditions reminiscent of the northwestern European Magdalenian persist.
Generally, lithic
technology is dominated by blade production and typical Upper Paleolithic
tool forms such as burins and backed blades (the most persistent). Kostenki
archaeological sites of multiple occupation layers persist from the Last Glacial Maximum and into the Late Glacial Maximum on the eastern edge of the Central Russian Upland
, along the Don River
. Epigravettian archaeological sites, similar to Eastern Gravettian
sites, are common in the southwest, central, and southern regions of the East European Plain ca. 17,000-10,000 years BP, and are also present in the Crimea
and Northern Caucasus
. The time of the Epigravettian also reveals evidence for tailored clothing production, a tradition persisting from preceding Upper Paleolithic archaeological horizons. Fur bearing small mammal remains abound such as arctic fox
, and paw bones of hares reflecting pelt removal. Large and diverse inventories of bone, antler
, and ivory
implements are common, and ornamentation and art are associated with all major industries. Insights into the technology of this period can also be seen in features such as structures, pits, and hearths mapped on open air occupation areas scattered across the East European Plain.
Mammoths were typically hunted for fur
, bone shelter and bone fuel. In the southwest region around the middle Dnestr Valley, sites are dominated by reindeer
and horse
from the Last GM to the Late Gm accounting for 80 to 90 percent of the identifiable large mammal remains. Mammoth is less common, typically 15 percent or less since the availability of wood eliminated the need for heavy consumption of bone fuel and collection of large bones for construction. Mammoth remains may have been collected for other raw material namely ivory. Other large mammals in modest numbers include steppe bison
and red deer
. Plant foods likely played an increasing role in the southwest region than in the central and southern plains since southwest sites consistently yield grinding stones widely thought to have been used for preparation of seeds, roots, and other plant parts.
supported little vegetation though some trees, mainly pine persisted. Evidence comes not only from pollen spore data but also wood charcoal in former hearths at archaeological sites. Pollen samples around Chukotka
, and the Taimyr Peninsula indicate a forest zone emerging roughly 7000 years ago and slightly warmer climates than at the present.
Earliest human reoccupation of Siberia does not begin until 21,000 years ago. Evidence of this persist mainly in the south around Lake Baikal
such as the Studenoe site. Latter sites include Kokorevo in the Yenisei Valley and Chernoozer'e in the Ob River
basin. These sites are confined to latitudes below 57 degrees North and most are c-14 dated from 19,000 to 14,000 years ago. Settlements differ from those of the east European plain as they reflect a more mobile lifestyle due to the absence of mammoth bone houses, storage pits-all indicators of long term settlement. Visual art is uncommon. Fauna remains consist of red deer, reindeer, and moose and indicate a mainly meat oriented diet.
The habitat of Siberia was far more harsh than any other area during the Late GM and often did not provide enough survival opportunities for its human inhabitants. This is what forced human groups to remain dispersed and mobile throughout the years. Such is reflected in the lithic technology, as tiny blades were typically manufactured, often termed micro-blades less than 8 cm wide with unusually sharp edges indicating frugality due to low resource levels. They were fixed into grooves along one or both edges of a sharpened bone or antler point. Specimens of complete microblade-inset points have been recovered from both Kokorevo and Chernoozer'e. At Kokorevo, one was found embedded in a bison
shoulder blade.
As climates warmed further ca. 15,000 years, fish began to populate rivers and technology used to harvest them, such as barbed harpoons, first appeared on the Upper Angara river. At this time people expand northwards into the Middle Lena Basin. By 11,000 years ago, settlement size increases as discovered at the Ust'-Belaya site where fauna remains consist of entirely modern type remains of deer, moose, fish, and traces of domesticated dogs. New technology such as fish hooks appear among bone and antler implements. The Dyuktai culture near Dyuktai cave on the Aldan river at 59 degrees North are similar to southern Siberian sites and include the wedge shaped cores and microblades, along with some bifacial tools, burins, and scrapers. This site likely represents the material remains of the people who spread across the Bering Land Bridge
and into the New World. At 12,000 years ago, the Sumnagin culture appears over large portions of northern and eastern Siberia. These sites are small and yield few artifacts of small blades struck off thin cylindrical cores. Bone tools are absent as well as fishing equipment. Most Sumnagin sites were located in the forest zone and because of that most tools were likely created from wood which would help explain a sparse archaeological record. Another factor may be due to low levels of human settlement since the region of the Sumnagin culture could likely only support a considerably lower biomass than the rest of Eurasia. This is even reflected today along the Middle Lena Basin among current human populations. The Sumnagin diet consisted of large mammals such as deer, moose, and even brown bear as revealed by the fauna remains found. Nevertheless Sumnagin culture representatives move northward and become the first to populate Siberia's Arctic tundra ca. 10,000 years ago. At around 9,500-9,000 years ago, Sumnagin sites spread to Zhokhov Island
, where slotted bone and antler points, antler and ivory mattocks, and bone handles for cutting tools were found. Few wooden artifacts were also found, including a large shovel or scoop, arrow shafts, and a sledge-runner fragment. Fauna remains consist of reindeer and polar bear. Only isolated bones of walrus
, seal
, and birds were identified. Further settlement was followed eastward and westward into Chukotka
and the Taimyr Peninsula.
, increased aridity occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum
. Sea level fell to about 120 m below its present position, exposing a dry plain between Chukotka
and Western Alaska
. Clear skies reduced precipitation, and loess deposition promoted well-drained, nutrient-rich soils that supported diverse steppic plant communities and herds of large grazing mammals. The wet tundra
soils and spruce bogs that exist today were absent. Cold temperatures and massive ice sheets covered most of Canada and the northwest coast, thus preventing human colonization of North America prior to 16,000 years ago. An "ice free corridor" through western Canada to the northern plains is thought to have opened up no earlier than 13,500 years ago. However, deglaciation in the Pacific northwest
may have taken place more rapidly and a coastal route could have been available by 17,000 years ago. Rising temperatures and increased moisture accelerated environmental change after 14,000 years ago, as shrub tundra replaced dry steppe in many parts of Beringia.
Camp settlement sites are found along Tanana River in central Alaska by 14,000 years ago and some evidence suggests human exploration at the Bluefish Caves in the Yukon
as early as 15,500 years ago. Earliest occupation levels at the Tanana Valley sites contain artifacts similar to the Siberian Dyuktai culture. At Swan Point, these comprise micoblades, burins, and flakes struck from bifacial tools. Artifacts at the nearby site of Broken Mammoth
are few, but include several rods of mammoth ivory. The diet was of large mammals and birds, as indicated by fauna
remains. Earliest site occupation at Ushki sites of central Kamchatka (ca. 13,000 years ago) display evidence of small oval houses and bifacial points. Stone pendants, beads, and a burial pit are present. In central Alaska up the northern foothills at the Dry Creek site ca 13,500-13,000 years ago near Nenana Valley, small bifacial points were found. It is thought that people moved into this area to hunt elk and sheep on a seasonal basis. Microblade sites typologically similar to Dyuktai appear ca 13,000 years ago in central Kamchatka and throughout many parts of Alaska.
Around 12,000 years ago, the rising sea level reached a position less than 60 metres below today's level and flooded the lowlands between Chukotka and western Alaska. The ensuing increase in moisture accelerated Alaska's transition to wet tundra and coniferous forests. The Bering Land Bridge had closed and thus Beringia ceased to exist. At about this time, sites that comprise the Denali complex appeared and persisted to ca. 7,500 years ago. Denali complex sites indicate high yields of caribou remains ca. 8,000 years ago and corresponds with an increase in settlement size.
(Y-DNA) repopulated most of Europe shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum
, related to population expansions out of the Franco-Cantabrian region (see also Ahrensburg culture
). The European distribution of Y-chromosome Haplogroup I
and various associated subclades has also been explained as resulting from male post-glacial re-colonization of Europe from refuge in the Balkans, Iberia, and Eastern Europe.
Males possessing Haplogroup Q
are postulated as representing a significant portion of the population that crossed Beringia and populated North America for the first time.
The distribution of mtDNA haplogroup H has been postulated as representing the major female repopulating of Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum from the Franco-Cantabrian region. mtDNA haplogroups A, B, C, D, and X are interpreted according to some as supporting a single pre-Clovis populating of the Americas via a coastal route.
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
s in the northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
warming substantially, causing a process of accelerated deglaciation following the Last Glacial Maximum
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...
(ca. 25,000-13,000 years ago). It is at this time that human populations, previously forced into refuge areas
Last Glacial Maximum refugia
Last Glacial Maximum refugia were places where people survived during the last glacial period in the northern hemisphere.Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia were not affected by the glaciation and the Americas and New Zealand had no humans at that time...
as a result of Last Glacial Maximum
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...
climatic conditions, gradually begin to repopulate the northern hemisphere's Eurasian landmass and eventually populate North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
via Beringia for the first time.
Evidence for the occurrence of the Late GM stems from two main types of analysis. The first is the use of oxygen isotope stages (OIS) gathered from stratified deep sea sediment
Sediment
Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....
cores. Samples are gathered and measured for change in isotope levels to determine temperature fluctuation for given periods of time. The second is a proxy measurement, namely, the observation of certain reappearing fauna and flora fossils that can only survive in temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
climates thus indicating warming trends for a given geographic area. Archaeological evidence of settlement and re-settlement in certain areas by humans also serves as a proxy measurement. Towards the end of OIS 2 in which the Late Glacial Maximum occurs, the deep sea sediment cores indicate a gradually warming climate and the reappearance of certain warm weather flora and fauna remains throughout the Northern Hemisphere correlate with this trend. A period of relatively brief cold oscillation, referred to as the Younger Dryas
Younger Dryas
The Younger Dryas stadial, also referred to as the Big Freeze, was a geologically brief period of cold climatic conditions and drought between approximately 12.8 and 11.5 ka BP, or 12,800 and 11,500 years before present...
, is detected during OIS 2 as can be inferred from an increase in isotope weight.
Western Europe and the North European Plain
Climate amelioration begins to occur rapidly throughout Western EuropeWestern Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and the North European plain ca. 16,000-15,000 years ago. The environmental landscape becomes increasing boreal except in the far north, where conditions remain arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
. Sites of human occupation reappear in northern France, Belgium, northwest Germany, and southern Britain between 15,500 to 14,000 years ago. Many of these sites are classified as Magdalenian
Magdalenian
The Magdalenian , refers to one of the later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic in western Europe, dating from around 17,000 BP to 9,000 BP...
though other industries containing distinctive curved back and tanged points appear as well. As the Fennoscandian ice sheet continued to shrink, plants and people began to repopulate the freshly deglaciated areas of southern Scandinavia. Between 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, the western coast of Norway and southern Sweden up to latitude 65 degrees North becomes occupied by sites belonging to the Fosna-Hensbacka complex. They are defined by the appearance of tanged points and other artifacts similar to those found earlier in Northwest Germany. Komsa
Komsa
The Komsa culture was a Mesolithic culture of hunter-gatherers that existed from around 10000 BC in Northern Norway.The culture is named after the Komsa Mountain in the community of Alta, Finnmark, where the remains of the culture were first discovered...
sites are found ca. 7000 years ago along Norway's Finnmark county above 70 degrees North and further east on the Kola Peninsula
Kola Peninsula
The Kola Peninsula is a peninsula in the far northwest of Russia. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely to the north of the Arctic Circle and is washed by the Barents Sea in the north and the White Sea in the east and southeast...
. They are defined by surface finds of tanged points, burins, scrapers, and adzes. The primary game of Magdalenian hunters appears to have been reindeer, though evidence of bird and shellfish consumption persist as well.
East European Plain
Periglacial loess-steppe environments prevail across the East European PlainEast European Plain
The East European Plain is a plain comprising a series of river basins in Eastern Europe. Together with the Northern European Plain it constitutes the European Plain. It is the largest mountain-free part of the European landscape.The plain spans approximately and averages about in elevation...
during this time, although climates ameliorated slightly during several brief interstadials and began to warm significantly after the beginning of the Late Glacial Maximum. Pollen profiles for this time indicate a pine birch woodland interspersed with the steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
in the deglaciated northern plain, birch-pine forest with some broad leaf trees in the central region and steppe in the south. This pattern reflects the reemergence of a marked zonation of biomes with the decline of glacial conditions. Human site occupation density was most prevalent in the Crimea region and increased as early as ca. 16,000 years before the present. However reoccupation of northern territories of the East European Plain did not occur until 13,000 years before the present. Prior to this settlement of the central portion of the East European Plain was significantly reduced during a period of maximum cold ca. 21,000-17,000 years before the present. Overall, there is little archaeological evidence to suggest major shifting settlement pattern during this time on the East European plain. This is unlike what was occurring in Western Europe, where Magdalenian industry producers were rapidly repopulating much of Europe. Evidence of this can be found as far east at Kunda
Kunda culture
Kunda Culture, with its roots in Swiderian culture is a mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities of the Baltic forest zone extending eastwards through Latvia into northern Russia dating to the period 8000–5000 BC by calibrated radiocarbon dating...
sites (ca. 10,000 years ago) located throughout Baltic country territory where tanged point and other tool making traditions reminiscent of the northwestern European Magdalenian persist.
Generally, lithic
Stone tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric, particularly Stone Age cultures that have become extinct...
technology is dominated by blade production and typical Upper Paleolithic
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of...
tool forms such as burins and backed blades (the most persistent). Kostenki
Kostenki
Kostenki is a village located on western middle bank of Don River in Voronezh Oblast, Russia. It is known for high concentration of cultural remains of modern humans from beginning of Upper Paleolithic era....
archaeological sites of multiple occupation layers persist from the Last Glacial Maximum and into the Late Glacial Maximum on the eastern edge of the Central Russian Upland
Central Russian Upland
Central Russian Upland is an area of approximately 200,000 miles² in Southern European Russia and Northeast of Ukraine, located inside East European Plain....
, along the Don River
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
. Epigravettian archaeological sites, similar to Eastern Gravettian
Gravettian
thumb|right|Burins to the Gravettian culture.The Gravettian toolmaking culture was a specific archaeological industry of the European Upper Palaeolithic era prevalent before the last glacial epoch. It is named after the type site of La Gravette in the Dordogne region of France where its...
sites, are common in the southwest, central, and southern regions of the East European Plain ca. 17,000-10,000 years BP, and are also present in the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
and Northern Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
. The time of the Epigravettian also reveals evidence for tailored clothing production, a tradition persisting from preceding Upper Paleolithic archaeological horizons. Fur bearing small mammal remains abound such as arctic fox
Arctic fox
The arctic fox , also known as the white fox, polar fox or snow fox, is a small fox native to Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. The Greek word alopex, means a fox and Vulpes is the Latin version...
, and paw bones of hares reflecting pelt removal. Large and diverse inventories of bone, antler
Antler
Antlers are the usually large, branching bony appendages on the heads of most deer species.-Etymology:Antler originally meant the lowest tine, the "brow tine"...
, and ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
implements are common, and ornamentation and art are associated with all major industries. Insights into the technology of this period can also be seen in features such as structures, pits, and hearths mapped on open air occupation areas scattered across the East European Plain.
Mammoths were typically hunted for fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
, bone shelter and bone fuel. In the southwest region around the middle Dnestr Valley, sites are dominated by reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
and horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
from the Last GM to the Late Gm accounting for 80 to 90 percent of the identifiable large mammal remains. Mammoth is less common, typically 15 percent or less since the availability of wood eliminated the need for heavy consumption of bone fuel and collection of large bones for construction. Mammoth remains may have been collected for other raw material namely ivory. Other large mammals in modest numbers include steppe bison
Steppe Wisent
The Steppe Bison or steppe wisent was a bison found on steppes throughout Europe, Central Asia, Beringia, and North America during the Quaternary...
and red deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
. Plant foods likely played an increasing role in the southwest region than in the central and southern plains since southwest sites consistently yield grinding stones widely thought to have been used for preparation of seeds, roots, and other plant parts.
Siberian Plain
During the Late GM, southern SiberiaSiberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
supported little vegetation though some trees, mainly pine persisted. Evidence comes not only from pollen spore data but also wood charcoal in former hearths at archaeological sites. Pollen samples around Chukotka
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...
, and the Taimyr Peninsula indicate a forest zone emerging roughly 7000 years ago and slightly warmer climates than at the present.
Earliest human reoccupation of Siberia does not begin until 21,000 years ago. Evidence of this persist mainly in the south around Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
such as the Studenoe site. Latter sites include Kokorevo in the Yenisei Valley and Chernoozer'e in the Ob River
Ob River
The Ob River , also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia and is the world's seventh longest river. It is the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean .The Gulf of Ob is the world's longest estuary.-Names:The Ob is known to the Khanty people as the...
basin. These sites are confined to latitudes below 57 degrees North and most are c-14 dated from 19,000 to 14,000 years ago. Settlements differ from those of the east European plain as they reflect a more mobile lifestyle due to the absence of mammoth bone houses, storage pits-all indicators of long term settlement. Visual art is uncommon. Fauna remains consist of red deer, reindeer, and moose and indicate a mainly meat oriented diet.
The habitat of Siberia was far more harsh than any other area during the Late GM and often did not provide enough survival opportunities for its human inhabitants. This is what forced human groups to remain dispersed and mobile throughout the years. Such is reflected in the lithic technology, as tiny blades were typically manufactured, often termed micro-blades less than 8 cm wide with unusually sharp edges indicating frugality due to low resource levels. They were fixed into grooves along one or both edges of a sharpened bone or antler point. Specimens of complete microblade-inset points have been recovered from both Kokorevo and Chernoozer'e. At Kokorevo, one was found embedded in a bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
shoulder blade.
As climates warmed further ca. 15,000 years, fish began to populate rivers and technology used to harvest them, such as barbed harpoons, first appeared on the Upper Angara river. At this time people expand northwards into the Middle Lena Basin. By 11,000 years ago, settlement size increases as discovered at the Ust'-Belaya site where fauna remains consist of entirely modern type remains of deer, moose, fish, and traces of domesticated dogs. New technology such as fish hooks appear among bone and antler implements. The Dyuktai culture near Dyuktai cave on the Aldan river at 59 degrees North are similar to southern Siberian sites and include the wedge shaped cores and microblades, along with some bifacial tools, burins, and scrapers. This site likely represents the material remains of the people who spread across the Bering Land Bridge
Bering land bridge
The Bering land bridge was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles wide at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the Pleistocene ice ages. Like most of Siberia and all of Manchuria, Beringia was not glaciated because snowfall was extremely light...
and into the New World. At 12,000 years ago, the Sumnagin culture appears over large portions of northern and eastern Siberia. These sites are small and yield few artifacts of small blades struck off thin cylindrical cores. Bone tools are absent as well as fishing equipment. Most Sumnagin sites were located in the forest zone and because of that most tools were likely created from wood which would help explain a sparse archaeological record. Another factor may be due to low levels of human settlement since the region of the Sumnagin culture could likely only support a considerably lower biomass than the rest of Eurasia. This is even reflected today along the Middle Lena Basin among current human populations. The Sumnagin diet consisted of large mammals such as deer, moose, and even brown bear as revealed by the fauna remains found. Nevertheless Sumnagin culture representatives move northward and become the first to populate Siberia's Arctic tundra ca. 10,000 years ago. At around 9,500-9,000 years ago, Sumnagin sites spread to Zhokhov Island
Zhokhov Island
Zhokhov Island is an island in the East Siberian Sea, situated 128 km north east of Novaya Sibir Island, the easternmost of the New Siberian Islands. Zhokhov Island belongs to the De Long group. It has an area of 77 km². The highest point of the island is 123 m...
, where slotted bone and antler points, antler and ivory mattocks, and bone handles for cutting tools were found. Few wooden artifacts were also found, including a large shovel or scoop, arrow shafts, and a sledge-runner fragment. Fauna remains consist of reindeer and polar bear. Only isolated bones of walrus
Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
, seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
, and birds were identified. Further settlement was followed eastward and westward into Chukotka
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...
and the Taimyr Peninsula.
North America
Over the land between the Lena Basin and northwest CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, increased aridity occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...
. Sea level fell to about 120 m below its present position, exposing a dry plain between Chukotka
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...
and Western Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. Clear skies reduced precipitation, and loess deposition promoted well-drained, nutrient-rich soils that supported diverse steppic plant communities and herds of large grazing mammals. The wet tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
soils and spruce bogs that exist today were absent. Cold temperatures and massive ice sheets covered most of Canada and the northwest coast, thus preventing human colonization of North America prior to 16,000 years ago. An "ice free corridor" through western Canada to the northern plains is thought to have opened up no earlier than 13,500 years ago. However, deglaciation in the Pacific northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
may have taken place more rapidly and a coastal route could have been available by 17,000 years ago. Rising temperatures and increased moisture accelerated environmental change after 14,000 years ago, as shrub tundra replaced dry steppe in many parts of Beringia.
Camp settlement sites are found along Tanana River in central Alaska by 14,000 years ago and some evidence suggests human exploration at the Bluefish Caves in the Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
as early as 15,500 years ago. Earliest occupation levels at the Tanana Valley sites contain artifacts similar to the Siberian Dyuktai culture. At Swan Point, these comprise micoblades, burins, and flakes struck from bifacial tools. Artifacts at the nearby site of Broken Mammoth
Broken Mammoth
Broken Mammoth, Alaska is an archeological site located in the Tanana River Valley, Alaska in the United States. The site was occupied approximately 11,000 B.P. to 12,000 B.P. making this one of the oldest known sites in Alaska. Charles E...
are few, but include several rods of mammoth ivory. The diet was of large mammals and birds, as indicated by fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
remains. Earliest site occupation at Ushki sites of central Kamchatka (ca. 13,000 years ago) display evidence of small oval houses and bifacial points. Stone pendants, beads, and a burial pit are present. In central Alaska up the northern foothills at the Dry Creek site ca 13,500-13,000 years ago near Nenana Valley, small bifacial points were found. It is thought that people moved into this area to hunt elk and sheep on a seasonal basis. Microblade sites typologically similar to Dyuktai appear ca 13,000 years ago in central Kamchatka and throughout many parts of Alaska.
Around 12,000 years ago, the rising sea level reached a position less than 60 metres below today's level and flooded the lowlands between Chukotka and western Alaska. The ensuing increase in moisture accelerated Alaska's transition to wet tundra and coniferous forests. The Bering Land Bridge had closed and thus Beringia ceased to exist. At about this time, sites that comprise the Denali complex appeared and persisted to ca. 7,500 years ago. Denali complex sites indicate high yields of caribou remains ca. 8,000 years ago and corresponds with an increase in settlement size.
Genetics
The European distribution of Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a has been suggested to have occurred as a result of receding glacial activity allowing males bearing the lineage from the present day territory of Ukraine to migrate and gradually populate central, northern, and western Europe. Alternatively, it has been proposed that males from Haplogroup Hg P*(xR1a1) or R1bHaplogroup R1b (Y-DNA)
The point of origin of R1b is thought to lie in Eurasia, most likely in Western Asia. T. Karafet et al. estimated the age of R1, the parent of R1b, as 18,500 years before present....
(Y-DNA) repopulated most of Europe shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum refers to a period in the Earth's climate history when ice sheets were at their maximum extension, between 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago, marking the peak of the last glacial period. During this time, vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe and...
, related to population expansions out of the Franco-Cantabrian region (see also Ahrensburg culture
Ahrensburg culture
The Ahrensburg culture was a late Upper Paleolithic culture during the Younger Dryas, the last spell of cold at the end of the Weichsel glaciation. The culture is named after village of Ahrensburg, northeast of Hamburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein where wooden arrow shafts and clubs...
). The European distribution of Y-chromosome Haplogroup I
Haplogroup I (Y-DNA)
In human genetics, Haplogroup I is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup, a subgroup of haplogroup IJ, itself a derivative of Haplogroup IJK....
and various associated subclades has also been explained as resulting from male post-glacial re-colonization of Europe from refuge in the Balkans, Iberia, and Eastern Europe.
Males possessing Haplogroup Q
Haplogroup Q (Y-DNA)
In human genetics, Haplogroup Q is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup.-Origins:Haplogroup Q is one of the two branches of haplogroup P . Haplogroup Q is believed to have arisen in Central Asia approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. It has had multiple origins proposed...
are postulated as representing a significant portion of the population that crossed Beringia and populated North America for the first time.
The distribution of mtDNA haplogroup H has been postulated as representing the major female repopulating of Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum from the Franco-Cantabrian region. mtDNA haplogroups A, B, C, D, and X are interpreted according to some as supporting a single pre-Clovis populating of the Americas via a coastal route.