Techno-Morphological Analysis of the Stone and Bone Industry from the 2<sup>nd</sup> Cultural Layer of Kurla 1 Multilayered Site (Northern Baikal)
The article is dedicated to the analysis of materials of lithic and osseous industries from the 2nd cultural layer of Kurla 1 multilayered site (Northwest coast of Lake Baikal). Archaeological site in combination with other sites of Kurla Bay opened in 1975, a detachment of the Irkutsk State University and Institute of Earth Crust SB AS USSR in conducting geological exploration on the projected route of construction of the Baikal-Amur mainline. During the work, a complex of sites Kurla 1-4 of the Late and Final stage of Upper Paleolithic was identified. In the period from 1976-1977, archaeological excavations were carried out on the Kurla 1 site. Three cultural layers were documented at the site during excavations. The 1st cultural layer has been ascribed into the Bronze Age period. Two lower cultural layers are non-ceramic. They are included in the consolidated profile of non-ceramic horizons of Kurla 1-3 group of multilayered sites. Non-ceramic layers of Kurla 1-3 can be considered the reference ones for purposes of study of Northern Lake Baikal area industries at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The 2nd cultural layer of Kurla 1 site is the youngest in the consolidated profile of non-ceramic horizons. The layer does not have absolute dating results. However, the authors have tentatively dated the layer back to the final stage of Upper Paleolithic, due to significant similarities in techno-morphological features of the said complex with materials from the previously investigated sites of Verkholenskaya Gora 1 (3rd and 2nd cultural layers) and from the final Upper Paleolithic (3A-9) complexes of Bolshoi Yakor 1 site. The lithic industry of the complex considered has the Final Paleolithic features typical for Northeast Asia - developed microblade production and burin-spall technique. The representative bone industry consists of barbed points, hafts for inset tools, striker and other bone and antler tools. An ornament at one of the bone artefacts has analogies in the Magdalenian of France. The article also contains new data further defining the age of the lowest non-ceramic horizon of the consolidated profile of Kurla 1-3 sites, the one which serves as an evidence of the earliest stage of human occupation of the Lake Baikal shoreline. The goal and topicality of the article are to introduce the entire archaeological data of the complex into scientific circulations.