S. K. VASILIEV, A. P. DEREVYANKO, S. V. MARKINInstitute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS 17 Akademika Lavrentieva Ave., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia E-mail:markin@archaeology.nsc.ru Introduction Numerous Paleolithic monuments discovered in various orographic regions of Altai, from foothills to internal intermountain depressions, differ significantly in the completeness of their study. Most of the sites in the foothill areas do not yet have geological, stratigraphic, biostratigraphic, or chronometric grounds. Compactly located multi-layered open (Anui II, Ust-Karakol I, etc.) and cave sites (Denisova, Okladnikova, Iskra) in the mountainous part of the Northwestern Altai, primarily in the valley of the Anui River, are studied within the framework of a comprehensive program for studying the paleoenvironment and culture of ancient man, based on modern methods of analysis [Natural History wednesday..., 2003]. Kaminnaya Cave, which is 1,100 m above sea level, unlike other Paleolithic sites in the Anuya basin, is located in the middle-altitude erosional mid-highlands, whose relief near the cave is characterized by weakly divided flat-humped accumulative forms combined with sharply cut slopes of watercourse valleys. The cave of the south-eastern exposition is a wide grotto in the mouth part and a narrow gallery adjacent to it at an angle, buried at the end by loose rocks. The endogenous part of the cave is formed by karst flows. Modeling of the grotto was carried out under the influence of the water environment and external factors caused by diurnal and seasonal temperature fluctuations. The first sounding of the cavity was carried out in 1982, and a stationary study was carried out in 1984 - 1990 and 1995 - 2004 (Derevyanko and Grichan, 1990; Archeologiya, Geologiya..., 1998). Archaeological materials were found in all stratigraphic units of loose aggregate, except for alluvial rocks. Industries from the sediments underlying the Sartan sequence demonstrate Levalloisian, ... Read more