FEATURES OF RAW MATERIAL USE IN THE PALAEOLITHIC INDUSTRIES OF THE MOUNTAINOUS ALTAI, SIBERIA, RUSSIA

Denisova Cave is a multilayered archaeological site in the Mountainous Altai of Siberia, Russia. This site has yielded numerous Palaeolithic artifacts made of different types of stone with diverse petrophysical properties. Comparative petrographic analysis of artifacts and pebble raw materials allows us to conclude that the ancient people at this cave selected raw materials purposefully. Comparison between the stratigraphic layers of different ages has revealed essential differences between the Upper Palaeolithic and the Mousterian assemblages, according to the following parameters, such as: 1) use of certain stone types as raw materials; and 2) hardness of raw materials. Besides these criteria, the preferential use of particular raw materials to produce specific tool types has been established