New finds and research by archaeologists of the most ancient layer of the Paleolithic site of Karama in Altai have confirmed the hypothesis that primitive man first appeared in the center of Eurasia in modern Siberia about 800 thousand years ago, Mikhail Shunkov, Director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS, told reporters on Thursday.
He explained that Altai today is one of the key areas in solving the problem of the initial settlement of humans across Eurasia. Archaeologists are exploring a series of multi-layered sites that allow tracing the development of culture in dynamics over millennia. This year, work was carried out at the Paleolithic site of Karama, in the Chagyrskaya, Terrible, Denisov caves. All monuments are located in the valley of the Anui River.
“The early Paleolithic site of Karama is the oldest archaeological site in northern and central Asia. This year the work was focused on the study of the lowest and most ancient 12th layer of this site, which dates back to about 800 thousand years,”said Shunkov.
The scientist said that this year new collections of stone artifacts were obtained here - these are the most ancient pebble tools in the history of mankind, which in their appearance are the closest to the famous Olduvai African finds.
“These data once again allowed us to confirm the hypothesis that the settlement of the territory of Eurasia, including the south of Siberia, occurred from the west with the first migration wave of ancient hominids at the stage of homo-erectus, which about 2 million years ago left Africa. Now we accurately date these deposits - about 800 thousand years ago, for the first time, primitive man appeared on the territory of Siberia,”said Shunkov.