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Afontova Gora is a Late
Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...
and
Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
n complex of archaeological sites located on the left
bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...
of the
Yenisei River The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук ...
near the city of
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...
,
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. Afontova Gora has cultural and genetic links to the people from Mal'ta-Buret'. The complex was first excavated in 1884 by Ivan Savenkov. Afontova Gora is a complex, consisting of multiple
stratigraphic Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostrati ...
layers, of five or more campsites. The campsites shows evidence of
mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...
hunting and were likely the result of an eastward expansion of mammoth hunters. The human fossils discovered at Afontova Gora were stored in the
Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
.


Sites

Afontova Gora I is situated on the western bank of the Enisei River and has yielded the remains from horse, mammoth, reindeer, steppe bison, and large canids. A canid tibia has been dated 16,900 years old and the skull has been taxonomically described as being that of a dog, but it is now lost. Its description falls outside of the range of Pleistocene or modern northern wolves. Afontova Gora II is the site where the human fossil remains were found. The site was first excavated in 1912-1914 by V.I. Gromov. In 1924, G.P. Sosnovsky, N.K. Auerbach, and V.I. Gromov discovered the first human fossils at the site. The remains of mammoth, Arctic fox, Arctic hare, reindeer, bison, and horse were discovered at the site. Afontova Gora II consists of 7 layers. Layer 3 from Afontova Gora II is the most significant: the layer produced the largest amount of cultural artefacts and is the layer where the human fossil remains were discovered. Over 20,000 artefacts were discovered at layer 3: this layer produced over 450 tools and over 250 osseous artefacts (bone, antler, ivory). The fossils of two distinct individuals were discovered in the initial excavations: the upper premolar of an 11-15 year-old child and the left radius, ulna, humerus, phalanx, and frontal bone of an adult. Afontova Gora III is the site where the initial excavation was undertaken by I. T. Savenkov in 1884. The site was disturbed by mining activities in the late 1880s. The site consists of 3 layers. Afontova Gora V was discovered in 1996. The remains of hare, pika, cave lion, horse, reindeer, bison, and partridge were discovered at the site.


Human remains

The bodies of two individuals, known as ''Afontova Gora 2'' (AG2) and ''Afontova Gora 3'' (AG3) were discovered within the complex. (The name Afontova Gora 1 refers to the remains of a
canid Canidae (; from Latin, ''canis'', "dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found within the ...
.)


Afontova Gora 2

The human fossil remains of ''Afontova Gora 2'' were discovered in the 1920s at Afontova Gora II and stored at the
Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
. The remains are dated to around 17,000 BP (16,930-16,490 BP). In 2009, researchers visited the Hermitage Museum and extracted DNA from the humerus of ''Afontova Gora 2''. Despite significant contamination, researchers succeeded in extracting low coverage genomes. DNA analysis confirmed that the individual was male. The individual showed close genetic affinities to ''Mal'ta 1'' (Mal'ta boy). ''Afontova Gora 2'' also showed greater genetic affinity for the
Karitiana people The Karitiana or Caritiana are an indigenous people of Brazil, whose reservation is located in the western Amazon. They count 320 members, and the leader of their tribal association is Renato Caritiana. They subsist by farming, fishing and hunt ...
than for the
Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...
. Around 1.9-2.7% of the genome was Neanderthal in origin. According to Fu et al., ''AG-2'' belongs to a now-rare
Y-DNA haplogroup In human genetics, a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup is a haplogroup defined by mutations in the non- recombining portions of DNA from the male-specific Y chromosome (called Y-DNA). Many people within a haplogroup share similar numbers of sh ...
, Q1a1 (also known as Q-F746 and Q-NWT01).


Afontova Gora 3

In 2014, more human fossil remains were discovered at Afontova Gora II during
salvage excavation Rescue archaeology, sometimes called commercial archaeology, preventive archaeology, salvage archaeology, contract archaeology, developer-funded archaeology or compliance archaeology, is state-sanctioned, archaeological survey and excavation carr ...
before the construction of a new bridge over the Yenesei River. The remains belonged to two different females: the
atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...
of an adult female and the mandible and five lower teeth of a teenage girl (''Afontova Gora 3'') estimated to be around 14–15 years old. Initially, the new findings were presumed to be roughly contemporaneous with ''Afontova Gora 2''. In 2017, direct AMS dating revealed that ''Afontova Gora 3'' is dated to around 16,090 cal BC). The mandible of ''Afontova Gora 3'' was described as being
gracile Gracility is slenderness, the condition of being gracile, which means slender. It derives from the Latin adjective ''gracilis'' (masculine or feminine), or ''gracile'' ( neuter), which in either form means slender, and when transferred for examp ...
. Researchers analyzing the dental morphology of ''Afontova Gora 3'' concluded that the teeth showed distinct characteristics with most similarities to another fossil (the Listvenka child) from the
Altai-Sayan region The Altai-Sayan region is an area of Inner Asia proximate to the Altai Mountains and the Sayan Mountains, near to where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together. This region is one of the world centers of temperate plant diversity. Its ...
and were neither western nor eastern. ''Afontova Gora 3'' and Listvenka showed distinct dental characteristics that were also different from other Siberian fossils, including those from Mal'ta. DNA was extracted from one of the teeth of ''Afontova Gora 3'' and analyzed. Compared to ''Afontova Gora 2'', researchers were able to obtain higher coverage genomes from ''Afontova Gora 3''. DNA analysis confirmed that the individual was female. mtDNA analysis revealed that ''Afontova Gora 3'' belonged to the mitochondrial Haplogroup R1b. Around 2.9-3.7% of the genome was Neanderthal in origin. In a 2016 study, researchers determined that ''Afontova Gora 2'', ''Afontova Gora 3'', and ''Mal'ta 1'' ( Mal'ta boy) shared common descent and were clustered together in a ''Mal'ta cluster''. Genetically, ''Afontova Gora 3'' is not closer to ''Afontova Gora 2'' when compared to ''Mal'ta 1''. When compared to ''Mal'ta 1'', the ''Afontova Gora 3'' lineage apparently contributed more to modern humans and is genetically closer to Native Americans. Phenotypic analysis shows that ''Afontova Gora 3'' carries the derived rs12821256 allele associated with
blond Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...
hair color, making ''Afontova Gora 3'' the earliest individual known to carry this derived allele.


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Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{refend Archaeological sites in Siberia Upper Paleolithic sites Krasnoyarsk Krai Cultural heritage monuments in Krasnoyarsk Krai Objects of cultural heritage of Russia of federal significance