The Emergence of Levallois Blade Industry in the Western Foothills of Tien Shan: Kulbulak Layer 24
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2023.51.2.014-026
Abstract
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.
About the Authors
G. D. Pavlenok
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
S. A. Kogai
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
R. N. Kurbanov
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Leninskie Gory 1, Moscow, 119991
G. A. Mukhtarov
National Center of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan,
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Pr. Mirzo Ulugbeka 81, Tashkent, 100170
K. K. Pavlenok
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
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Review
For citations:
Pavlenok G.D., Kogai S.A., Kurbanov R.N., Mukhtarov G.A., Pavlenok K.K. The Emergence of Levallois Blade Industry in the Western Foothills of Tien Shan: Kulbulak Layer 24. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2023;51(2):14-26. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2023.51.2.014-026
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