UDC 903 CONDITIONS OF OCCURRENCE OF MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC MONUMENTS IN THE UPPER DESNA BASIN* The research project in the framework of which this article is written is aimed at a comprehensive study of a group of Middle Paleolithic monuments located on a short segment of the upper reaches of the Desna River in the Bryansk and Zhukovsky districts of the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation. The paper analyzes the stratigraphic position of the Upper Desna Middle Paleolithic sites and considers the possible correlation of deposits containing the Khotylevo I, Betovo, Korshevo I and II industries. Key words: Middle Paleolithic industries, stratigraphic position of monuments and comparison of their occurrence conditions, relative dating and detailed chronostratigraphic correlation. Introduction The Middle Paleolithic sites discovered on the Upper Desna River in the second half of the last century by V. A. Khokhlovkina, F. M. Zavernyaev, and L. M. Tarasov are the northernmost in the central part of the Eastern European Plain. The peak of Middle Paleolithic research in this area occurred in the late 1950s-late 1970s and is associated with long-term excavations of the Khotylevo group of localities by the Bryansk Museum of Local Lore expedition led by F. M. Zavernyaev [1978], and the group of monuments near the villages of Betovo and Negotino by the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences led by L. M. Tarasov [1995]. As a result of many years of work, various points of view have been formed both on the features of the typological belonging of the materials of the collections, and on the nature of the occurrence of each monument. For sites of the Middle Paleolithic of this area, a clear definition of the lithological and stratigraphic conditions of occurrence and chronological position remains problematic even today. Crop-bearing horizons are confined to sediments of different (slope and alluvial) genesis and differ in the degree of pre ... Read more