During a test excavation at Diring-Yuriakh Greek, c. 140 km up the Lena River from Yakutsk, human remains dating to the Neolithic Period were found. The excavation was turned over to Yu.A. Mochanov and S.A. Fedoseeva and expanded, at which time a Palaeolithic stone tool assemblage was discovered. Analysis of the artifacts and of their paleoenvironmental context suggest a date for the tools of 1.8 to 3.2 million years. The tools more closely resemble those from Olduvai Gorge than from any other Early Pleistocene site, leading the authors to ponder the possibility of a nontropical origin for humanity.
