Stratigraphy and paleolithic landscapes of the Beganchik site at the Kama-Volga confluence

Abstract

The Beganchik locality is a stratigraphic sequence of loessic deposits, pedogenic horizons and Paleolithic occupations located at the Kama-Volga confluence. The sequence is exposed on a bluff formed on the west side of an erosional remnant between the Kuybyshev Reservoir and the former channel of the Aktay River. Although the site is known for its Terminal Paleolithic-Mesolithic occupations of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, evidence of older occupations and remains of fauna has been identified. Our research team identified evidence of human presence associated with a pedogenic horizon of MIS 3 age. Two AMS radiocarbon ages from a hearth produced ages around 47 000 years BP. Pollen and phytoliths from two soils horizons, including the one associated with the hearths indicate a steppe environment coincident with the formation of correlative soils elsewhere in the Russian Plain.