Introduction

The Palaeolithic of Asia is characterized by an amazing diversity, which corresponds to the diversity of natural and landscape zones of this giant continent. If in the north and west we are dealing with Paleolithic complexes that are generally comparable to the stone industries of Europe, then in East and South-East Asia there is a striking peculiarity [Abramova, 1994; Boriskovsky, 1971; Derevyanko, 1983], in particular, expressed in the abundance of all kinds of pebble tools with the secondary role of flake products. We observed a similar phenomenon during a research trip in 1984-1985 to Vietnam, where we managed to get acquainted with many Stone Age monuments. The observations made turned out to be very relevant at the present time, as shown by later publications of Vietnamese scientists [On Van Tan, 1998]. Therefore, we returned to them again, focusing on the materials of some monuments that do not agree with the widespread idea of Paleolithic features on the territory of Vietnam, which consist in the dominance of a variety of pebble products. These complexes showed, on the contrary, an absolute predominance of various flake products. We are talking, in particular, about the complex from the lower layer of the Nghem canopy, located in the northern province of Bakthai. We got acquainted with this collection at the National Historical Museum (Hanoi) thanks to the kindness of the museum's researcher Quang Van Kai, who studied this monument in 1981 and 1982. The observation made at that time about the features of the complex was later confirmed-

However, according to the conclusions of the Vietnamese scientist Ha Van Tan (see: Moser, 2001), who identified a specific "Nguomien" flake industry, which is significantly different from the previously known shingle shonvi and Hoabinh (Nguyen Khak Shih, 1982), where flake tools play a secondary role: among the products with secondary processing, they account for It accounts for barely 1% [Moser, 2001, p. 47]. Similar complexes with a predominance of tools on flakes were also found in the sheds and grottos adjacent to Ngem, including the Mieng Ho grotto. P. I. Boriskovsky, who compared it with the Middle Paleolithic industries of India, got acquainted with the stone inventory of the latter earlier [1977, p. 190-191]. These complexes (the Mieng culture), attributed to the Middle Paleolithic, are mentioned in the monograph on the basics of Paleolithic studies (Derevyanko, Vasiliev, and Markin, 1994, p. 203). This group of monuments can, as it seems, include the location of Nuong, whose collection of stone products has a Middle Paleolithic appearance.

Nghem Rock Shelter

We received information about the monument directly from the researcher of this object, Quang Wan Kai. The main attention was paid to the complex from the lower layer. The materials of the monument have not been fully published; only a preliminary publication in Vietnamese is known, so we decided to abandon their full description using statistics and give a description of the main groups of guns and cannonballs that we identified when viewing the collection.

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The shed is located in a limestone massif, where several other rock shelters with Stone Age sites have been found nearby. In sediments with a thickness of more than 1 m, three cultural levels are distinguished: the upper one, which is divided into two layers belonging to the Bakshon and Hoabin cultures, the middle one, containing materials from the Shonvi culture, and the lower one with the mousterian stone industry. No animal bones were found. Several radiocarbon dates were obtained (for mollusks): for the roof of the Hoabin layer - 18600 ± 200 BP, for the base - 19040 ± 400; for the upper and lower parts of the layer with the Shonvi culture industry, identical-23000 ± 200 BP. Another date-more than 32 thousand BP-was obtained for the overlapping lower layer a sterile horizon with rubble and limestone blocks.

For the production of stone products from the lower layer, quartzite, basalt, liparite and porphyritic pebbles were used, which were collected here, in the riverbed.

The primary cleavage technique is characterized by nuclei with a planar removal system. 1, 3, 4), as well as polyhedral (spherical) and radial nuclei are represented. Shock pads are mostly smooth, with a pebbly crust; corrected ones are few in number. Among the chips, flakes predominate. The plates are quite small in number. There are few Levallois flakes (Figs. 1, 1, 2); Clecton flakes are common, but sub-triangular mousterioid flakes with right cleavage angles predominate. There are many flakes and plates that have preserved the natural pebble surfaces. This is due to the peculiarities of raw materials, represented by pebbles of medium and very rarely relatively large sizes. Despite the fact that the products are mainly made of a variety of pebbles, the industry is not one of the truly pebbly ones, which are characterized by special splitting techniques that make it possible to call this technology "dolechnaya" [Ranov, 1986, pp. 28-31]. The Middle Paleolithic technique of primary cleavage is typical for the lower layer complex, which is based on obtaining the corresponding cleavage blanks from pole or radial cores with a planar removal system. The only specific feature is that the impact pads of most flakes preserve the natural surfaces of pebbles.

The collection of products with secondary processing from the lower layer of the Nghem canopy is very numerous. Among them, tools of the Middle Paleolithic type predominate. Levallois and Mousterian pinnacles are absent. A few atypical points with irregular retouching are presented (Fig. 2, 1, 4, 6, 9). There are practically no forms with the typical mousterian flake and step retouching, but jagged processing is common, which is sometimes supplemented with a single-row flattened or semi-circular edge retouching.

There are relatively many scrapers and scraper-like tools. Among them, simple single-edged scrapers predominate, made mainly on flakes (Fig. 2, 5, 10) and very rarely on whole pebbles of the corresponding shapes (Fig. 2, 15). The latter are common for complexes of the shonvi type. There are atypical two-edged scrapers (Figs. 2, 8), but there are no convergent or angular ones (dejetes). Transverse (diagonal) scrapers are isolated (Figs. 2, 11), but ventral (surface plane) ones that are quite characteristic of this complex are relatively common. Their steep and semi-steep working edges are always heavily retouched (Fig. 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7), sometimes they have jagged contours (Fig. 3, 1, 2). This multi-row processing is also very typical for choppers. Among these forms of scrapers, there are combined ones with chisel-shaped ends and scraper-shaped edges, although the latter can be considered as an element of accommodation (Fig. 3, 4). Scrapers with steep edge retouching are isolated and atypical, there are no forms with kin and polukin retouching.

Fig. 1. Stone products from the lower layer of the Nghem canopy. 1, 2-levallois flakes; 3, 4-nuclei; 5-7-choppers.

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2. Stone tools from the lower layer of the Nghem canopy. 1, 4, 6, 7, 9 - points on flakes; 2, 3-scraper-shaped tools; 5, 8, 10, 11-scrapers; 12-toothed tools; 13, 14-beak-shaped tools; 15-scraper on pebbles.

3. Stone products from the lower layer of the Nghem canopy. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 - ventral scrapers (4-chisel-like tools?); 3, 6, 8-chopping tools; 9-chopper on flat pebbles.

There are no authentic Upper Paleolithic forms. Scraper-like tools on small flakes with semicircular serrated edge retouching are presented (see Figs. 2, 2, 3). In one case, a micro-incisive chip was observed on the working edge of the beak cutter (see Fig. 2, 13), but it is possible that these are traces of the disposal of this tool. As a puncture, one can perceive, albeit conditionally, the tip on an elongated chip with a clearly distinguished stinger (see Fig. 2, 7).

Excavated tools are relatively small in number and not typical enough. There are many jagged shapes (see Figs. 2, 12). This group also includes beak-shaped tools, which are characterized by the selection of working elements using recesses. One such product with two working ends is indicative (see Figs. 2, 14). It should be noted that jagged retouching is very typical for tools on Stone Age flakes in Vietnam. It is noted not only in the Shonvi and Hoabin industries, but also in the Neolithic ones.

Chisel-shaped (adze-shaped) or axe-shaped tools are very interesting. Common to them are the elongated shape and the presence of processing of the end face, on which negatives of two-sided flattened chips are observed, which are sometimes traces of recycling (see Figs. 3, 6). Similar traces appear, as experiments show [Matyukhin, 1983, p. 171], when processing wood. Very short cuts were often used as blanks.-

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3, 4), less often slightly extended, but always massive (see Fig. 3, 6, 8). The side edges are natural and represent either sloping impact sites of Clecton flakes (see Fig. 3, 3, 4), or remnants of pebble surfaces (see Fig. 3, 6, 8). Sometimes the opposite face has a secondary treatment in the form of a semi-circular retouching, which is characteristic of Mousterian scrapers. Probably, choppers were used as similar tools (see Figures 3, 9). Adze-shaped or axe-shaped tools are well represented in the Stone Age monuments of Vietnam and Southeast Asia. This phenomenon is easily explained by the natural features of the region: a person had to constantly live in a tropical forest.

Despite the fact that the collection is dominated by a variety of tools on flakes, it also features expressive pebble, including single - and double-sided choppers. The sizes of these products are different, but there are few large ones. One-sided forms dominate, which are elongated (see Figures 1, 5), shortened (see Figures 1, 6), and even pointed (see Figures 1, 7). The latter are typical for the Shonvi pebble industry. Similar forms were observed in the materials of Nam Tung Cave, the lower layer of which belongs to the early stage A of this "culture" (Nguyen Khak Shih, 1982, p. 7). We did not find typical bilateral tools in the collection from the lower layer of the Nghem canopy. There are products with only partial bifacial processing.

If we proceed from technical and typological indicators, we can define the considered stone industry as Middle Paleolithic, but specific. The specific feature is the presence of expressive chopping tools and a series of typical choppers.

The Middle Paleolithic of Southeast Asia cannot be expected to be absolutely similar to the Mousterian of northern Eurasia, for example, in France, the Russian Plain, or the Altai (Derevyanko and Markin, 1992). The differences in natural conditions are too significant: in the tropics, there is no need for warm clothing and insulated dwellings, and therefore many stone tools used for their manufacture in areas with a cold climate were not needed.

Nuong location

The monument is located on the slope of a basalt mountain with a height of about 100 m, which is located on a flat alluvial plain near the sea, about 10 km northwest of Thanh Hoa and 5 km from the famous Do Mountain, where Early Paleolithic artifacts were found. On a small section of the rock mass, at an altitude of about 30 m from its base, a cluster of stone products was found. According to our preliminary conclusion, it is confined to the foot of a steep rock wall. The finds were scattered among the stone fragments in a strip about 50 m long and up to 10 m wide. The location is located, according to Vietnamese colleagues, on a slope facing away from the sea. Thus, it was protected by a rock mass from strong sea winds and typhoons.

Taking into account the peculiarities of the distribution of stone products, which allow us to determine the boundaries of the location and conduct further preliminary work to localize the parking lot, we decided to limit ourselves to a 1x1 m pit, which would minimally damage the intended cultural layer. On this site (approximately 5x5 m), lifting material was collected and a pit was laid in the center. It traces the following layers (from top to bottom):: 1) heavy, brown, dense loam, with inclusions of fragments and fragments of dark basalt, as well as stone products-0.4 m; 2) heavy, dark brown, denser loam (clay), with inclusions of small and medium-sized fragments of basalt rubble and numerous stone products-0.1 m; 3) large pieces and fragments of basalt of red-brown color, cemented with brown clay, no artifacts were found, the apparent thickness is 0.2 m; this layer is probably the roof of the weathering crust of the basalt base of the mountain.

The material was divided into three sets: 1) stone products from the surface, where they were often overlaid with basalt fragments; 2) artifacts from the upper loam; 3) stone products from the lower loam. All artifacts are made of basalt. In the first two complexes, their surfaces are gray-yellow and yellow in color, and in the third - brown.

Collection 1, which apparently comes from eroded loam, contains 170 items, including individual tools and cores, 158 flakes and plates, individual scales and fragments. Two elongated products have partial bifacial processing. Collection 2 includes 152 artifacts, including 132 chips and 28 scales, no nuclei, but there are tools. Complex 3 features 260 flakes and plates, 96 scales and 10 large fragments with retouching, 3 elongated objects with retouching at the edges. There were no differences between the complexes in terms of product morphology, which can be explained by the small volume of collections. Among the products on chips, flakes and plates of medium size (from 60 to 80 mm) predominate, but there are some large items.

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Fig. 4. Stone products from the Nuong locality. 1, 2-levallois flakes (2-skreblo?); 3 - skreblo on the levallois flake; 4 - toothed tool on the flake; 5 - 7 - scraper - shaped tools; 8-single-site nucleus; 9-puncture on the flake.

Technical indexes of stone inventory from the Nuong site, Table 1. %

The complex

IL

IF

Nam

1

8,9

24,7

9,5

2

12,1

27,2

10,7

3

3,5

20,9

5,0

Table 2. Technical indexes of the Shonvi, Hoabin, and Si Nuong complexes, %

Monuments

IL

IF

Id

Nam

GP*

Nuong

7,1

25,6

36

8,2

14

Namtoon (seonwy)

0,5

2,5

73

5,0

90,8

Vansou (shonvi)

0

8,6

90,1

26

88,8

Somchai (hoabin)

0

10

64

2,5

76

-----

* Pebble impact pads.

A few nuclei are mostly planar, Erednepaleolithic system of depressions, including convergent ones. The most significant is a single-site subtriangular nucleus with negatives of triangular flakes. The impact platform is formed by wide openings. This relatively large nucleus, which belongs to the typical Middle Paleolithic, represents the initial stage of cleavage (Figs. 4, 8).

Despite the insignificant value of statistical indicators due to the small area of the excavation, for clarity, we still give the main technical indices of the three complexes (Table 1). In general, despite some variation in the quantitative indicators of the primary splitting technique, which is expected for such a situation, we are talking about the non-Valloise industry, which is not plate-shaped and with a low index of faceting of percussion ad platforms. Among the latter, dihedral ones predominate and typically faceted ones are isolated. If we compare the averaged indices of the three Nuong collections under consideration with the shonvi and Hoabin complexes, we get interesting data (Table 2)*.

The Shonvi and Hoabin industries are characterized by a very large number of pebble impact pads, almost complete absence of Levallois chips, and a small number of plates. The exception is the very late Vansow complex, where there are relatively many elongated chips, the length of which is more than 2 times the width. Among them, there are products with incisive chips (Boriskovsky, 1977, Fig. 5). Stone tools from Nuong significantly differ from these types and types.

* We used our calculations of technical indexes of stone tools from Namtung (Shonvi) and Somchai (Hoabinh) caves, as well as from the Vansou monument, which, according to our Vietnamese colleagues, belongs to a very late stage of development of the Shonvi culture.

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It shows a significant similarity with the complex from the lower layer of the Nghem canopy, especially when comparing the nuclei that have a Mousterian appearance in the Nuonga and Nghem collections and are amorphous in the Shonvi and Hoabin industries.

The tool kit from the Nuong locality is dominated by flake products, including notched and toothed tools, scrapers, including typically Mousterian ones (Figs. 4, 3). The collection contains expressive Levallois plates and flakes (Figs. 4, 1, 2). Some of them have secondary processing (Fig. 4, 2). The guns of the Mousterian group (according to F. Board) are very numerous. However, pinnacles and Levallois points are absent. Among the scrapers there are simple single-edged ones (Fig. 4, 2; 5, 4), 4, 3), diagonal (see Figs. 5, 5), transverse (figs. 6, 3), and one double-sided (figs. 6, 2). However, the latter, perhaps it is a chopping tool, because retouching can be an element of accommodation, although formally we are talking about a scraper shape. There are isolated cases of removing shock bumps by flattened retouching (see Figs. 5, 4). The working edges very often have jagged contours, which gives grounds to consider these tools as jagged scrapers. Mainly flakes and extremely rare natural stone fragments were used as blanks (see Figs. 5, 5).

Upper Paleolithic forms are few in number. They are represented by four atypical scrapers (see Fig. 4, 5 - 7; 5, 1) 4, 9). The former are characterized by rough, unsystematic retouching (see Figs. 5, 1). A shortened scraper from Complex 3 is indicative, similar in shape to the scraper-like tools from the lower layer of the Nghem canopy (see Figs. 4, 5). The collection includes knives with natural edges (see Figs. 5, 2) on flakes of sub-triangular shape.

There are numerous notched and toothed tools (see Figures 4, 4), many of which, as noted above, are typical toothed scrapers. As a reminder, gear processing is very common in the Stone Age industry of Southeast Asia, including pebbles.

The collection includes three fragments with double-sided processing, which can be interpreted as blanks of relatively large axe-shaped products, as well as adze-shaped (chisel-shaped)ones a tool on a fragment of a large chip. Similar forms are found in the Early Paleolithic collection from Mount Do, as well as among the axe-shaped items in the Hoabin and Shonvi complexes (Moser, 2001). At first glance, they are also similar to the blanks of axes from the Neolithic Dong-Khoi workshop [Boriskovsky, 1966, p. 122-123], but they differ in roughness of processing.

5. Stone tools from the Nuong site. 1 - an atypical scraper; 2-a knife with a natural edge; 3 - an adze - shaped tool on a fragment of a chip; 4 - a toothed scraper with a cast; 5-a scraper-shaped tool on a fragment; 6-a nucleoid (chopper-shaped) tool.

6. Stone products from the Nuong site. 1-bifas (axe-shaped tool); 2 - massive chopping tool on a chip ("cleaver"?); 3 - scraper on a chip.

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Several large basalt fragments of an elongated shape with a scraper-shaped side edge were found, which can be considered as "cleavers" with shells described by Ukrainian archaeologists (Gladilin and Sitlivy, 1990, p. 177). There are also two relatively large nucleoid tools with partial processing by alternating removal of one, pointed edge, which is opposed to the untreated edge. These items can be classified as chopper-shaped (see Figures 5, 6). The lack of genuine pebble tools may be due to the peculiarities of raw materials.

Type of monuments

The Nghem canopy is most likely a seasonal parking lot, where the primary cleavage played a secondary role. This is indicated by the small number of nuclei. Pebbles were collected down in the river, primary splitting was performed on the bank, and the best samples were brought to the parking lot.

Nuong can be considered as the remains of a parking lot-workshop at the exits of raw materials. The choice of location was not random. It was located on a large rock mass, towering over the seaside valley. From the parking lot, protected from the sea by a mountain, there was a good view of the area, and here there were raw materials necessary for the manufacture of stone tools.

In our opinion, A. E. Matyukhin's proposal to consider this object as a specialized workshop for the production of stone axes [1990], which belongs to the Late Neolithic - Bronze Age, is unacceptable. This researcher, together with Vietnamese colleagues, in 1985 uncovered an area of 10 m2 at the Nuong site, collecting a significant collection of stone products in the layer, which was based on t.n. blanks of axes, comparable, according to A. E. Matyukhin, only with products from the late complexes of Khe Chua, Kon Chan Tien and Dong Khoi [Ibid., p. 96]. At one time, P. I. Boriskovsky, comparing basalt objects from the collection of the Dong-Khoi workshop with similar finds from Mount Do, rightly noted their significant difference, which is manifested not only in the different preservation of surfaces, but also in the morphology of flakes [1966, pp. 122-123]. The latter have, as a rule, small impact pads with right angles of cleavage and thin cross-sections. Similar chips are obtained when processing bifaces. Almost all of them (more than 99 %) are unbrushed, which is not typical for full-fledged Paleolithic complexes, including collections from the Nuong site and Mount Do. In addition, these late workshops are not characterized by either nuclei or tools. It is important that the collection from the Nuong site contains expressive nuclei, tools, flakes and industrial waste.

On the monument we studied, stone products were found in a limited area located at an altitude of more than 30 m from the surface of rice fields, while all the known late workshops were located near parking lots, at the foot of basalt massifs [Ibid., p. 124]. There is an obvious question about the expediency of placing such a "workshop" so high, because similar raw materials were available in abundance in a more convenient place for transporting "axe blanks". We should not forget that all these basalt massifs have recently been covered with impenetrable forest.

In contrast to A. E. Matyukhin, whose finds were "found only in the soil layer" [1990, p. 94], we have established a distinct stratigraphy, and basalt products from the lower horizon (from a depth of more than 45 cm from the surface) have a dark (brown) color, sharply differing from lighter objects from the upper level. The different degree of preservation of the surface of the finds indicates their different ages.

Let us remind you once again that axe-shaped products are typical for the entire Stone Age in Vietnam. Finally, the blanks of axes from Dong Khoi, which we could see in Vietnam, are most often rectangular in cross-section, while the older ones (including from the Nuong site) are lenticular. Also note that on the territory of Late Neolithic workshops for the production of axes, fragments of polished samples are constantly found, which are not found either on Mount Do or, especially, on the Nuong site. In addition, if we take the point of view of A. E. Matyukhin, it seems very strange that on Mount Do, quite large (often larger than "axe blanks") Clecton flakes predominated as waste for preparing "axes", on the Nuong site - smaller Mousterian and Levallois flakes, and on the authentic Dong Khoi workshop-quite large ones. small thin flakes obtained as a result of processing bifaces, which sharply differed from the products from the first two complexes in the safety and color of the surfaces. In addition, the main mass of "axe blanks" is attributed by the researcher of the Do Mountain location, Li Chen Chui, to choppers and jibers, which is more likely. All the above arguments point to the unacceptability of A. E. Matyukhin's interpretation.

Location of Nuong, based on its topography, planigraphy and stratigraphy, as well as a set of technical and morphological indicators.,

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it is a typical parking lot-workshop at the source of raw materials. The elevated parking area may have been the only convenient area located in the middle of a flat and apparently swampy rainforest, where primitive people could live more or less steadily for a relatively long time.

General and specific features of the stone industry from the lower layer of the Nghem canopy and from the Nuong locality

What is common to the stone industries under consideration is that most of the products with secondary processing are made on flakes. This feature distinguishes them, as we have already written, from later complexes belonging to the Shonwi and Hoabin cultures. Earlier industries, if we take into account only stratified monuments, are still irrelevant. In this situation, we can probably refer to the small collection of stone products from the Thamkuen Cave, which probably originates from the Middle Pleistocene deposits (Anisyutkin and Timofeev, 2004).

The industries under consideration are dominated by the Middle Paleolithic technique of primary stone splitting and tool decoration. The most similar assemblages are known in the Middle Paleolithic of central India and the Indo-Gangetic plain (the so - called Navasien), where the products with secondary processing are dominated by excavated and serrated tools, as well as atypical scrapers made on mousterian flakes (Boriskovsky, 1971, p.94-89). In contrast to the Vietnamese Middle Paleolithic, which includes industries from the lower Nghem layer and from the Nuong locality, the Indian Topoid tools are isolated, but typical chisel-like (Pieces ecaillees) tools are represented. They were identified by P. I. Boriskovsky [Ibid., p. 88]. These differences are most likely due to different natural conditions.

Conclusion

The age of these sites can now be determined only on the basis of radiocarbon dates obtained for the layers of the Nghem canopy, as well as the stratigraphic position of the complex lying under layers with artifacts belonging to the Shonvi and Hoabin cultures. As already noted, the radiocarbon date of more than 32 thousand years AGO obtained for the overlapping sterile horizon can be taken as the conditional upper limit of the existence of this complex.

To the question of what is the lower limit of stone structures of this type, today we do not have a more or less acceptable answer.

So, at present, in the Stone Age on the territory of Vietnam, an expressive group of complexes stands out, in which the vast majority of tools are made from flakes, which sharply distinguishes them from the well-known industries of shonvi and hoabin. These complexes are found both in rock shelters (Nghem, Mieng Ho) and in open sites (Nuong and Mount Do). Various raw materials were used here (and not only pebbles), therefore, the specifics of the stone industries we are considering are not due to the raw material base. The technique of primary splitting and secondary processing, as well as the main forms of tools, are characteristic of the Middle Paleolithic of Eurasia; the greatest similarity is observed with the Middle Paleolithic complexes of India. Here we can see the manifestation of a single stage of development of the stone industry, approximately at the same time and, probably, under similar natural conditions in such remote regions of Asia.

The complexes under consideration are older than the Shonvi culture and, judging by the radiocarbon date obtained for the Nghem canopy covering the lower layer of the sterile horizon, existed earlier than 32 thousand years ago. This group of stone structures is replaced by later ones, including Shonvi and Hoabin, which are characterized by the predominance of various pebble tools, including unifaces and bifaces. For example, in the collection analyzed by us according to the F. Bord system from the lower layer of Namtun Cave, which belongs, as already noted, to the extreme stage of the development of the Shonvi culture, out of 156 products with secondary processing of tools on flakes, only 19, and pebble - 128 (82 %).

Pebble tools from the Thamkuen Cave can presumably be attributed to an even earlier stage compared to the considered flake industries, if we recognize them as simultaneous bones of Middle Pleistocene animals (the Ailuropoda-Stegodon faunistic complex) and archanthropic teeth found there (Anisyutkin and Timofeev, 2004). Vietnamese and German paleontologists attribute the red-colored deposits containing bone remains (as well as stone tools) to the Middle Pleistocene Interglacial, the synchronous Mindelrissic of Europe (Nguyen Lan Cuong, 1985, p. 99). In the Thamkuen Cave collection, pebble forms also dominate the flake tools. By the way, the bifaces present in it, including analogs of hand choppers, which are also known in southern Vietnam along with levallois flakes (Anisyutkin, 1992), are comparable to similar bifacial products from Early Paleolithic localities in Southern China (Huang Weiwen et al., 2005, p. 6).

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Thus, stone industries on flakes of the "Ngem type" represent a very interesting phenomenon, breaking the "pebble tradition" into two parts, of which the later one can be considered as a definite and distinct specialization. What is the reason for this specialization? This question suggests a simple answer, the essence of which lies in the general trend of industry development in the Pre-Neolithic period and the change in the Holocene climate towards warming and moistening, and therefore the spread of forests. It is known that the cooling of the climate associated with Quaternary glaciations led to an increase in aridity in the tropics, and thereby to a decrease in the area of moist tropical forests (for example, in Africa and South America, they decreased significantly and repeatedly [Foley, 1990, pp. 145-146]). However, this explanation does not apply to the Shonvi culture, which existed at the end of the Pleistocene during the most significant cooling and climate deterioration in the late Pleistocene. However, on the territory of North Africa and a significant part of Eurasia, Late Paleolithic complexes with tools on flakes are mainly confined to the landscapes of savanna or semi-savanna, steppes or forest-steppes with an arid climate. Therefore, the influence of the natural factor on the observed specialization cannot be completely ignored.

List of literature

Abramova Z. A. Paleolith of Northern China. Paleolithic of Central and Eastern Asia. Saint Petersburg: Nauka Publ., 1994, 214 p. (Paleolithic of the World).

Anisyutkin N. K. Nakhodki ruchnykh rubil na territorii V Nama [Finds of hand-hewers on the territory of Vietnam]. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1992, pp. 5-13.

Anisyutkin N. K., Timofeev V. I. Kamennye izdeliya iz caves Thamkuen na severo V Nama [Stone products from the Thamkuen Cave in the North of Vietnam]. - 2004. - N 11. - p. 13-21.

Boriskovsky P. I. Primeval past of Vietnam, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1966, 184 p.

Boriskovsky P. I. Ancient Stone Age of South and Southeast Asia, Nauka Publ., 1971, 174 p.

Boriskovsky P. I. Archeology in Vietnam in our DAYS/ / SA. - 1977. - N4. - pp. 183-191.

Gladilin V. N., Sitlivy V. I. Acheulean Culture of Central Europe. Kiev: Nauk, dumka Publ., 1990, 268 p. (in Russian)

Derevyanko A. P. Paleolith of the Far East and Korea. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1983, 216 p. (in Russian)

Derevyanko A. P., Vasiliev S. A., Markin S. V. Paleolithology: introduction and basics. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1994, 287 p. (in Russian)

Derevyanko A. P., Markin S. V. Mousse of Gorny Altai. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1992, 225 p. (in Russian)

Matyukhin A. E. Early Paleolithic tools // Tehnologiya proizvodstva v epokhu paleolita [Production Technology in the Paleolithic Era], Nauka Publ., 1983, pp. 134-187.

Matyukhin A. E. On controversial issues of dating of the Paleolithic (?) Localities of Mount Do in Vietnam / / SA. - 1990. - N2. - pp. 92-97.

Nguyen Khak Shi. Shonvi culture and its place in the Stone Age of Southeast Asia / / SA. - 1982. - N 3. - pp. 5-12.

Ranov V. A. Excavations of the Lower Paleolithic site Lahuti-1 in 1979 / / Archaeological works in Tajikistan. Dushanbe, 1986, issue 19, pp. 11-36.

Foley R. Another unique species: Ecological aspects of human evolution, Moscow: Mir Publ., 1990, 368 p.

Huang Weiwen, Hou Yamei, and Song Hyeongyeon. Pebble tools in the Paleolithic of China / / Archeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia. - 2005. - N 1 (21). - p. 2-15.

Ha Van Tan. Khao Co Hoc Viet Nam (Archeology of Vietnam). HaNoi: [SI], 1998. Tap 1: Thoi Dai Da Viet Nam (Vol. 1: Stone Age). - 460 p. (in Vietnamese).

Moser J. Hoabinhian: Geographie und Chronologie eines steinzeitlichen Technokomplexes in Sudostasien. - Koln: Komission fur Allgemaine und vergleichende Archaologie des Deutschen archaologischen Instituts. 2001. - Bd. 6. - 194 S.

Nguyen Lan Cuong. Fossile Menschenfunde aus Nordvietnam // Menschwerdung - biotischer und gesellschafter Entwiklungprocess: Schriften zur Ur- und Fruhgeschichte. - Berlin, 1985. - Bd. 41. - S. 96 - 101.

The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 29.08.05.

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