Tools for personal ornaments production in the Selenga Culture (Western Transbaikalia)

The article presents the results of experimental modeling, use-wear study, and metric analysis of ostrich eggshell beads and associated lithic tools from the Selenga Culture (Final Palaeolithic). To elucidate the technological correlation between ostrich eggshell bead production and the stone tool industry at the Ust-Kyakhta-3 site, we conducted a series of experiments. These experiments were designed to determine the parameters of tools used for perforation. The findings demonstrate that miniature point-perforators were employed. Such items exhibiting use-wear traces indicative of boring or drilling were identified within the Ust-Kyakhta-3 assemblage. Furthermore, metric analysis and correlation of the di-mensions of the perforators and bead holes (using 3D-models) provide evidence for a technological link between these categories of personal ornaments and implements from the Selenga Culture in Western Transbaikalia, dating to the period between 14 and 12.5 ka. Consequently, this study represents the first identification of a consistent tool type in-tended exclusively for the production of standardized ornaments in the Late Paleolithic of Siberia.