Paleolithic fieldwork in the Upper Zeravshan Valley, Tajikistan: first results and perspectives

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Stone Age Archaeology of Central Asia" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Zeravshan River, which drains the north-western part of the Pamir and Tian-Shan Mountains, is a part of what was recently named the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor; the piedmont sandwiched between the desert and high Mountains of Pamir, Tianshan, and Altai. This corridor provided a refugium for human populations during periods of climatic oscillations and served as the major migration route during the Paleolithic period. Currently, stratified Paleolithic sites in Central Asia are still rare, far apart, and technologically diverse. In 2022, we initiated a survey in the Upper Zeravshan Valley, Tajikistan. During the survey, two stratified Paleolithic sites were discovered, Obi Borik and Soii Havzak. The Soii Havzak site is a rockshelter that was excavated during the 2023 campaign. The site is varyingly dense in archaeological remains. The richest layers contain charcoals and ash, bones and lithic artifacts. According to the preliminary study of the lithic assemblages, Soii Havzak rockshelter contains at least three phases of occupation, two Upper Paleolithic stages and an earlier, probably Middle Paleolithic phase. Obi Borik is an open-air site located high above Zeravshan valley. The surface assemblage shows a strong Levallois component, suggesting a Middle Paleolithic age.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Advances in Stone Age Archaeology of Central Asia

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51358