Urta-Tube

Urta-Tube

 

(also Urtatube), the oldest Paleolithic site in the Urals, situated on the western shore of Lake Karabalykty, near the village of Tashbulatovo, Abzelilovskii Raion, Bashkir ASSR. Cultural levels dating from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and later periods were excavated between 1962 and 1968. In 1971, O. N. Bader excavated the Lower Paleolithic level, which measured more than 2 m in thickness. He discovered a wealth of flint implements, cores, and flakes similar to those of the Acheulean and Mousterian cultures and a number of unique chopping implements. The artifacts at Urta-Tube attest to the original settlement of the Urals by Neanderthal man, who had been advancing from the south.

REFERENCES

Bader, O. N. “Novye pamiatniki pozdnego i drevnego paleolita Bashkirii.” In the collection Arkheologiia i etnografiia Bashkirii, fasc. 5. Ufa, 1973.