nscArchaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of EurasiaАрхеология, этнография и антропология Евразии1563-0110IAET SB RAS10.17746/1563-0110.2023.51.2.014-026nsc-1689Research ArticlePALEOENVIRONMENT. THE STONE AGEПАЛЕОЭКОЛОГИЯ. КАМЕННЫЙ ВЕКThe Emergence of Levallois Blade Industry in the Western Foothills of Tien Shan: Kulbulak Layer 24PavlenokG. D.

Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090

lukianovagalina@yandex.ruKogaiS. A.

Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090

kogai@irkutsk.ruKurbanovR. N.

Leninskie Gory 1, Moscow, 119991

roger.kurbanov@gmail.comMukhtarovG. A.

Pr. Mirzo Ulugbeka 81, Tashkent, 100170

gayratxon75@mail.ruPavlenokK. K.

Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090

pavlenok-k@yandex.ruInstitute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of SciencesRussian FederationLomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussian FederationNational Center of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan,Uzbekistan2023130720235121426Copyright © Pavlenok G.D., Kogai S.A., Kurbanov R.N., Mukhtarov G.A., Pavlenok K.K., 20232023Pavlenok G.D., Kogai S.A., Kurbanov R.N., Mukhtarov G.A., Pavlenok K.K.Pavlenok G.D., Kogai S.A., Kurbanov R.N., Mukhtarov G.A., Pavlenok K.K.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.https://journal.archaeology.nsc.ru/jour/article/view/1689

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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The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest present.