TECHNOLOGICAL REPERTOIRE OF THE TESHIK-TASH NEANDERTHALS: NEW DATA

Abstract

The article presents the results of the technological analysis of the Teshik-Tash grotto lithic collection from the Kunstkamera funds (Saint Petersburg). Because the Teshik-Tash industry has an indisputable anthropological link to the Neanderthal population, which is unique for the western part of Central Asia, it is important to fully characterize the technological repertoire of this hominin species by studying the Teshik-Tash collection. Using the methods of mathematical statistics, the metric parameters of the artefacts were analyzed and the technical and typological homogeneity of the Teshik-Tash site complex (layers 1–5) was established, which indicates the representativeness of the sample at our disposal. The applied scar-pattern analysis revealed the dominance of the radial core reduction method aimed at obtaining non-standardized asymmetric blanks. At the same time, the toolkit contains the points with signs of Levallois knapping to obtain blanks: symmetry, regularity of convergent or longitudinally convergent dorsal surfaces, the presence of convex symmetric dihedral butts, overhang reduction. Thus, the problem of the Levallois component in the Teshik-Tash grotto industry remains open. The extent to which the Neanderthal population of Teshik-Tash used the Levallois technology will probably become clear after analysis of the Teshik- Tash grotto collections, stored in the funds of the Anuchin Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of MSU and the State Museum of history of Uzbekistan in Tashkent.