Initial Upper Paleolithic
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| The Paleolithic |
|---|
| ↑ Pliocene (before Homo) |
| ↓ Mesolithic |
The Initial Upper Paleolithic (also IUP, c. 50,000–40,000 BP) covers the first stage of the Upper Paleolithic, during which modern human populations expanded throughout Eurasia following the initial migration out of Africa.
The Initial Upper Paleolithic period is characterized by a broadly shared material culture and tools associated with an early modern human dispersal >45kya. These IUP tools are characterized by a combination of elements of the Levallois technique (faceted platforms, hard hammer percussion, flat-faced cores). There are broadly two major IUP-affiliated types: 'microlithic blades' (or microblades) and 'core & flakes' (or CAF assemblages). While most archaeologists agree on the existence of a shared set of traits, it remains unclear how much those can be related to a single demic diffusion event, or be explained by cultural transmission or convergence.[2][3][4] </mapframe>
The dispersal of IUP-affiliated material culture into Europe, Central Asia and Siberia as well as Northwest China may stem from a distinct migration wave than the dispersal of IUP-affiliated material culture into the South, Southeast and East Asian region as well as Oceania.[2][5] While the IUP types in Europe, Central Asia and Siberia, such as the Bacho Kiro, Ust'-Ishim, and Kara-Bom sites, are primarily affiliated with microblades, the IUP-types in South, Southeast, and East Asia, as well as Oceania, such as the Tianyuan site, are primarily affiliated with core and flake tools. A distinct type of IUP-affiliated technology has also been found in Nwya Devu, a Paleolithic site on the Tibetan plateau.[6][5]
In Eastern Asia the Initial Upper Paleolithic corresponds to the spread of 'core & flakes'. Although there is a sharp border between core/flake-based tools in Northern China and nearby blade-based tools in Mongolia, the Shuidonggou site displays both types, pointing to a period of contact or adaption.[6] The 'core & flake' tools may be associated with the major source of ancestry for modern Eastern Asians, having arrived in East Asia via a southern route through South Asia into Southeast Asia and subsequently rapidly expanding northwards.[7][8][9]
In Europe and Central Asia, the Initial Upper Paleolithic corresponds to the spread of a particular techno-complex in Eurasia,[10] to which possibly relates the European Châtelperronian.[11] The European IUP-affiliated Aurignacian complex (Protoaurignacian and Early Aurignacian) with its famous Cave art seems to correspond to another, later, human wave which spread through the Levant area.[10] In effect Aurignacian (42,000-28,000 BP) layers generally postdate late Mousterian and Initial Upper Paleolithic assemblages.[12] Aurignacian seems to have emerged out of the Initial Upper Paleolithic around 43,000 to 42,000 cal BP, in a process that is yet to be determined.[13]
Skeletal remains from the Zlatý kůň woman
Femur from the Ust'-Ishim man
Blades from Kara-Bom, a probable Initial Upper Paleolithic site
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