Découverte des sites paléolithiques dans les régions intramontagneuses du Tian-Shan septentrional (Kazakhstan du Sud-est)

Abstract

Most Palaeolithic sites, known in the Northern Tian-Shan are located in the foothills. In 2021, during a survey campaign, the Kazakh-Russian Palaeolithic expedition discovered a group of Palaeolithic sites, Saryzhasyk 1–4, in the intramountain valley of the Kastek river (Ile-Alatau ridge, absolute altitude 1776 m–1801 m above current sea level). The sites are located on the large fluvio-glacial detrital fan of a small mountain river. The detrital fan consists of two levels of different periods. Their formation is linked to the melting of glaciers from two glacial periods of the Upper Pleistocene. Each level of the detrital fan is characterised by two groups of sites attributed to different periods. The sites are represented by one archaeological layer, identified in the overlying loess at a shallow depth. The Saryzhazyk 3 site yielded 36 finds made in grey effusive rock (Levallois cores, flakes, blades, blade tools), which come from a small excavation area (S = 4 m²). The Saryzhazyk 1 site shows 972 finds (S = 28 m²), most of which were made in burgundy porphyrite. The collection mainly consists both of debitage products and rare tools (scrapers, retouched flakes, backed blades). According to the technological and typological criteria of the collections, the Saryzhazyk Gorge was populated during two periods: at the end of the Middle Palaeolithic (or at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic, MIS 3; Saryzhazyk 2–3 sites) and at the end of the Middle Upper Palaeolithic (MIS 2; Saryzhazyk 1, 4 sites).