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The Microlithic Character of Neolithic Cultures in Central Asia, Trans-Baikal, and Manchuria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

V. E. Larichev*
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Leningrad, U.S.S.R.

Abstract

Comparative study of both pottery and stone implements indicates that Mongolia, Manchuria, and eastern Siberia constitute a Siberian-Mongolian culture area of great antiquity. During the Neolithic this area was characterized by a small-tool tradition distinct from the microlithic tradition of the west, and unlike the tool-making developments of the Yang-shao and Lung-shan farmers to the south. The so-called “microlithic” character of the Siberian Neolithic is not demonstrated by archaeological collections from the area, and is demonstrated to be the historic result of early terminological confusions that have been perpetuated in the literature. A. A. Formozov's claims for a Eurasian steppe culture characterized by a microlithic tradition distinct from both the southern farmers and the forest culture of the taiga are rejected.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1962

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References

* The footnote references have been omitted — EDITOR