Depositional history of a talus cone in an arid intermontane basin in Central Asia: An interdisciplinary study at the Late Pleistocene–Late Holocene Obishir‐I site, Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

AbstractCliff‐related talus accumulations are often highly affected by post‐depositional processes, and the sedimentological characteristics are poorly documented, especially in arid settings. In the southern margin of the Fergana Valley, Kyrgyzstan, the Obishir‐I is an archaeological site of the Epipaleolithic Obishirian industry, located within a talus cone. Archaeological excavations have allowed us to study the internal structure, chronology, and depositional history of the cone as well as the relationship between the slope processes and the archaeological assemblage. We applied a multiproxy approach, including sedimentological studies supported by the basic geochemistry of sediments, luminescence dating, paleoecology of fossil mollusks, and archaeological analyses. The Obishir‐I rockfall talus accumulated from the Last Glacial Maximum to the early part of the Middle Holocene. The talus onlaps the bedrock at the foot of a limestone cliff, and its chronology is coherent, spanning from ca. 19–8 ka B.P. The material is an unconsolidated, poorly sorted mixture of angular rock fragments accumulated by rockfall and fine‐grained materials accumulated by aeolian processes, illuviation, and in situ weathering. The sequence bears an archaeological collection attributed to two settlement phases: unidentified Upper Paleolithic and the Obishirian. Both assemblages are affected by post‐depositional relocation within the slope.