LEAF-SHAPED BIFACES IN THE INITIAL UPPER PALEOLITHIC OF SOUTHERN SIBERIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
An important component of the study of the complexes of the initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is the selection of marker tools - products with certain morphological properties and a specific chronological and territorial binding. One of the markers for the industries of the military-industrial conflict of Southern Siberia and the north of Central Asia are leaf-shaped and oval bifaces. These tools are flattened, have either a biconvex or a convex cross section, the elongated edges are characterized by bifacial, sometimes parallel retouch. Such products are have been documented in the early Upper Paleolithic industries throughout the region. Mostly they are represented by single single objects in the aeemblages. The largest collection of leaf-shaped bifaces was documented in the Derbinsky Bay of the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir (middle course of the Yenisei River). Most often, the leaf-shaped bifaces are combined with sharp pointed tools with the base of the trimming, tronki products and plates with a dulled edge.