Preference for Porphyry: Petrographic Insights into Lithic Raw Material Procurement from Palaeolithic Kazakhstan

Namen A. Schmidt P. Varis A. Taimagambetov Z. Iovita R.
2022 Taylor and Francis Ltd.

Journal of Field Archaeology
2022 #47 Issue 7 435 - 450 pp.

Only a handful of stratified sites are known in loess, spring, and river contexts in the northern piedmonts of the Tian Shan, and the majority are dated to the Upper Palaeolithic. These sites have been studied from a geoarchaeological perspective; however, lithic procurement activities remain unknown. To address this deficiency, we present the results of the extensive field surveys aimed at locating prehistoric raw material sources in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor of Kazakhstan. We also provide a detailed petrographic description of the lithologies exploited during the Palaeolithic of Kazakhstan. Based on the field survey results, combined with petrographic data, we conclude that the direct procurement strategy was the most common at the stratified sites. However, evidence of both direct and embedded procurement is found in the northern piedmonts of the Ili Alatau range at the site of Maibulaq. Additionally, we highlight the variation of chert lithologies within the larger Qaratau region, laying a foundation for future provenance studies.

chert , geoarchaeological survey , Inner Asian Mountain Corridor , PALAEOSILKROAD , petrography

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Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Tübingen, Germany
Al Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Applied Mineralogy, Tübingen, Germany
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Tübingen, Germany
National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
New York University, Center for the Study of Human Origins, NY, United States

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Al Farabi Kazakh National University
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan
New York University

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