The Solnechny Site and the Late Upper Paleolithic Culture of the Middle Yenisei Region

The Palaeolithic site of Solnechny was discovered in in the city of Krasnoyarsk (Middle Siberia) in 2017. The site is located on the high terrace levels of the left side of the Yenisei River valley, at a considerable distance from the modern river bed. During the salvage excavations in 2019 and 2020 the site was studied over an area of more than 3500 square meters. The rich Paleolithic cultural layer was included in the profile of modern chernozem and has been significantly disturbed by modern agricultural and industrial activities. Based on complex studies including morpho-typological, refitting and technological methods, a conclusion was made about the homogeneity of the lithic industry and its affiliation with the Afontovo culture. According to the series of radiocarbon dates the age of the site is in the range of 17.2—15.7 14C thousand yr BP (21.0—18.8 thousand ka BP). This allows us to attribute it to the earliest known stage of the Late Upper Paleolithic of the Middle Yenisei. In addition, a Middle Holocene pit interpreted as a hunting trap and sporadic artifacts of the Middle Ages — Modern times were found at the site. The underlying sediments of the Late Karga (MIS-3) and Early Sartan (MIS-2) ages gave some faunal remains without identifiable traces of human impact.