Open AccessEvolution of the Lithic Industry in Central Dagestan During the Early Pleistocene: The Rising Occurrence of Flake Blanks
Author(s) -
Hizri A. Amirkhanov
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
archaeology, ethnology and anthropology of eurasia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1563-0110
pISSN - 1531-832X
DOI - 10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.1.003-008
Subject(s) - acheulean , early pleistocene , flake , geology , pleistocene , paleomagnetism , paleontology , stage (stratigraphy) , sequence (biology) , archaeology , geography , genetics , fishery , biology
Archaeologicaldatafr omstrati fi edEarlyPleistocenesitesinCentralDagestanar earrangedina direct stratigraphic sequence, making it possible to reconstruct the changes in lithic industry over a span of 1.2 mln years, from ~2.0 to 0.8 Ma BP, and to separate the principal stages in the Early Paleolithic culture of the Caucasus. This study examines blanks found at sites of the Ainikab-Mukhkay group, such as Ainikab-1, and Mukhkay-1, -2, and -2a. Occurrences of large flake blanks (>10 cm) at the Oldowan and the Oldowan to Acheulean transitional stage are provided. Such blanks appear at the beginning of the Jaramillo paleomagnetic episode (~1.07 Ma BP). By the end of the Early Pleistocene, their share attains 25.77 % of the total number of blanks for morphologically distinct tools. They are absent in Oldowan deposits (~2 Ma BP). The totality of statistical data justifies the separation of the transitional Oldowan to Acheulean stage in the region, dating to 1.0–0.8 Ma BP.