Rôle de l’Asie centrale dans la dispersion des industries du Micoquien/KMG en Eurasie

Abstract

The dispersal of Middle Palaeolithic Micoquian/KMG industries in Eurasia is generally linked in the current literature to the migrations of groups of Neanderthals who, through these movements from Central and Eastern Europe, reached the Altaï, the South-eastern part of Western Siberia. In the meantime, the emergence of Micoquian industries in the Altaï can be explained by different reasons. This hypothesis is favoured by the presence of industries and isolated pieces linked to the Micoquian/KMG in Central Kazakhstan, mainly in its eastern part, near Lake Balkhash. The identification of these industries in Kazakhstan is mostly based on a technological study, because stratified sites are currently absent in this region and all Middle Palaeolithic sites are characterised solely by surface collections. The study of the collections is based on the identification of the technologies used in manufacturing of Keilmesser, asymmetrical tools with several cutting edges and different types of back. This is a category of complex bifacial tools, associated with the Micoquian/KMG of different regions in Europe, the Levant and Northern Africa. This paper presents the results of studies of collections from four sites: Shakhbagata (east coast of the Caspian Sea, Mangyshlak Peninsula), Semizbugu (Saryarka, northern region of Lake Balkhash), Khanatu (Chu-Ili Mountains, south-western region of Lake Balkhash) and Chingiz (eastern region of Lake Balkhash). This new approach to study the mentioned collections and the results are unprecedented.