Comments on the “Debatable Aspects of Initial Human Colonization of Siberia and Age of the Karama Site in the Altai Mountains” by V. S. Zykin, V. S. Zykina, and L. G. Smolyaninova

Problems of the Stratigraphy of Quaternary Deposits in the Anui Valley and the Age of the Karama Site in the Altai Mountains

“…According to (Kuzmin and Kazanskii, 2020), the main drawback of our research in the Anui River valley is the correlation of the Karaminskaya Formation stratotype section with a more fully biostratigraphically characterized section of the stratum near the village of Chernyi Anui. The reason for the denial of the correlation by the opponents is the possibility of a more accurate determination of the site age from terrestrial mollusks, which indicates an older age than they suggest.…”

“…One of the obstacles to such a correlation, in their opinion, is the lack of evidence of tracing the Karaminskaya Formation along the Anui River valley. The opponents declare (Kuzmin and Kazanskii, 2020) that "these objects are located on different sides of the Anui River valley in different geomorphological environments-on a denudation leveled surface (Karama) and altiplanation terrace (Chernyi Anui) (Derevianko et al, 2003, pp. 56-62), and it is physically impossible to connect them.…”

“…Lacking their own works on the stratigraphy of the Late Cenozoic of Western Siberia and not even trying to analyze the literature on the history of the West Siberian flora, the opponents again categorically declare that "the illegality of this approach is obvious" (Kuzmin and Kazanskii, 2020), and "the interpretation of V.S. Zykina does not correspond to all available data on the stratigraphy and paleogeography of the Late Pliocene of the south of Western Siberia (Bolikhovskaya and Shunkov, 2014, p. 57;Volkova et al, 2002, p.…”

“…In a later work (Volkova et al, 2016), the lifetime of the Barnaul flora was determined as an older interval of 1.80-2.58 Ma. Unfortunately, because of the mistake of our opponents (Kuzmin and Kazanskii, 2020) in the link to the work of Bolikhovskaya and Shunkova (2014, p. 57), we could not analyze the fragment of the text from this work mentioned by the opponents.…”

“…The thermal conditions of the early interglacials of the Middle Pleistocene of Western Siberia excluded the growth of many thermophilic exotic elements of the Karamin nemoral flora on its territory. Thus, on the basis of the above data, the analysis of the history of the development of the floras of Western Siberia carried out by our opponents (Kuzmin and Kazanskii, 2015, 2020 with references to the works of palynologists to prove the different ages of the Karamin and Barnaul floras and to show the "faulty logic of V.S. Zykina et al" (Kuzmin and Kazanskii, 2019, p. 19) takes into account only single works to establish their sequence and is incorrect.…”