Their origin is traceable in the terminal Middle Paleolithic complexes. That the people who inhabited the Altai 50–40 ka BP were basically modern in terms of behavior is strikingly illustrated by the bone tools (needles, awls, elements of composite tools) and by the non-utilitarian artifacts such as beads, pendants, etc. made of bone, stone, and shells. There is a surprising find: a fragment of a stone bracelet manufactured by several techniques including polishing, burnishing, sawing, and drilling.
About 45 ka BP, the Sibiryachikha variety of the Mousterian associated with Neanderthals appeared in the Altai (Fig. 32, 33). This industry entirely differs in terms of technology and typology from the Upper Paleolithic industries existed in the Altai. This small population group of Neanderthals had apparently arrived from Central Asia, from Teshik-Tash cave in Uzbekistan. They existed in the Altai for a short time only. The fate of the Neanderthals who produced it is unknown: either they were assimilated by the autochthonous populations or they went extinct (Fig. 34).
Archaeological data accumulated during the past 30 years of studies at the stratifi ed cave and open-air sites convincingly prove that the Upper Paleolithic industry, one of the most striking in Eurasia, formed in the Altai ca. 50–45 ka BP. It had been forming during 20–30 thousand years: in the Middle Paleolithic horizons dated to 80–60 ka BP, Upper Paleolithic techniques of stone working and Upper Paleolithic tool types started to emerge. As a result of the evolutionary development of the Middle Paleolithic industry, the Upper Paleolithic formed in the Altai.
