The role of Central Asia in the dispersal of Micoquian/KMG industries in Eurasia
Rôle de lAsie centrale dans la dispersion des industries du Micoquien/KMG en Eurasie
Otcherednoy A.K. Artyukhova O.A. Mamirov T.B. Osipova E.A. Lada A.R. Pugacheva E.V. Ozherelyev D.V.
1 April 2025Elsevier Masson s.r.l.
Anthropologie (France)
2025#129Issue 2
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.
Bifacial technologies , Central Asia , Keilmesser , Micoquian/KMG , Middle Palaeolithic , Northern Kazakhstan , Principal component analysis (PCA) , Scar-pattern analysis (SPA)
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
Institut dHistoire de la Culture Matérielle, Académie des Sciences de Russie, 18, Quai Dvortsovaïa, Saint-Pétersbourg, 191186, Russian Federation
Institut dArchéologie A.Kh. Margulan, 44, avenue Dostyk, Almaty, 050000, Kazakhstan
Centre Européen de Recherches Préhistoriques, UMR 7194 HNHP, avenue Léon-Jean-Grégory, Tautavel, 66720, France
Musée dEthnographie et dAnthropologie Pierre-le-Grand (Kunstkamera), Académie des Sciences de Russie, 3, Quai Universitetskaya, Saint-Pétersbourg, 199034, Russian Federation
Institut dArchéologie, Académie des Sciences de Russie, 19, rue Dm. Ulyanova, Moscou, 117292, Russian Federation
Institut dHistoire de la Culture Matérielle
Institut dArchéologie A.Kh. Margulan
Centre Européen de Recherches Préhistoriques
Musée dEthnographie et dAnthropologie Pierre-le-Grand (Kunstkamera)
Institut dArchéologie
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026