Lakhuti-IV – A new site of the early Palaeolithic in Central Asia (Tajikistan)

Abstract

Opening of series of sites of Loess Palaeolithic in Central Asia, found within a different levels of loess-palaeosol sequences of Tajikistan, was a great step in understanding history of hominin dispersal in Eurasia. The highest density of Loessic Palaeolithic sites is recorded in the Khovaling Loess Plateau. In 2021 a Russian-Tajik geoarchaeological expedition carried out an archaeological survey and discovered an area rich in stone artefacts, concentrated in pedocomplexes 5, which was excavated and called Lakhuti-IV. All archaeological material at the Lakhuti-IV site was associated with pedocomplex 5, consisting of two well developed palaeosols reflecting different climatic phases of the interglacial period. The stratigraphic occurrence and the typological characteristics of the assemblage indicate a single industry. Several knapping technologies are recorded in the primary knapping: radial, slice and simple parallel. From the existing geochronological data for the Khovaling Loess Plateau, cultural layer of Lakhuti-IV is correlated with MIS 13 (∼0.5 Ma). A distinctive feature of Lakhuti-IV, and one which distinguishes it from the entire assemblages of the Palaeolithic sites in the Khovaling Loess Plateau, is the high concentration of artefacts. Another unique feature of the site is that here, for the first time in the Loessic Palaeolithic of Central Asia artefacts are found in several distinct cultural horizons within the same pedocomplex, i.e., within the same climatic warm period.