AINIKAB 6 SITE OF THE EARLY PALEOLITHIC IN CENTRAL DAGESTAN

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH183751-772

Keywords:

early Paleolithic, ashel, middle Pleistocene, locality Ainikab 6, Central Dagestan, Northeast Caucasus, chopped, peak, chopper

Abstract

 The ancient people – carriers of Oldowan culture – settled the territories of Central Dagestan no later than 2 million years ago. Numerous archeological finds, uncovered from different sites, suggest that humans lived here for more than 1 million years up until the end of the Early Pleistocene. What processes took place on this territory later? What industries were here in the Middle Pleistocene? These questions remain unanswered. This is mainly due to the lack of well-studied archaeological sites with quantitatively representative collections and reliable natural-scientific dating. Until the beginning of the 21st century information about the Paleolithic culture of the Middle Pleistocene of the region under consideration was based on rare finds collected in the late 50s of the last century on the ancient terraces of the Usisha River. In 2006 and 2011 in the Akushinsky hollow in the vicinity of the village of Ainikabmakhi in deposits of 145 and 100-meter terraces of the Usisha River, new sites of the Middle Pleistocene were discovered: Ainikab 3, Ainikab 4, Ainikab 5 and Ainikab 6. The article considers the characteristics of the stone inventory from Ainikab 6 of the Early Paleolithic. The analyzed material comes from the outcrop of pebbles of the 145-meter terrace of the Usisha River and in screes under it. According to geological and geomorphological data, the age of the alluvium of the 145-meter terrace is estimated within the framework of the Baku horizon of the Caspian regional stratigraphic scheme (circa 800–500 thousand years ago). The collection includes single-platform cores, large and small tools made from flakes and fragments of flint raw materials, debitage. The tool set is represented by various types of bifaces, a flat peak, side-scrapers, knives, scrapers. The stone inventory also contains archaic axes and a rough cross-bladed biface. The presence of axes in the stone inventory indicates that the industry of the site belongs to the Acheulean stage of the Early Paleolithic.

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Author Biography

  • Artur Israpilovic Tajmazov, The Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography Dagestan Federal Research Center of RAS
    Bio Statement: PhD in Archeology, Senior Researcher of the Department of Archeology Researcher focus: Paleolith, Olduvai, Acheul, Mustie, resettlement of man.

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Published

2022-10-10

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Section

Archeology

How to Cite

1.
Tajmazov AI. AINIKAB 6 SITE OF THE EARLY PALEOLITHIC IN CENTRAL DAGESTAN. ИАЭК. 2022;18(3):751-772. doi:10.32653/CH183751-772