Eastern Caspian Research Articles

A review to the Desert Kite: State of the Art!

Although from the beginning of the historical period, known as the emergence of the writing, it has not passed more than several thousand years, but the history of human evolution can be rooted in an era much older than the one seen: in the age of the hunting-gathering culture! Hunter-gatherer culture was the way of life for early humans until around 11,000 to 12,000 years ago. The lifestyle of huntergatherers was based on hunting animals and foraging for food. Desert kites could be mentioned as a probable transition key from the age of hunting-gathering food to pastoralism, which can be dated today with the development of cosmogenesis and luminescence methods. ‘Desert kites’ are stone constructions made of two long low walls called antennae that converge into an enclosure flanked or not by several small cells. Their shape and archeological evidence suggest that these extensive stone structures may have functioned as game traps, designed to capture and kill large numbers of wild animals. The kite is a landmark that reveals a way of occupying territory. It is an architectural feature of social groups, which hence left a reflection of their territory and catchment. However, these people have sometimes left very few traces enabling their identification. Considering the extent and density of these settlements, the kite is a massive phenomenon whose role was probably crucial in the development of societies in arid regions. It has been seen from the eastern Mediterranean to the eastern Caspian, which suggested finding less of the same structure in the Iranian plateau, as the only suitable linkage, when the northern lands were nearly frozen! Thus, the perspective is reversed from traditional archaeological research, where groups are most often identified by their domestic settlements, with their still undefined modes of subsistence. Kites, as a phenomenon, are therefore a challenge for the archaeology that requires creative and novel approaches.

Технико-типологический анализ каменной коллекции из многослойного памятника дам-дам-чешме-1 (материалы из архива московского государственного университета)

This article presents a typo-technological analysis of the lithic assemblage from the excavation of multilayered site of Dam-Dam-Cheshme-1 (east of the Caspian Sea). The site was excavated by A.P. Okladnikov in 1950’s, G.E. Markov in 1970’s.The archaeological materials from the excavations were divided between the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (materials from 1950’s) and Moscow State University (materials from 1970’s). This research is based on the chipped stones stored in the Moscow State University. The analyzed assemblage characterized by bladelet industry, and toolkit consisting end, side-scrapers, perforetors, notch/denticulate tools and single lunates, points and backed tools. Presents characteristics allow us to attribute lower layer to Mesolithic and upper layer to Neolithic periods of Eastern Caspian culture. The closest analogies are observed with the materials of the grotto of Dam-Dam-Cheshme-2 and Oiukly located in the Eastern Caspian Sea.

Epilithic biofilms of the Eastern Caspian (Aktau region, Kazakhstan) under conditions of falling sea level

Communities of microorganisms that form biofilms on the rocky shores of the Middle Caspian are capable of maintaining the integrity of the coastal landscape in the conditions of sea retreat associated with the ongoing drop in sea level since 1995. Algal-bacterial biofilms developing on rocky substrates of the East Caspian coast within the City of Aktau were studied in autumn (October 2022) and spring (April 2023) seasons. Communities in biotopes with different structure were investigated. It has been established that the most stable and diverse communities with a pronounced vertical structure live in the areas with high sheer cliffs on capes. On flat areas of the coast, which have undergone recent shallowing and are protected from surfing waves by ridges of large stones, less diverse cenoses, demonstrating clear spatial organization. In the shallow open areas of the shore, which are subject to intense wave action, live communities of two types were observed. Both cenoses contained a relatively small number of species, but differed in structure and potential for protecting the coast from erosion. The first of them live in biotopes outside the impact of urban domestic sewage, and are able to protect coastal marl from destruction due to the development of stable, rapidly regenerating complex structural elements. The latter were noted in the conditions of along-shore spreading of untreated domestic wastewater from new city developments located close to the coast. Such biofilms were no longer able to protect marls from being destroyed by waves, and took the form of constantly renewed patches with minimum diversity of components and unstable spatial organization.

Retrospective analysis of dissemination of the 2.MED1 phylogenetic branch of Yersinia pestis in the Caucasus.

The 2.MED1 phylogenetic branch of Yersinia pestis of the medieval biovar became widespread in the Caspian Sea region, the Caucasus, and the Northern Aral Sea region in the 20th century, causing outbreaks and epizootics of plague there. Some of the formed natural foci of 2.MED1 still show epizootic activity and retain their epidemic potential. In this work, we carried out a phylogenetic analysis of 46 Y. pestis strains of the medieval biovar isolated in the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, and the Northern Aral Sea regions during epidemic outbreaks and epizootics from 1922-2014. The obtained phylogenetic data, together with epidemiological and epizootological data accumulated over a period of about a hundred years, indicate the presence of two waves of penetration of the 2.MED1 branch into the Caucasus. The first occurred, apparently, in the first half of the 20th century as a result of the penetration of 2.MED1 from the foci of the Northern and North-Western Caspian Sea. The second wave was caused by the spread of 2.MED1 from the Northern Aral to the foci of the North-Western, Northern and Eastern Caspian Sea regions at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, followed by introduction into the Pre-Caucasus and Transcaucasia. The rapid spread of 2.MED1 could be associated with the transfer of the pathogen by land and sea transport in the process of economic activity of the population.

Anthropogenic impact on agricultural land in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The purpose of the article is to consider the features of the anthropogenic impact on agricultural land in the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK). The article deals with the current problem of agricultural land degradation, and desertification in Kazakhstan, where one of the causes is the anthropogenic activities of the population and the aridity of the country's climate. Most of the territory of Kazakhstan is located in conditions highly vulnerable to anthropogenic desertification when in combination with natural factors of desertification the ecological situation is sharply deteriorating. Another cause of land degradation is urbanization and intensive degradation of desert habitats - unsystematic road network, regulation of river flows, illegal cutting of saxaul for firewood for sale. As a result of urbanization and intensive agricultural development of the foothill strip in the south and east of the country, the natural vegetation cover is highly disturbed. Roads, pipelines, and power lines, which are being laid at an increasing rate, have a great impact on the fauna. The area of land occupied by mining enterprises is steadily growing. In the last 10 years, the areas of oil and gas extraction, development of uranium ores, etc. in Western Kazakhstan, the Eastern Caspian Sea region, the Betpakdala desert, etc. have been sharply increasing. As a result of insufficiently thought-out land management from water erosion 5.6 million hectares of arable land was affected and grain yield was reduced by 20-30%. Degradation of agricultural lands, including pastures, is 30-50% and higher %. in 9 of 14 regions of Kazakhstan. The use of the existing model of agricultural development of raw materials leads to inefficient economic development and constantly increasing pressure on ecosystems. The soil in Kazakhstan is very vulnerable, as it is comprehensively affected by various anthropogenic factors that lead to the constant deterioration of its quality. Soils near the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea are subjected to the most intensive degradation, as wind erosion is widespread there.

Tracing the Spatial Circulation of Yersinia pestis of Medieval Biovar in the Eastern Caspian Sea Region in the 20th Century Based on Genome-Wide SNP Analysis

A comprehensive analysis of the accumulated epidemiological and epizootiological data in combination with results from phylogenetic analysis of Yersinia pestis strains creates the basis for establishing patterns of spatialtemporal distribution of the plague pathogen and opens up the prospect of long-term forecasting of natural plague foci activation. Previously, we traced the distribution pathways of Y. pestis, medieval biovar, in the plague foci of the Northern and Northwestern Caspian Sea regions in the 20th and early 21st centuries.The purpose of this work was to identify the regularities of circulation of Y. pestis, medieval biovar, in four natural plague foci located in the Eastern Caspian Sea region.Materials and methods. A complex study of the phenotypic and genetic properties of 16 Y. pestis strains isolated in the Ustyurt, Mangyshlak, Karakum and Kopetdag autonomous desert plague foci in 1926–1985 was carried out. They were compared with strains from other natural plague foci in Eastern Europe and Central Asia obtained in 1917–2003. Whole-genome sequencing of 12 of those strains was performed. Phylogenetic analysis included the genomes of other 19 Y. pestis strains that we had sequenced earlier. Based on the 1717 polymorphic nucleotides (SNPs) identified in the core genome, a dendrogram of the relations of the studied strains was constructed.Results and discussion. All 16 Y. pestis strains from the Ustyurt, Mangyshlak, Kopetdag, and Karakum desert foci belong to the 2.MED1 branch of the medieval biovar. All investigated strains from the first three foci and most of the strains from the Karakum focus are in the Caspian 2.MED1 branch, and three strains from the Karakum desert focus are included in the Central Asian one. We have revealed several waves of dissemination of the strains under the 2.MED1 phylogenetic branch of Y. pestis of the medieval biovar in the Eastern Caspian Sea region in the 20th century.

Techno-typological characteristic of Dam-Dam-Cheshme-1 lithic assemblages

The article presents the results of the technical-typological analysis of the lithic assemblages of one of the main sites of the Eastern Caspian – Dam-Dam-Cheshme-1. The site was studied by A. P. Okladnikov (1950s) and G. E. Markov (1970s), and the archaeological materials of the excavations were shared between the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow State University. The study is aimed at analyzing the collections obtained during the excavations of A.P. Okladnikov, which are stored at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The lithic assemblage here is characterized by a small-plate industry, whose production of blade/lets was carried out within the framework of volumetric way. The tool set includes various scrapers, burins, geometric microliths (lunatess and triangles), and notched pieces. The closest analogies are observed with the materials of the grotto of Dam-Dam-Cheshme-2, Kailu, Oiukly and Komishan, located in the south-eastern Caspian Sea.

Ibn Fadlan’s Report on the Rus, Gog and Magog in Light of Recent Work on the Mashhad Miscellany

The fullest extant text of Ibn Fadlan’s Risala, kept at Mashhad in Iran, is well-known in facsimile although the manuscript awaits full codicological investigation. Recent work on the manuscript’s other texts has reappraised the ‘Mashhad Miscellany’ as a whole, notably the role of the poet and traveller Abu Dulaf, and suggested that that Ibn Fadlan’s text was written in less formal Middle Arabic. This prompts five general observations. Firstly, given the turbulence in the Caliphate’s central lands, Ibn Fadlan can have had little expectation of returning to Baghdad from his mission to the Volga. Secondly, his text is essentially an apologia for failure – and a kind of ‘job application’. Thirdly, he offers firsthand information about the peoples of Gog and Magog and the Rus, both of concern to Muslim scholars and leaderships: the former for their liability to break out and herald the End Time; the latter for their recent, devastating raids on the Southern and Eastern Caspian. Fourthly, he may well offer reassurance that, for all their barbarism, the Rus should not be identified with Gog and Magog, while indirectly advocating peaceful coexistence with the Khazars, despite rivalries and religious differences. And fifthly, eyewitness descriptions of a giant from Gog and Magog and of the Rus would have been of particular interest to emirs in the Caspian region – the front line for potential breakouts or raids – as also to those in the Samanid dominions. Ibn Fadlan’s may have composed his ‘job application’ with an eye to these potential employers.

The Decline and Fall of Khazaria – Might or Money?

This paper explores the underlying reasons for the 10–11th-century decline and disappearance of Khazaria. According to the Russian Primary Chronicle, Khazaria was conquered by the Kievan Rus’ian prince Svjatoslav in the 960s after a prolonged period of mutual estrangement between Byzantine Christendom and Khazaria following the khağans’ late-9th-century adoption of Judaism. This is undoubtedly an important part of the story of Khazaria’s decline and disappearance, but it ignores larger economic factors at play – which were more related to Islamic-Judaic economics than Christian-Judaic politics. In the early 920s, the Islamic scholar and traveler ibn Fadlān ventured around the eastern Caspian to Bolgar, the town of Almuš, the ruler of the Volga Bulgars, who was concurrently subjugated to the Judaic Khazarian khağan. Utilizing ibn Fadlān’s Islamic learning, Almuš converted to Islam and effectively declared independence from the Judaic Khazarian khağan. Within a generation, the silver trade routes which flowed from the south through the Caucasus to Khazaria in exchange for pagan slaves from the far north, on which the Khazarian khağans had relied for centuries, shifted around to ibn Fadlān’s route to the east of the Caspian Sea, from Islamic Khwārazmia to Islamic Volga Bulgaria, and bypassing the tolls levied by the Judaic khağans. Very quickly, the khağans could not pay their soldiers to defend their realm from the increasingly emboldened Rus’ assaults. Ultimately, there is evidence that the decline and fall of Khazaria reflected an Islamic preference to do direct business between Khwārazmia and the Volga Bulgaria and to bypass Khazaria altogether.

The human cultures in South-Eastern Caspian region in final Pleistocene – Holocene period

The southeastern Caspian region was an important migration route that connected ancient cultures between the Middle East and Central Asia. Currently, the only stratified sites known in the region are Dam-Dam-Cheshme 1, Dam-Dam-Cheshme 2, and Djebel in the Bolshoi Balkhan Region; and Kuba-Sengir and Kaylu on the Krasnovodsk Peninsula. In this article we review the archaeological materials from the Kaylu and Kuba-Sengir sites, which include prismatic and pressure bladelet industries respectively, faunal remains, and two distinct sets of shell bead industries. In addition two human burials were also previously discovered next to the entrance of Kaylu cave. During an excursion to the Krasnovodsk Peninsula in 2018, the geographic position of these sites was confirmed and materials discoverd on the surface during a survey of both sites were described. These preliminary data supports the idea that the Kuba-Sengir and Kaylu sites are asynchronous and share features with the southern, western and eastern Caspian sites which future research can use to further recreate the ancient population and cultural history of the greater Caspian region.

Ceramic Traditions in the Forest-Steppe Zone of Eastern Europe

Abstract Early pottery on the territory from the Eastern Caspian Sea and Aral Sea to Denmark reveals a certain typological similarity. It is represented by egg-shaped vessels with an S-shaped profile of the upper part and a pointed bottom. The vessels are not ornamented or decorated with incised lines, organized often in a net. This type of pottery was spread within hunter-gatherer ancient groups. The forest-steppe Volga region is one of the earliest centers of pottery production in Eastern Europe. The first pottery is recorded here in the last quarter of the seventh millennium BC. Its appearance is associated with the bearers of the Elshanskaya cultural tradition. The most likely source of its formation is the territory of Central Asia. Later, due to aridization, these ceramic traditions distributed further westward to the forest-steppe Don region. During the first half of the sixth millennium BC, groups associated with the bearers of the Elshanskaya cultural tradition moved westward. Significant similarities with the ceramic complexes of the Elshanskaya culture are found in materials from a number of early pottery cultures of Central Europe and the Baltic (Narva, Neman, and Ertebølle).

ТУРКМЕНЫ АХАЛ-ТЕКЕ И МЕРВА В КОНТЕКСТЕ ОТНОШЕНИЙ ПОГРАНИЧНЫХ АДМИНИСТРАЦИЙ РОССИЙСКОЙ ИМПЕРИИ (1870–1880-е гг.)

The article analyzes specific features in relations of Russian imperial frontier regions that participated in the conquest of Central Asia. By the example of the conflict of the authorities of Caucasus and Turkestan towards Turkmen tribes of the Eastern Caspian region in the 1870s-1880s, the author clarified the influence of such conflicts on the effectiveness of the Russian imperial policy in Central Asia. The sources the author used are correspondence of Caucasian and Turkestan authorities and their representatives in Turkmenistan, notes of contemporaries - Russian officials who visited Turkmen Ahal-Teke and Merv oasises during the analyzed period, and works of Russian and British analytics who observed the situation in the Eastern Caspian region. In 1873 the Russian Empire established protectorate over the Khanate of Khiva and took control over Turkmen tribes of Akal-Teke and Merv. These territories were in the sphere of influence of two regional administrations - Caucasus and Turkestan. Since their powers in Turkmenistan were not clearly distributed, Caucasian deputy Grand Prince Mikhail Nikolaevich and Turkestan Governor-General K.P. Von Kaufman both tried to strengthen their positions over Turkmen oasises, and a conflict between them began. Turkmen and Khivan ruling elites tried to use this conflict to achieve their own goals, and, as a result, the Khanate of Khiva (a protectorate of Russia) established its own suzerainty over Turkmens who were independent de jure: over Akhal-Teke in the mid-1870s and over Merv at the beginning of the 1880s, and sent their deputies there. The presence of a Khivan deputy in Akhal-Teke was a personal initiative of the khan of Khiva and was disapproved by both Russian regional authorities. Similar actions of Khiva towards Merv the khan were approved by Turkestan administration: they believed that they could strengthen their own control over Turkmens through their vassal. As a result, Khivan deputies in Merv with credential letters from Turkestan administration realized the policy which contradicted the plans of Russian authorities in the region. As it became clear for Turkestan, its administration requested the khan of Khiva to recall his deputies from Merv. However, the new Governor-General M.G. Chernyaev soon approved the continuation of this practice and began a new stage of conflict with Caucasian administration. That caused a substantial decrease of Russian influence in Turkmenistan. The author finds that the reasons of the conflict were connected with the uncertainty of the powers of regional imperial authorities in Central Asia, as well as with personal ambitions of regional administrators who intended to play the key role in this policy. Only the central imperial authorities' interference in the situation along with the simultaneous resignation of regional administrators with discretionary power and claims to leadership allowed regulating the relations in the region.

Новая интерпретация каменной индустрии местонахождения Сай Джанурпа (Восточный Прикаспий)

The central geographical position of the Caspian region plays a key role in understanding the historical processes which took place in the territory of Central Asia. One of the important geological factors that influenced the processes of settlement in this region by ancient populations is the transgressive-regressive variability of the Caspian sea level and access to fresh water. There are dozens of Early Holocene sites on the Krasnovodsk Peninsula (Eastern Caspian), most of them being surface complexes. The interpretation of these complexes has so far been controversial due to the lack of stratigraphic context and absolute dating. Purpose. This paper analyzes the techno-typological characteristics of lithic tool assemblages assigned to Early Holocene industries from Eastern Caspian site Sai Djanurpa. The article also discusses the links of how the dynamics of the ancient shores of the Caspian influenced settlement dynamics in the region. Results. The conducted detailed techno-typological analysis of the lithic collection of Sai Djanurpa allowed to discern two distinct complexes. The two complexes defined by different technological and typological characteristics: types of chips, types of tools and metric indicators. The first complex is characterized by the exploitation of chalcedony flint for the production of blades by soft hammer percussion, by borer, end-scraper and retouched flakes in the toolkit. The second complex is associated with the use of chalcedony, sandstone and flint for the production of microbladelets by the pressure technique, from conical and frontal cores. The toolkit of the second set of complexes is characterized by bifacial narrow points, burins, ventral retouched microblades and micro-scrapers. Conclusion. Based on the analysis of the lithic assemblages, the geomorphological position of the site and the paleogeographic condition of the Caspian region, the authors assume that two different populations with two different material cultures inhabited the Sai Djanurpa site during the final Pleistocene – early Holocene and the middle Holocene.

The Dualism of the Russian Administration on the Eastern Caspian Coast

The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project No. 18-09-00078. “The policy of Russian Empire in Central Asia. The end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th century”.

Результаты предварительного изучения памятников Кайлю и Куба-Сенгир (Восточный Прикаспий, Туркменистан)

Результаты предварительного изучения памятников Кайлю и Куба-Сенгир (Восточный Прикаспий, Туркменистан)

ON FAUNOGENESIS OF TENEBRIONID BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: TENEBRIONIDAE) OF MIDDLE ASIA

Aim. The critic analyses of works about faunogenesis of tenebrionid beetles of Middle Asia considering the new data about phylogeography of some Mediterranean Tenebrioidae; analyses of causes of disjunction in distribution of some darkling beetles. Methods. We used important published from 1965 to 2015 works on tenebrionid faunogenesis of Middle Asia and Mediterranean and partly author’s and colleague’s material for the critic analyses. Conclusions. The hypothesis about ancient centers of origin of tenebrionid fauna of Middle Asia on coasts of Tethys Sea is confirmed by modern phylogeographic studies, but the time of the origin of recent taxa is possibly much earlier than previously assumed Pliocene-Pleistocene. New data on distribution of two species of the tribe Helopini, Eustenomacidius laevicollis and Catomus niger (the first record for Turkmenistan), which were previously known only from Tien Shan and Hissar Darvaz Mts are given. Small populations of these two species were found in the Eastern Caspian Region. We assume that the disjunction of its ranges is related with environmental factors (reduction of food resources, competition from close species), but not with geographic isolation.

Potential human health risk assessment of heavy metals in the flesh of mallard and pochard in the South Eastern Caspian Sea region of Iran

Every year, migratory waterfowl are hunted and consumed by people in Golestan Province of Iran. Due to the heavy metal contamination of wintering habitats, an estimation of the human health risks associated with the consumption of these ducks is necessary. Therefore, this study was conducted to estimate the health risks of exposure to cadmium (Cd), total chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) due to the consumption of pectoral muscle of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and pochard (Aythya ferina) harvested and hunted in the South-Eastern Caspian Sea region of Iran. The mean values of these metals in the pectoral muscle of mallards and pochards were used to calculate estimated daily intake (EDI), estimated weekly intake (EWI), and target hazard quotients (THQ). The EDI (µg/day/70 kg body weight) for Cd, Cr, Fe, Pb, and Zn in mallard were 0.2, 0.04, 58, 1.1, and 12.8, respectively. The EDI (µg/day/70 kg body weight) for Cd, Cr, Fe, Pb, and Zn in pochard were 0.8, 0.1, 69, 0.8, and 13.4, respectively. The estimated total THQ (higher than 1) indicated that heavy metal levels in pochard flesh were unsafe for consumption. The EDI and EWI of the metals examined were below those recommended by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and oral doses suggested by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). There appears to be little risk of exposure to metals associated with the consumption of mallard and pochard in this region.

Cryptic Ponto-Caspian Bighead Gobies (genus Ponticola, Gobiidae, Perciformes)

Cryptic Ponto-Caspian Bighead Gobies (genus Ponticola, Gobiidae, Perciformes)

SPIDERS (ARANEI) OF NORTH CASPIAN COAST AND ISLANDS

Abstract. Aim. Araneofauna of Peri-Caspian is fragmentary studied. A literature contains faunistic data for the North-West Caspian and Volga River delta. Several faunistic records and new species were earlier described from the North Caspian. Spiders of Mangyshlak are insufficiently studied. The aim of this wark is summation of available data on araneofauna of coast and islands of North Peri-Caspian with more detailed analisys of spiders of North Caspian islands. Location. Russia: Astrakhan Region, Dagestan, Kalmykia; Kazakhstan: Atyrau and Mangystau Regions. Methods. Investigations include Caspian coastal zone with width about 20 km from Makhachkala (western coast) to Tyub Kurgan (eastern coast) and islands of the Caspian Sea: Nordovyi, Tyuleniy, Chechen, Kulaly. Pitfall traps and manual collection were used during 1975–1985 and 2009–2013. Results and main conclusions. Annotated check-list of 325 species of spiders from 31 families is made for North Caspian coast and islands. Species of the families Gnaphosidae (67 species), Salticidae (46 species) и Lycosidae (37 species) are dominated. Three hundred four species are known from coastal (width 20 km) zone (from Makhachkala to Tyub Kurgan) and 132 species were found on islands. North-Eastern Peri-Caspian coast contents 198 species, Volga River delta – 134 species, coast of North and North Eastern Caspian – 98 species. Number of species on Caspian islands: Nordovyi – 30, Tuleniy – 83, Chechen – 66, Kulaly – 43. Each island has its special araneofauna. There are significant differences in fauna composition of different parts of coastal zone.

The Lower Jurassic of the Eastern Caspian region and the Middle Caspian Basin: Lithology, facies, taphonomy

Lithofacies of the productive Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic deposits of the Eastern Caspian region, studied in wells on the Caspian coast and exposed in the outcrops of the Mountainous Mangyshlak, are described and analyzed. The similarity of the structure of the Mesozoic sedimentary beds of the Middle Caspian Basin and of those of the land adjacent to its eastern coast is confirmed. Comparative analysis of lithofacies allowed the reconstruction of the paleogeographic setting and depositional environments in the studied region during the Early Jurassic. A unique fossil plant occurrence is discovered in the upper part of the Lower Jurassic series (in the lower subformation of the Kokala Formation; Eastern Caspian region). Fossil plant taphonomy and the lithology of host rocks in the occurrence resulted from unusual paleogeographic settings that existed in the Middle Caspian Basin at the time of the Early-Middle Jurassic boundary.