Abstract
According to the recent research, humans first started to occupy high mountain regions during the Final Pleistocene-Early Holocene. Thus, some of the earliest high altitude sites (4000 m above sea level) which were found in the Andes date back to ca. 10 ka BP, while the first habitation sites in Tibet are dated to ca. 13 ka BP. Western Central Asia also has several high mountainous regions, including the Pamir Mountains and the Alay Valley. In 2017, the joint Russian-Kyrgyz expedition investigated the Alay site located at 2800 m above sea level. The results suggest that the artifact assemblage from this site belongs to the circle of other Late Pleistocene bladelet industries found in the region. If this is the case, the Alay site represents some of the earliest evidence for human occupation of high-altitude landscapes in the Eurasian continent.
Keywords
Stone Age, highlands, Western Central Asia, Alay Valley, bladelet industries
Shnaider S.V.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2230-4286
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS
Altai State University
Abdykanova A.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7238-9065
American University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Taylor W.
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany
Kolobova K.A.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5757-3251
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS
Altai State University
Alisher kyzy S.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3138-0942
Novosibirsk State University
Krivoshapkin A.I.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5327-3438
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS
Altai State University
Novosibirsk State University
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