Dynamique culturelle des industries lithiques du site Paléolithique supérieur de Rakhat (Tian-Shan septentrional)

The territory of present-day Kazakhstan presents the major part of Central Asia, extending from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Altai Mountains in the east. More than a dozen Upper Palaeolithic sites was discovered during intensive archaeological work in recent years in the foothills of the northern Tian-Shan (Ili Alatau). Among them, the Rakhat site takes a special place. The archaeological layers of the site are located in loess. In 2018–2023, the whole 13 m-thick loess deposit was excavated over an area of ∼ 60 m. In total, the Rakhat site consists of 16 archaeological layers. Almost every layer is represented by hearths, fireplaces or charcoal stains. All the layers are characterised by short-lived, probably seasonal, occupations. The total collection consists of 9267 lithic finds. The layers are grouped into three levels : layer 12 is attributed to the end of the Early Upper Palaeolithic (∼ 28000–27000 years uncal. BP); layers 11, 10, 9, 8/1, 8/2, 7, 6 represent the Middle Upper Palaeolithic (∼ 25200-23300 yeans uncal. BP); layers 5, 4/4, 4/3, 4/2, 4/1, 3, 2, 1 determine the beginning of the Final Upper Palaeolithic (∼ 20300–19300 years uncal. BP). A hiatus linked to one of the unfavourable periods of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was determined between the last two levels. The site highlights the beginning and transformation of different cultural complexes in conditions of climatic change during the Last Glacial Maximum in the interior regions of Central Asia. Overall, the material from the site shows, on the one hand, the identity of the Upper Palaeolithic cultural complexes in this region. On the other hand, it demonstrates that the Upper Palaeolithic in the northern Tian-Shan fallows follows a common cultural vector, typical of the western part of Eurasia.