New evidence for mountain Palaeolithic human occupation in the western Tian Shan piedmonts, eastern Uzbekistan

We describe fi nds from layer 24 of Kulbulak, Western Tien Shan, excavated in 2018–2019. On the basis of the age of layer 16 (MIS 5e) and the geological context of the deposits, the profi le of the site was subdivided into paleogeographic stages. Layers 25–22 likely correlate with the warming period in the second half of MIS 7. Primary reduction in layer 24 industry was based on parallel uni- and bidirectional techniques, with wide and narrow-faced cores, and following the Levallois strategy. Tools include various side-scrapers, a point on a heavily retouched blade, a retouched blade, an atypical angular end-scraper, and blanks of bifaces. Parallels are found between those fi nds and contemporaneous industries of the Near East. Technologically and likely chronologically, layer 24 is intermediate between Late Amudian and Early Middle Paleolithic assemblages of the Tabun D stage. This is evidenced by a combination of non-Levallois and Levallois fl aking (the latter being predominant), by different types of blanks within the same reduction sequence, by a high share of blades among blanks, by bifacial pieces, by an elongated heavily retouched point, and by an atypical end-scraper.

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Cultural Mosaic of the Middle Paleolithic in Western Tien Shan: The Kuksarai-2 Site

Pavlenok,

Kogai,

Sosin

et al. 2024

VNSUIP

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Purpose. The term “archaeological frontier” was first applied to the Western Tien Shan about 10 years ago to explain the phenomenon of the early appearance of microblade knapping in the Middle Paleolithic industries. Based on the results of a comparative analysis of the collections of Obi-Rakhmat and Kulbulak and materials from other synchronous monuments in the region, it was suggested that the Western Pamir-Tien Shan could be a zone of competition between the ecdemic population (blade technology bearers) and the autochthonous group (Neanderthals, bearers of Teshiktashtype industries). The article examines a similar composite technocomplex Kuksarai-2 (based on materials from the trench 1, excavated in 2023).Results. It has been established that the materials of the Kuksaray-2 site have such mosaic features as Mousterian (Teshiktash-like) primary knapping for flakes, rare blade technology evidence, and presence of specific types referred to Selungurian technocomplex (Tayacian points, Selungurian side-scrapers). Preliminary the lower cultural sediments of Kuksarai-2 could be dated with MIS-5 time.Conclusion. The first results of studies of the Kuksaray-2 site allow us to suggest that the upper reaches of Akhangaran valley were inhabited by Teshiktash tradition bearers in MIS-5 (~130–74 ka BP) when human groups with blade technology occupied Obi-Rakhmat and Kulbulak. At the same time, the presence of specific tool types in the most ancient complexes of Kuksarai-2 can be interpreted as evidence of the intrusion of Selungurian cultural impulses from neighboring territories into the region also in MIS-5. The mosaic nature of Kuksaray-2 industry is an important argument in favor of recognizing the territory of the western Tien Shan low mountains as a frontier zone in the Middle Paleolithic.

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New evidence for mountain Palaeolithic human occupation in the western Tian Shan piedmonts, eastern Uzbekistan

Cited by 3 publications

References 18 publications

New Data for Asymmetric Core Reduction in Western Tian Shan Piedmonts: The Ertash Sai 2 Open-Air Site

New Data for Asymmetric Core Reduction in Western Tian Shan Piedmonts: The Ertash Sai 2 Open-Air Site

The Emergence of Levallois Blade Industry in the Western Foothills of Tien Shan: Kulbulak Layer 24

Cultural Mosaic of the Middle Paleolithic in Western Tien Shan: The Kuksarai-2 Site

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