Local stratigraphy and palaeoecology of the late Upper Palaeolithic site Divnogorie 1 in the basin of the Middle Don

The Upper Palaeolithic site Divnogorie1 situated on a low terrace of the Tikhaya Sosna River, consists of periglacial alluvium, covered with proluvial and deluvial deposits. In the Late Glacial layer two levels of initial pedogenesis have been identified, two levels of permafrost and erosional disturbances and also a Palaeolithic cultural layer with a radiocarbon age of 13.800–13.300 years ago. The multi-disciplinary geo-archaeological research carried out so far has revealed a shift from a periglacial fluvial situation to a subaerial one – initially a periglacial one and then an interglacial one – in a forest-steppe and occasionally steppe setting. The highly dynamic nature of the climate and the landscapes was characteristic of the Holocene period and particularly pronounced for the Late Glacial period. 

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