Abstract

The paper deals with survey data recorded in 2021 in Uzbekistan by joint team of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Warsaw University, and National Center of Archaeology Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Based on 2018-2019 data, we carried out local excavations, and the Paleolithic artifacts were recorded in the cross-sections of two sites—Ertashsai-12 and Kuksarai-2 located on the right side of the Akhangaran valley in its midstream. The stratified archaeological material of Ertashsai-12 occurs in three lithological positions (layers 2b, 3, and 4) and is represented mainly by fragments of flakes and wastes of lithic production. Together with the surface complex, these materials can be attributed to the Middle to Upper Paleolithic. Materials from the Kuksarai-2 site are more representative; they occur in four layers (layers 2, 3, 5, and 6). In total, the lithic collection includes 43 artifacts. The technical and typological characteristics of the stratified part of the Kuksarai-2 collection are consistent with the appearance of the exposed materials and contain features of the Levallois technology with an admixture of features transitional from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic. The material complexes of Ertashsai-12 and Kuksarai-2 discovered in the buried state are probably correlated with periodic and long-term visits to these territories by human paleopopulations, and the ancient population was a carrier of the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic process skills. In future, the presence of stratified complexes in the landscape situation of low mountains with the process features of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic can provide a new array of data on the problems of correlating features of the material culture with specific species of ancient hominins, as well as in the context of their relationship with the environment.

Keywords

Upper Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, lithic industry, surveys, low-mountain relief, Western Tien-Shan

Pavlenok K.K.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0205-2077

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS

Pavlenok G.D.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3727-776X

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS

Kogai S.A.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4232-9587

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS

Leloch M.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4916-7840

Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Poland

Jakubczak M.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1655-7124

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Mukhtarov G.

National Center of Archaeology Academy of Sciences Republic of Uzbekistan

Kot M.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5277-0283

Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Poland

References

Kolobova K.A. Verkhnii paleolit zapadnogo Pamiro-Tyan’-Shanya: doc. sc. (history) dissertation abstract. Novosibirsk, 2014, 38 p. (In Russ.).

Kolobova K.A., Pavlenok K.K, Flas D, Krivoshapkin A.I. Kyzyl-Alma-2 site - a new Upper Paleolithic site in Western Tien Shan. Vestnik NSU, 2010, vol. 9, No 5, pp. 111-123. (In Russ.).

Kolobova K.A., Roberts R.G., Chabai V.P., Jacobs Z., Krajcarz M.T., Shalagina A.V., Krivoshapkin A.I., Li B., Uthmeier T., Markin S.V., Morley M.W., O’Gorman K., Rudaya N.A., Talamo S., Viola B, Derevianko A.P. Archaeological evidence for two separate dispersals of Neanderthals into southern Siberia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020, vol. 117, N 2879, P. 85.

Kot M., Pavlenok K., Krajcarz M.T., Pavlenok G., Sneider S., Khudjanazarov M., Leloch M., Szymczak K. Raw material procurement as a crucial factor determining knapping technology in the Katta Sai complex of Middle Palaeolithic sites in the western Tian Shan piedmonts of Uzbekistan. Quaternary International, 2020, vol. 559, P. 97109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.03.052

Krivoshapkin A.I. Obirakhmatskii variant perekhoda ot srednego k verkhnemu paleolitu v Tsentral’noi Azii: doc. sc. (history) dissertation abstract. Novosibirsk, 2012, 37 p. (In Russ.).

Krivoshapkin А., Viola B., Chargynov T., Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Fedorowicz S., Shnaider S., Kolobova K. Middle Paleolithic variability in Central Asia: Lithic assemblage of Sel’Ungur cave. Quaternary International, 2020, vol. 535, P. 88-103. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.09.051

Leloch M., Kot M., Pavlenok G., Szymczak K., Khudjanazarov M., Pavlenok K. Tracing the Palaeolithic settlement patterns in the Western Tian Shan piedmont: an example of predictive GIS modelling use. Journal of Quaternary Science (in press).

Pavlenok K.K., Kot M., Pavlenok G.D., Shimchak K., Khuzhinazarov M., Kogai S.A. Searching of the Paleolithic sites in the Akhangaran river valley: history and our time. Theory and Practice of Archaeological Research, 2019, No 2, pp. 153-166. (In Russ.). doi: 10.14258/tpai (2019)2(26).-11.

Pavlenok G.D., Leloch M., Kot M., Pavlenok K.K., Kogai S.A., Kholmatov A., Khuzhanazarov M., Szymczak K. New Paleolithic sites in the Ertashsai Valley (Western Tien Shan). Problems of Archaeology, Ethnography, Anthropology of Siberia and Neighboring Territories, Novosibirsk: IAET SB RAS Publ., 2020, vol. XXVI, pp. 189-194. (In Russ.). doi: 10.17746/2658-6193.2020.26.189-194.

Pavlenok K.K, Pavlenok G.D, Shnaider S.V., Kogai S.A. Recent Data from Upper Paleolithic of Akhangaran Valley (Uzbekistan). Evraziyavkainozoe, 2016, iss. 5, pp. 116-122. (In Russ.).

Pavlenok K.K., Kot M., Pavlenok G., Krajcarz M.T., Khudjanazarov M., Leloch M., Szymczak K. Middle Paleolithic technological diversity during MIS 3 in the Western Tian Shan piedmonts: Example of the Katta Sai 1 open-air loess site. Archaeological Research in Asia, 2021, vol. 25, P. 100262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ara.2021.100262.

Zwyns N. The Initial Upper Paleolithic in Central and East Asia: Blade Technology, Cultural Transmission, and Implications for Human Dispersals. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 2021, vol. 4, P. 19. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s41982-021-00085-6

Список литературы

Колобова К.А. Верхний палеолит западного Памиро-Тянь-Шаня: автореф. дис. ... д-ра ист. наук. - Новосибирск, 2014. - 38 с.

Колобова К.А., Павленок К.К., Фляс Д., Кривошапкин А.И. Стоянка Кызыл-Алма-2 - новый памятник эпохи верхнего палеолита Западного Тянь-Шаня // Вестник НГУ - 2010. - Т. 9. - №5. - С. 111-123.

Кривошапкин А.И. Обирахматский вариант перехода от среднего к верхнему палеолиту в Центральной Азии: автореф. дис. ... д-ра ист. наук. - Новосибирск, 2012. - 37 с.

Павленок К.К., Кот М., Павленок Г. Д., Шимчак К., Хужиназаров М., Когай С.А. Поиски объектов палеолита в бассейне реки Ахангаран: история и современность // Теория и практика археологических исследований. - 2019. - Т. 26, № 2. - С. 153-166. DOI: 10.14258/ tpai(2019)2(26).-11.

Павленок Г.Д., Лелох М., Кот М., Павленок К.К., Когай С. А., Холматов А., Хужаназаров М., Шимчак К. Новые палеолитические местонахождения в долине Эрташсая (Западный Тянь-Шань) // Проблемы археологии, этнографии, антропологии Сибири и сопредельных территорий. - Новосибирск: Изд-во ИАЭТ СО РАН 2020. - Т. XXVI. - С. 189-194. DOI: 10.17746/2658-6193.2020.26.189-194.

Павленок К.К., Павленок Г.Д., Шнайдер С.В., Когай С.А. Новые данные по верхнему палеолиту долины р. Ахангаран (Узбекистан) // Евразия в кайнозое. -2016. - Вып. 5. - С. 116-122.

Kolobova K.A., Roberts R.G., Chabai V.P., Jacobs Z., Krajcarz M.T., Shalagina A.V., Krivoshapkin A.I., Li B., Uthmeier T., Markin S.V., Morley M.W., O’Gorman K., Rudaya N.A., Talamo S., Viola B., Derevianko A.P. Archaeological evidence for two separate dispersals of Neanderthals into southern Siberia // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - 2020. - Vol. 117, N 2879. - P. 85.

Kot M., Pavlenok K., Krajcarz M.T., Pavlenok G., Sneider S., Khudjanazarov M., Leloch M., Szymczak K. Raw material procurement as a crucial factor determining knapping technology in the Katta Sai complex of Middle Palaeolithic sites in the western Tian Shan piedmonts of Uzbekistan // Quaternary International. - 2020. - Vol. 559. -P. 97-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.03.052 Krivoshapkin А., Viola B., Chargynov T., Krajcarz M.T., Krajcarz M., Fedorowicz S., Shnaider S., Kolobova K. Middle Paleolithic variability in Central Asia: Lithic assemblage of Sel’Ungur cave // Quaternary International. - 2020. - Vol. 535. - P. 88-103. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.09.051

Leloch M., Kot M., Pavlenok G., Szymczak K., Khudjanazarov M., Pavlenok K. Tracing the Palaeolithic settlement patterns in the Western Tian Shan piedmont: an example of predictive GIS modelling use // Journal of Quaternary Science (in press).

Pavlenok K.K., Kot M., Pavlenok G., Krajcarz M.T., Khudjanazarov M., Leloch M., Szymczak K. Middle Paleolithic technological diversity during MIS 3 in the Western Tian Shan piedmonts: Example of the Katta Sai 1 open-air loess site // Archaeological Research in Asia. - 2021. - Vol. 25. - P. 100262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ara.2021.100262

Zwyns N. The Initial Upper Paleolithic in Central and East Asia: Blade Technology, Cultural Transmission, and Implications for Human Dispersals // Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology. - 2021. - Vol. 4. - P. 19. https://doi. org/10.1007/s41982-021-00085-6