Middle palaeolithic of the rubas-1 site (southern dagestan): archaeology, stratigraphy and chronology

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Issues of cultural attribution, stratigraphy and chronology of Middle Paleolithic sites in the Caucasus are one of the current topics of Paleolithic science and paleogeography of Eurasia. The discovery of a series of open stratified sites in the valley of the Rubas River (Southern Dagestan) has significantly expanded our understanding of distribution and evolution of Middle Paleolithic cultures in the Eastern Caucasus. Among them, one of the most interesting and significant is the multilayer site of Rubas-1, within Late Pleistocene deposits of which 8 levels of occurrence of stone artifacts were recorded. These materials were grouped into two complexes, the more ancient of which corresponds to the Late Middle Paleolithic, and the second – to the transitional stages to the Upper Paleolithic. A detailed characterization of the deposits containing archaeological findings, their absolute dating using the optically stimulated luminescence, analysis of exogenous processes and regional features the natural environment evolution were carried out, which allowed establishing the chronology and paleogeographic context of the Middle Paleolithic technocomplexes formation at Rubas-1. Luminescence dating has been performed on both quartz grains and potassium-rich feldspars. The validity of the obtained ages was confirmed by standard tests and analyses of relationships of ages from both minerals, which showed high reliability of the resulting chronology. The older complex is associated with sediments formed in the final stages of MIS 5, during the Hyrcanian transgression of the Caspian Sea. The younger complex of artifacts correlates to the second half of MIS 3, when carriers of a different industrial tradition, different from the “classical” complexes of the final Middle Paleolithic of the region, may have penetrated into the Eastern Caucasus, inhabited by Neanderthals.

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Sobre autores

A. Anoikin

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS

Autor responsável pela correspondência
Email: anui1@yandex.ru
Rússia, Novosibirsk

R. Kurbanov

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography; Institute of Geography RAS

Email: anui1@yandex.ru
Rússia, Moscow; Moscow

I. Idrisov

Institute of Geology DFIC RAS

Email: anui1@yandex.ru
Rússia, Makhachkala

A. Vasilieva

Institute of Geography RAS

Email: anui1@yandex.ru
Rússia, Moscow

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2. Fig. 1. Research area, position (а) and general view (б) of the Rubas-1 site.

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3. Fig. 2. Plan of the excavation sites at the Rubas-1 (а), lithological column of the Rubas-1 (б) and the results of absolute dating (the color of the layers reflects the color of the sediments). 1 – modern soil; 2 – sandy loam; 3 – loess-like loam; 4 – coarse-grained sand; 5 – sand of various grains with siltstone lenses; 6 – cracks; 7 – lenses of sand and gravel; 8 – pebbles and gravel; 9 – rubble and gravel; 10 – blocks; 11 – layer number; 12 – absolute dates (а – OSL dating, б – IRSL dating, в – Radiocarbon).

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4. Fig. 3. Archaeological materials of the upper complex of the Rubas-1. 1 – burin (archaeological level 2); 2 – end-scraper (archaeological level 2); 3, 7, 9, 10 – core (3, 9 – archaeological level 3, 7 – archaeological level 5, 10 – archaeological level 4); 4, 8 – levallois flakes (4 – archaeological level 6, 8 – archaeological level 8); 5 – side-scraper (archaeological level 4); 6 – mousterian point (archaeological level 4).

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5. Fig. 4. Position of the upper complex of the Rubas-1 and Tinit-1 sites in the Middle Palaeolithic of the Eastern Caucasus. Caspian stratigraphy is given in a generalized form according to (Yanina et al., 2017; Kurbanov et al., 2018; Butuzova et al., 2022; Kurbanov et al., 2022; Kurbanov et al., 2023; Taratunina et al., 2024; Kurbanov et al., 2024).

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