The effect of formation processes on the frequency of palaeolithic cave sites in semiarid zones: Insights from Kazakhstan
Varis A. Miller C.E. Cuthbertson P. Namen A. Taimagambetov Z. Iovita R.
July/August 2022John Wiley and Sons Inc
Geoarchaeology
2022#37Issue 4594 - 616 pp.
Central Asian caves with Palaeolithic deposits are few, but they provide a rich record of human fossils and cultural assemblages that has been used to model Late Pleistocene hominin dispersals. However, previous research has not yet systematically evaluated the formation processes that influence the frequency of Palaeolithic cave sites in the region. To address this deficiency, we combined field survey and micromorphological analyses in the piedmont zone of south Kazakhstan. Here, we present our preliminary results focusing on selected sites of the Qaratau mountains. Sediment cover varies among the surveyed caves, and loess-like sediments dominate the cave sequences. The preservation of cave deposits is influenced by reworking of cave sediments within the caves but also by the broader erosional processes that shape semiarid landscapes. Ultimately, deposits of potentially Pleistocene age are scarce. Our study provides new data in the geoarchaeologically neglected region of Central Asia and demonstrates that micromorphology has great analytical potential even within the limitations of rigorous survey projects. We outline some of the processes that influence the formation and preservation of cave deposits in Kazakhstan, as well as broader implications for the distribution of Palaeolithic cave sites in Central Asia and other semiarid environments.
cave sediments , Central Asia , geoarchaeology , Kazakhstan , micromorphology
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Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Institute for Archaeological Sciences (INA), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (HEP), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
Department of Archaeology, Ethnology and Museology, Faculty of History, Archaeology and Ethnology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
Department of Anthropology, Centre for the Study of Human Origins, New York University, New York, NY, United States
Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology
Institute for Archaeological Sciences (INA)
Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (HEP)
SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE)
Department of Archaeology
National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Department of Anthropology
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