“Tien Shan Aurignacian”: scientists have discovered a new archaeological culture on the territory of Kazakhstan
Russian archaeologists, together with local colleagues, discovered a new archaeological culture of the Upper Paleolithic era on the territory of Kazakhstan. Researchers called it “Tien Shan Aurignacian” due to the similarity of stone tool processing methods with the archaeological Aurignacian culture, widespread in the same era in western Eurasia. According to the authors of the study, this may indicate possible contacts in the Stone Age between people inhabiting different regions.
Scientists from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, together with colleagues from the Almaty team for the study of the Stone Age of the Institute of Archeology named after. OH. Margulan (Kazakhstan) came to the conclusion about the existence of a special archaeological culture in the Upper Paleolithic era (40-12 thousand years ago) in the foothills of the Northern Tien Shan. The researchers made the corresponding conclusions based on finds discovered during excavations at the Stone Age sites Uzynagash 1 and Uzynagash 3 in southeastern Kazakhstan. This was reported by the press service of the IA RAS.
In the Upper (Late) Paleolithic era, the human species Homo sapiens sapiens began to actively settle throughout the territory of Eurasia. Archaeologists obtain information about its habitat and culture thanks to sites – places where ancient people lived permanently or stopped between nomads. In the valley of the Uzynagash River (Kazakhstan), the first traces of the habitation of primitive man were found in 2021. However, previously, scientists in this area came across only isolated artifacts, which did not allow them to obtain any ideas about the culture and life of the people who lived here thousands of years ago.
Excavations at the Uzynagash 3 site. A stepped trench reveals the loess deposits of the site with numerous cultural layers. Press service of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Cultural exchange
The situation changed after excavations began on a complex of sites called Uzynagash. In 2022, researchers found that this place was the site of a parking lot that people had used for several millennia. During this time, several cultural layers managed to form, in which modern archaeologists found the remains of hearths sunk into the ground, a baking pit for cooking, and collected more than 2 thousand stone products similar to tools of the Aurignac culture (the archaeological culture of the Cro-Magnons of the early stage of the Late Paleolithic. – RT ).
The archaeological culture of Aurignac received its name from excavations in the cave of the same name in France. The tools related to it had a number of characteristic features.
Previously, it was believed that the southern border of the spread of the Aurignacian culture runs through modern Afghanistan, and the eastern border through the Altai Mountains. However, excavations at the Uzynagash sites changed these ideas, the study authors note. The similarity of artifacts found in Kazakhstan with objects of the Aurignacian culture speaks of similar development paths of Upper Paleolithic cultures in western and central Eurasia, and may also indicate contacts between people who inhabited different regions in the Stone Age, scientists say.
Excavations that took place this year showed that there are seven cultural layers at the Uzynagash 1 site. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the hearths suggests they formed between 31,000 and 21,000 years ago, but the uppermost and lowermost layers may fall outside this range.
In total, during excavations at the Uzynagash sites, scientists collected more than 4.5 thousand artifacts, including stone tools. In most cultural layers, remains of settlements were found: hearths, fireplaces, utilitarian pits, a lot of charcoal and rare animal bones.
“One of the important criteria of an archaeological Paleolithic culture is the same type of stone tools at two or more sites. Based on our findings, we can claim that this is a new archaeological culture discovered in the foothills of the Northern Tan Shan. Considering the undoubted similarity with the Aurignacian culture of western Eurasia, we can define it as “Tien Shan Aurignacian,” explained the head of the Kazakhstan Paleolithic detachment of the Institute of Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dmitry Ozherelyev.
Stone tools of the “Tien Shan Aurignacian”: retouched blades, scrapers, carenoid scraper cores Press service of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of SciencesUnique monument
Archaeologists also discovered layers with tools that follow the Aurignacian on the chronological scale – geometric microlith inserts. These are thin stone plates that hunters inserted into dart shafts. They date back to the period from 26.5 to 21 thousand years ago. It is assumed that the transition to a new form was dictated by the deterioration of the climate – man had to improve his hunting tools. At the same time, the general mobility of people increased, they learned to arrange short-term dwellings and came up with a new technique for processing stone.
The sites of the Uzynagash complex are a rare monument of the Upper Paleolithic because they include cultural layers of different eras, scientists note. The climate, the availability of water and raw materials for the manufacture of stone tools in the foothills of the Northern Tien Shan have attracted people to these territories for several millennia. Traces of his activity are well preserved here under layers of dust that the wind brings from the desert.
“The Uzynagash archaeological complex contains important consistent information about the development of the Upper Paleolithic in the heart of Central Asia. In terms of its potential, it can be comparable to the largest complexes of Upper Paleolithic sites, such as Kostenki, Altai monuments (upper layers of Denisova Cave, Anui, Ust-Karakol). Further research will be able to expand our knowledge about this complex,” emphasized Dmitry Ozherelyev.
