Introduction of a Special Issue “Across steppes and mountains: the Initial Upper Paleolithic in Eurasia”

Abstract

“Across steppes and mountains: the Initial Upper Paleolithic in Eurasia” is a collection of papers that aim at clarifying a once elusive phenomenon that is now recognized throughout Eurasia. Originally, the analytical term Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) referred to an arbitrary step in a continuum of change in the way humans produced their stone tools, occurring around 45,000 years ago. It is now sometimes used as a taxonomic unit which is defined, depending on the region and sites, by the earliest association of blade production with ornaments or bone tools. More recently, fauna, human remains, and genetic data added to a list of characters that points toward the phenomenon being one archeological vector for the dispersal of Homo sapiens in Eurasia. Arguably, the totality of phenomena termed IUP also remains a mix-bag of assemblages, transitional or not, that tell a complex story. There is little doubt that the IUP has become a pivotal notion when discussing the establishment our species outside of Africa. With stimulating discoveries published at an increasing pace comes the need to reflect on the data behind the concept. We invited contributors to do so by discussing relevant assemblages while trying to keep a broad geographical scope and a focus on changes in material culture that are not restricted to IUP, but that are relevant to the major behavioral and biological changes observed during the MIS3 from the Atlantic to northwest China.