Primary Flaking Strategies of the Late Upper Palaeolithic industry with scalene triangles of the Northern Tien Shan: Rakhat Site, Layer 4/3

Așchierea primară a industriei litice cu triunghiuri scalene din perioada târzie a paleoliticului superior din Tian-Șanul de Nord (pe baza materialelor din situl Rakhat, stratul cultural 4/3)
Первичное расщепление индустрии с асимметричными треугольниками поздней поры верхнего палеолита Северного Тянь-Шаня (по материалам стоянки Рахат, культурный слой 4/3)
Ozherelyev D.V. Lada A.R. Mamirov T.B.
2026 High Anthropological School University

Stratum Plus
2026 #2026 Issue 1 155 - 169 pp.

This paper presents the first results of a technological analysis of the lithic industry from cultural layer 4/3 of the multilayer Upper Palaeolithic site of Rakhat (Northern Tien Shan, south-eastern Kazakhstan). Layer 4/3 belongs to a group of cultural deposits dating to the early part of the late Upper Palaeolithic (~20,300–19,300¹⁴C yr BP) that are characterised by the early presence of scalene triangles. Taphonomic and spatial analysis show that layer 4/3 represents the remains of a short-term occupation formed during a brief episode of human activity and preserved in situ. The study integrated lithic refitting, the raw-material-unit framework, and formal technological analysis. Apart from a few artefacts made of “imported” materials, six local raw-material units were identified, corresponding to six distinct porphyry nodules; three of which yielded coherent refits. Two main reduction sequences were identified: parallel flaking aimed at obtaining relatively large flakes and/ or elongated flakes, and bladelet production from pyramidal and narrow-faced cores. Flakes from the first sequence were used mainly unretouched for domestic tasks, while bladelets from the second sequence served as blanks for the production of scalene triangles likely used in hunting weaponry. The results obtained for layer 4/3 demonstrate the considerable potential of Upper Palaeolithic occupation surfaces in the region for detailed reconstructions of lithic technology.

Kazakhstan , Late Upper Palaeolithic , lithic technology , Northern Tien Shan , Rakhat site , scalene triangles

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Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russian Federation
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Dostyk Ave., 44, Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan

Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Institute for the History of Material Culture
Margulan Institute of Archaeology

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