Reconstructed technologies of working mammoth tusk for making tools(based on the artifacts from the Yana complex of sites)

Working of mammoth tusk to produce various tools and implementsbecame widespread and reached its technological peak shortly before the Last GlacialMaximum, with the relevant evidence traceable up to the turn of the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary across all regions of Eurasia populated by both mammoths andhumans. Production of items from mammoth tusk, especially projectiles and spears maybe considered the most important innovation of the Upper Palaeolithic. The Yana sitematerials that date to ~ 28 000 years BP (uncal.) are important for understanding methodsand technologies used in production of tools and implements from mammoth tusk.The studies of the Yana artifacts demonstrate that all these processes are convincinglydocumented by the archaeological finds. Several sequences of technological operationalprocesses, including production of long preform ivory shafts by lateral exfoliation withwedging have been reconstructed.