EVOLUTION OF THE QUATERNARY ENVIRONMENT IN THE NORTHWESTERN ALTAI

Stratified Paleolithic sites in the northwestern Altai are highly relevant to the reconstruction of environmental and human evolution in North and Central Asia. Multidisciplinary studies into these sites have focused on archaeological, geological and paleontological analysis, as well as on the reconstruction of relief, vegetation, fauna, and climate in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene. Analyses of modern environments have resulted in models which illustrate the relationships between the relief and floral and faunal communities. On the basis of these models, Holocene, Upper and Middle Pleistocene environments have been reconstructed. Contrasting climatic stages were selected including interglacial climatic optima versus the coldest period coinciding with the last glaciation.