Pleistocene climate change, natural environments and Palaeolithic occupation of East Kazakhstan

Abstract

The territory of East Kazakhstan (the Southern Altai Mountains, the Bukhtarma and Zaisan / Black Irtysh Basins), still insufficiently investigated because of the Kazakh-Russian-Chinese border zone, shows a complex Quaternary history and the associated environmental transformations reflected by intensive geomorphic processes related to the past global climate evolution in conjunction with the regional neotectonic activity and glacial retreat. The marked climatic changes are evidenced by the preserved palaeo-landscape forms in both the mountain and steppe regions, as well as by the glacial and sedimentary geology, palaeoecology and geoarchaeology proxy records indicating long-term variations in temperature as well as humidity/aridity affecting human occupation and culture-historical adaptation processes.