New Data on the Lower Paleolithic of Tajikistan: Materials of Lakhuti IV, Trench 3

Abstract

Purpose. The paper presents a description of the stratigraphic and planigraphic situation at the excavation 3 of the Lakhuti IV site (Khovaling loess plateau, Tajikistan) recorded during field work in 2022.Results. The cross-section has 18 layers grouped into three strata: L6 glacial period sediments (MIS 14), 6a and 6b soil complexes (MIS 15). The identified technocomplexes belong to the late Karatau culture of the Lower Paleolithic of Tajikistan. The level 5.2 planigraphy indicates that the investigated area could be a fragment of a workshop site where primary processing of stone raw materials was carried out. The layer L6 artefacts indicates that the region was continuously developed by humans, and glacial conditions in the Middle Pleistocene affected the intensity of these processes only.Conclusions. The closest analogues to the late Karatau complexes can be traced in the Soan pebble-flake industries of the Northern Hindustan. They have a similar age to Tajik materials (second half of the Middle Pleistocene), geomorphological position (deposits of high terraces in the upper reaches of the Indus, Soan, and other rivers in the Himalayas foothill zone), a similar raw material base (river alluvium). Also they have a number of technical and typological characteristics, which include: citron and radial knapping; a higher percentage of large flakes and “citrons”; choppers, simple side-scrapers and unifaces in tool-kits; lack of bifacial technique. As a result of a new stage in the study of the Lower Paleolithic complexes in the region, authors proposed a new model, according to which the region was continuously developed by hominins, and glacial conditions mainly influenced the intensity of these processes.