THE YENISEI CORRIDOR OF MONGOLIAN GAZELLE (PROCAPRA GUTTUROSA) MIGRATION TO NORTH ASIA

This paper contains information on the distribution of the Mongolian gazelle on the Yenisei Valley, within Northern Asia. Main fossil finds of this species were located in Minusinsk depression. Also we report about the northernmost stratified find of the remains of Mongolian gazelle from Siberia - an archaeological object of Afontova Gora II. We found fragments of horn cores from two individuals. According to radiocarbon data of the archaeological cultural level, Mongolian gazelle reached the Krasnoyarsk depression (the valley of middle Yenisei) in the first half of a MIS3. The specimen from the town of Yeniseisk is the most northern find, but is interpreted as a late export product of the Russian population's bone carving trade. In the period of 30 thousand years ago, the Mongolian gazelle reduced its range to the south, where it was found at the Malaya Syya Paleolithic site. We provide description and comparison the horn cores from the Afontova Gora, Malaya Syya, Borodinskaya-2 cave, Shishkin log, Shira, Yeniseisk. They considerably differ from cores of a saiga antelope, a usual species of Late Pleistocene of Siberia. Probably the Mongolian gazelle migrated to the Minusinsk and Krasnoyarsk depressions through the territory of Tuva, along the Yenisei valley. The Mongolian gazelle inhabited depressions along the middle reaches of the Yenisey River indicate the existence of dry steppes (possibly semi-deserts) during the MIS 3 period in this area. During the habitat of the Mongolian gazelle in the region, winter was characterized by either a very small amount of snow or strong winds blowing away the snow cover. Snow cover was not a limiting factor in the distribution of Mongolian gazelle in the region.