This article focuses on the Upper Paleolithic lithic industries from layers 5.1—4 of the Ushbulak site in Eastern Kazakhstan. These assemblages, dated approximately to ~24—21 kyr BP, show the appearance of pressure flaking technique, being thus chronologically consistent with the earliest manifestations of this knapping technique known in South Korea and Northeast China. The primary reduction and toolset composition of the Late Upper Paleolithic assemblages at Ushbulak show fundamental differences from both the preceding Initial Upper Paleolithic of layers 7—6 and the subsequent Final Upper Paleolithic assemblages of layers 3—2. Moreover, no direct analogies with the synchronous industries in Kazakhstan and its immediate neighboring regions (Russian Altai) can be identified for the time being. The available data suggest that the materials from layers 5.1—4 mark an episode of population replacement in this part of Kazakhstan, possibly associated with a migration from the Northern China.

Статья посвящена изучению генезиса кареноидной технологии верхнепалеолитической кульбулакской культуры запада Центральной Азии. Ранние проявления карено-идной технологии в Центральной Азии фиксируются в среднепалеолитических комплексах обирахматского варианта. Ранее предполагалось формирование кульбулакской культуры на основе постепенного развития среднепалеолитических обирахматских индустрий Проведенные в последние годы исследования продемонстрировали, что в куль-булакской культуре кареноидная технология фиксируется в сформированном устойчивом виде, и это заставило пересмотреть вопрос ее происхождения. Было проведено детальное сопоставление кареноидной технологии из кульбулакских и обирахматских комплексов. Для реконструкции технологии утилизации кареноидных нуклеусов использовался анализ последовательности сколов. Для оценки взаимосвязи в коллекциях пластинок разных типов и кареноидных нуклеусов были применены корреляционные тесты Пирсона и Спирмена. Сопоставление кульбулакских и обирахматских комплексов производилось посредством анализа главных координат. Проведенный анализ кареноидных нуклеусов из среднепалеолитических и верхнепалеолитических комплексов западной части Центральной Азии показал, что кульбу-лакская верхнепалеолитическая технология утилизации кареноидных нуклеусов появляется в регионе в сформированном высоко стандартизированном виде. Выделяется две основных схемы получения пластинок с изогнутым профилем, обусловленные морфологией используемых заготовок. Обе реконструированные схемы соответствуют общей концепции, при которой создавалась или выбиралась площадка на заготовке, оформлялась характерная кареноидная выпуклость фронта, а с этого фронта реализовывались целевые пластинки с изогнутым или закрученным профилем. В зависимости от заготовки некоторые нуклеусы требовали более интенсивного оформления фронта и площадки. В соответствии с этим выделяются длинная и короткая последовательности утилизации нуклеусов. Кареноидные нуклеусы из хронологически и стратиграфически более ранних комплексов обирахматской культурной традиции демонстрируют широкую вариабельность и были одним из способов получения заготовок в рамках становления мелкопластинчатого расщепления.

B cтатьe прeдcтавлeны рeзультаты архeологичecких иccлeдований cтоянки Kараcай в Шиликтинcкой долине, проводившихcя в 2023 г. Основной целью работ в 2023 году cтало уточнeниe cтратиграфии и границ раcпроcтранeния культурных cлоeв на cтоянкe. Подъeмный комплeкc артeфактов по cвоим характeриcтикам был раздeлeн на двe группы. Пeрвая cоотвeтcтвуeт индуcтрии, выявлeнной ранee на памятникe в cтратифицированном залeгании (cлой 2 раcкопа 2019 г.) и можeт быть отнeceна к мeзолитичecкому врeмeни. Bторая группа по морфологичecким характeриcтикам выглядит болee дрeвнeй и прeдваритeльно можeт быть датирована развитым вeрхним палeолитом, поcкольку имeeт опрeдeлeнноe cходcтво c комплeкcом артeфактов из шурфа No 2 (2022 г.), а такжe подошвы cлоя 5 и кровли cлоя 6 cтоянки Ушбулак. Kромe того, в 2023 году была выполнeна ceрия датировок мeтодом оптико-люминecцeнтного cтимулирования образцов из шурфа 2022 г., архeологичecкая коллeкция которого дeмонcтрируeт болee архаичныe чeрты. Peзультаты датирования, показавшиe возраcт около 35 тыc. л.н., подтвeрждают вeрхнeпалeолитичecкую атрибуцию этого комплeкcа. The article presents the results of archaeological studies of the Karasai site in the Shylikty Valley conducted in 2023. The main goal of the work in 2023 was to clarify the stratigraphy and boundaries of the distribution of cultural layers in the site. The lifting complex of artifacts was divided into two groups according to its characteristics. The first group corresponds to the industry identified earlier on the monument in a stratified occurrence (layer 2 of the excavation in 2019) and can be attributed to the Mesolithic period. The second group looks more ancient in morphological characteristics and can be tentatively dated to the developed Upper Paleolithic, since it has certain similarities with the complex of artifacts from pit No. 2 (2022), as well as the soles of layer 5 and the roof of layer 6 of the Ushbulak site. In addition, in 2023, a series of dating was performed using optical-luminescent stimulation of samples from the 2022 pit, the archaeological collection of which shows more archaic features. The dating results, which showed an age of about 35 thousand years old, confirm the Upper Paleolithic attribution of this complex. Мақалада 2023 жылы Шілікті алқабындағы Қарасай аумағында жүргізілген археологиялық зерттеулердің нәтижелері ұсынылған. 2023 жылы жүргізілген зерттеу жұмысының негізгі мақсаты – аймақтағы мәдени қабаттардың стратиграфиясы мен таралу шекарасын нақтылау болып табылады. Артефактілер кешені белгілеріне қарай екі топқа бөлінді. Біріншісі, аймақтағы бұрын анықталған стратификацияланған салаға сәйкес келеді (2019 жылғы қазбаның 2 қабаты) және оны мезолит дәуіріне жатқызуға болады. Екінші топ, морфологиялық белгілері жағынан салыстырмалы түрде ерте кезең деген болжам жасалды және жоғарғы палеолитке жатқызуға болады, себебі Үшбұлақ тұрағының 6-қабатының төбесі және 5-қабатының ең төменгі бөлігі No2 қазбадан (2022 ж.) алынған артефактілер кешенімен белгілі бір ұқсастығы бар екені анықталды.Сонымен қатар, 2023 жылы 2022 жылғы қазбасынан алынған үлгілер үшін оптикалық-люминесцентті стимуляция әдісін қолдану арқылы бірқатар мерзімдеме жұмыстары жүргізілді, олардың археологиялық жинағы архаикалық ерекшеліктерге ие екенін көрсетті. Мерзімдеме нәтижелері бұл кешеннің жоғарғы палеолиттік атрибуциясы екендігін және шамамен 35 мыңжылдыққа жататынын дәлелдеп отыр.

The study was carried out with the support of the Russian Science Foundation № 21-78-10146 “Upper Paleolithic mosaic — cultural and technological variability of stone industries in the foothill zones of northern Central Asia in the second half of the Late Pleistocene” (field work and absolute dating), geomorphological studies were carried out within the framework of the state assignment of the Faculty of Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University (121040100323-5 and 121051100135-0), Paleogeographic studies are supported by the state assignment of the IG RAS (FMWS-2024-0005).

We describe 27 parallel, narrow-faced, and burin-cores for small blades and bladelets from Kulbulak layer 23, Western Tien Shan, excavated in 2016 and 2017. In terms of typology, flat-faced (longitudinal and transverse), prismatic (carinated, subconical, and subcylindrical), and narrow-faced cores (including burin[1]cores) were identified. Scar pattern analysis suggests that regardless of the typological affiliation of cores, a uniform technological scheme was used—staggered sequence of blanks. This Middle Paleolithic non-prismatic pattern probably indicates the initial steps in the formation of a technology that would subsequently influence the Middle Paleolithic blade industries in western Central Asia and become one of the sources for the regional Upper Paleolithic in the second half of MIS 3. It is concluded that small blade technology emerged within Middle Paleolithic industries of western Central Asia at the turn of MIS 7 and 6. In the Obi-Rakhmat industry (MIS 5a), this technology is represented in its fully developed form.

This study describes a multi-proxy approach toward a newly discovered open-air loess site, Ertash Sai 2, located in the western piedmonts of the Tian Shan in Uzbekistan. Technological analyzes enabled the identification of an asymmetric core reduction scheme accompanied by a Levallois-like predetermined knapping scheme, along with the production of truncated-faceted pieces and burin-cores. Moreover, the results show a direct relationship between the presence of truncated-faceted pieces or burin-cores and both core reduction schemes, as long as truncated-faceted pieces were mostly produced from debordant blades and flakes. Chronostratigraphic studies enabled the precise chronology of the assemblage to be determined as 68-57 ka BP. This raises questions about the origins of traits usually associated with the Initial Upper Palaeolithic in Central Asia and their roots in local Levallois-based assemblages.

The paper presents the first results of a detailed geochronological study of the Central Asian reference section for the Upper Palaeolithic multilayered site at the Ushbulak. Seven main cultural layers were identified in the stratigraphic sequence in two excavations. Artefact’s properties distinguish four main stages of the occupation: Paleo-Metallic era; Final Upper Palaeolithic; advanced Upper Palaeolithic; initial stages of the Upper Palaeolithic. Detailed luminescence dating using both optically stimulated luminescence and infrared stimulated luminescence is used to provide a chronology for the main archaeological units and proluvial-colluvial deposits of the site. The sedimentology is described, based on detailed characteristics of all lithological layers, the geomorphological structure of the area and modern exogenous processes. Comparison of three luminescence dating signals indicate that it is likely that all 3 signals were sufficiently well reset before deposition, so that the IRSL ages reflect the time of deposition, and based on other laboratory tests we consider the individual ages and the final chronology to be reliable. We now characterise the Ushbulak site in three cultural-chronological stages, corresponding to different periods of the Upper Palaeolithic stone industries: the Initial Upper Palaeolithic, recorded in the interval 51–34 ka; the advanced Upper Palaeolithic between 25 and 21 ka and the Final Upper Paleolithic between 17 and 14 ka. Finally, this research identifies this initial main settlement of the site as occurring about 51 ka ago, i.e. during the initial warming stage of MIS 3c.

We reconstruct environmental conditions at various stages of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene of East Kazakhstan. The reconstructions are based on materials from the stratified Ushbulak site in the Shilikta Valley, spanning a period from the Early Upper Paleolithic to the Bronze Age. Climatic changes were evaluated using natural science methods-mineralogical, ZooArchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), OSL- and AMS-dating, etc. Sevaral stages, relating to environmental changes, are evaluated. The fi rst period (~52–37 ka BP) was period of moderately warm and relatively humid climate, with predominantly forest-steppe, meadow-steppe, and semidesert landscapes. The second period (~25–21 ka BP) coincided with a transition from a moderately warm to a very cold and more arid climate dominated by steppes. The third period (~18–16 ka BP) was transitional from the glacial maximum to the postglacial interstadial, with a relatively cool and arid climate and mostly steppe and forest-steppe landscapes. The fourth period (~15–14 ka BP) was characterized by the warmest climate in the Late Pleistocene; steppe and forest-steppe vegetation dominated. During the latest, Early Holocene period, the climate was warm and humid, with savanna-like landscapes. The analysis of natural-climatic conditions allows us to conclude that the early stage of the site’s functioning, characterized by the highest intensity of settlement, was optimal for ancient man.

В статье рассматриваются материалы слоя 24 стоянки Кульбулак (Западный Тянь-Шань), полученные в ходе полевых работ 2018-2019 гг. На основе данных о возрасте слоя 16 (соответствует МИС 5е) и геологическом строении отложений проведено стратиграфическое расчленение разреза Кульбулака с выделением основных палеогеографических этапов его формирования. Слои 25-22, вероятно, соотносятся с периодом потепления второй половины МИС 7. Установлено, что первичное расщепление в индустрии слоя 24 реализовывалось в рамках параллельного скалывания на широкой и узкой плоскостях в продольном и бипродольном направлениях и леваллуазской модели. Орудия представлены разнообразными скреблами, острием на интенсивно ретушированной пластине, пластиной с ретушью, атипичным угловым скребком, заготовками бифасов. Выявлены аналогии между материалами слоя 24 Кульбулака и синхронными индустриями Ближнего Востока. Сделан вывод о том, что изучаемый комплекс технологически и, видимо, по хронологической принадлежности занимает позицию между позднейшими амудийскими и ранними среднепалеолитическими ансамблями, которые относятся к стадии Табун D. Об этом свидетельствуют признаки использования метода нелеваллуазского пластинчатого расщепления наряду с леваллуазским (с доминированием последнего), изготовления разных типов пластинчатых сколов в рамках одной редукционной последовательности, а также высокая доля пластин среди заготовок и наличие в индустрии бифасиальных изделий, удлиненного интенсивно ретушированного острия, атипичного углового скребка.

Purpose. The aim of this study is detailed reconstruction of the reduction sequences of the layer 5.1 lithic industry. Results. Through a comprehensive analysis of the material complex from the layer 5.1 we reconstructed three knapping strategies characterizing the industry. The first strategy is based on the usage of the narrow core working surface to obtain blades and lamellar flakes. The second strategy is the alternating usage of the working surface and striking platform aimed at blank production. The reduction sequence is characterized by the usage of narrow surfaces bounded by natural sides. The third strategy is the bladelets and microblades production using one narrow or two adjacent (narrow and wide) working surfaces. The comparison of the material complex of the layer 5.1 with the complexes of layers 7–6 indicates principal differences in the raw material preferences, primary knapping methods and toolkits. Conclusion. Based on the lack of continuity of the primary knapping and the principles of spatial exploitation of Ushbulak site area, we suggest a complete change in the population of the Shilikta valley at the boundary of MIS 3 and MIS 2.

The Western Tian Shan piedmont, due to its high mountainous nature, is an exceptionally difficult area in which to conduct systematic surface research. In response to the specificities of the landscape, we decided to attempt to use predictive modelling to select sites with the greatest potential for the occurrence and preservation of Pleistocene layers and Palaeolithic sites. The aim of the project was to determine to what extent the high-mountain areas of the Tian Shan piedmont were penetrated and inhabited by Palaeolithic humans. On the basis of the devised model, areas were selected for further prospecting in the field, which allowed the search area to be narrowed by a factor of five. In the course of surveying carried out on the selected areas, it was possible to locate nine new Palaeolithic sites and 18 settlement spots within one season, significantly increasing the number of known open-air sites in the region. The results presented show the usefulness of this method, revealing the potential for its application in other similar areas, but also indicate the intensity of, in particular, Middle Palaeolithic or Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transitional settlement in the high-mountain regions of Central Asia.

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.

The geographical localization and comfortable paleogeographic conditions of the Western part of Central Asia predetermined the importance of the region as one of the main centers of the development of the Paleolithic culture. The combination of local and externally imposed elements of material culture in the region was the result of active transcultural contacts of ancient populations in the Paleolithic. There are several regions in Uzbekistan where the main Middle Paleolithic sites are concentrated. We focused attention on Tashkent and Chirchik-Akhangaran oases because of the quantity of sites and recent multidisciplinary research carried out here that allows correcting and clarifying the previously proposed cultural-chronological patterns of ancient humans' material culture development. The most known sites with the material remains of the Middle Paleolithic are the Obi-Rakhmat grotto near the source of the Chirchik river and the Kulbulak site in the middle reaches of the Akhangaran river. However, the results of recent field excavations at the newly discovered Kattasai-1 and Kattasai-2 sites provide reasons for a revision of the proposition about the unity of the complexes antecedent to the Upper Paleolithic in the Western Tien Shan. Within this context, it was necessary to redefine the cognitive potential of a number of Paleolithic sites located in the lower reaches of the Chirchik and Akhangaran rivers (Chirchik-Akhangaran oasis), not included in the current cultural-chronological scheme of the regional Middle Paleolithic development. The picture obtained as a result of a review of published sources shows the low cognitive potential of sites in the Tashkent and Chirchik-Akhangaran oases, formerly assigned to the Middle Paleolithic. The collections of most of them are small in number, which excludes the possibility of correct statistical procedures; therefore, they are characterized by the vagueness of the classification criteria and descriptions on which the subsequent age attribution is based. However, there is still a necessity to continue researching these materials and resume field research in this area.

Purpose. For the Central Asian territories, only the discovery of a burial from Teshik-Tash has an indisputable connection with the Neanderthal population confirmed by genetic studies. In this situation, it is important to fully characterize the technological repertoire of this hominin species through a detailed study of the lithic industry of TeshikTash. One of the parts of the Teshik-Tash collection, kept in the collections of the Kunstkamera (St. Petersburg, Russia), was previously analyzed. Observations regarding the operation of radial and disc-shaped cores at the late stages of utilization, as well as the identified features in the morphology of points, again identified the problem of the presence / absence of the Levallois component in the Teshik-Tash industry.Materials and Methods. Attributive analysis was chosen as a research tool, which was previously applied to the collection from the Kunstkamera. It allows reconstructing the entire “operational chain” of knapping lithic raw materials at the site and identifying the technological features of the production of different types of blanks.Results. The performed analysis allows identifying some features of the knapping technology in the Teshik-Tash industry, such as: the dominant knapping system is centripetal; the using of Levallois technology is recorded in the one core; a method of shaping the core front by creating a rib at the base and using lateral spalls; a case of the volumetric concept of knapping has been identified; the strategies used in the industry resulted in a low standardized product; the rare design of percussion platforms and their reduction. The tool kit is characterized by the using of cores as the tools; the presence of two groups of “special purpose” tools; the irregularly retouched flakes as a background tool category; the presence of truncated and truncated-faceted pieces.Discussion. The knapping approach was quite flexible, and this implies the possibility of switching from one model to another at different stages of core utilization. For this reason, some cores fall into the “grey zone” between radial, discoid, and Levallois types. At the same time, the Levallois technique occupies a clearly subordinate position in the industry, was extremely rarely used in the early stages of core utilization, and had almost no effect on the overall appearance of blanks. For this reason, we believe that Levallois technique should be considered as a one of the significant characteristics of the Teshik-Tash industry with great caution, as well as direct analogies with the new Middle Paleolithic complexes of the Tien Shan low mountains.Conclusion. The processing of the Teshik-Tash collection made it possible to fix the dominance of the centripetal model of lithic knapping, the use of which is imprinted in the morphology of products of all main categories. At the same time, a number of artifacts point to the existence of technological variability in lithic production in the industry, both at the stage of making blanks (the use of sub-wedge-shaped and volumetric cores) and at the stage of designing tools (truncated-faceted products). These circumstances expand our understanding of the behavioral characteristics of the Neanderthals who lived in the west of Central Asia.

The appearance of Upper Paleolithic techniques of blade production is the key signal of Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) industries throughout Eurasia and, particularly, in Central Asia. Here, we present the results of a detailed reconstruction of the principal knapping method targeting blade production at the Ushbulak site in eastern Kazakhstan that currently marks the southwestern extent of the distribution of Asian IUP industries. Based on the typology of IUP cores at Ushbulak, we carried out experimental blade production using three main knapping methods that have been described in IUP complexes across northern Eurasia. Each technique was applied to the production of blades and core management elements morphologically similar to artifacts from the Ushbulak assemblage. Experimental approaches and attribute analysis established the dominance of the sub-prismatic bidirectional laminar method, based on well-prepared pre-core knapping. The reconstructed bidirectional method for blade production reflects traits in common with Moravian Bohunician IUP complexes, but the closest analogies can be found in IUP complexes of the Russian Altai Region (Kara Bom) and Mongolia (Tolbor 4). The most pronounced traits distinguishing the Ushbulak IUP industries from those of neighboring regions are the dominance of only one method of bidirectional blade production and the absence of Levallois technology. No changes in primary knapping methods and tool assemblages were revealed in Ushbulak IUP complexes over a period of roughly 10,000 years. This industry first appeared in its complete form in eastern Kazakhstan ca. 49–47 ka and existed without detectable changes until its disappearance ca. 37–35 ka.

This paper aims to reconstruct the general knapping scheme in the Katta Sai 1 assemblage dated to around 40 kya. The site was excavated within a large -scale fieldwork project of interdisciplinary studies on Middle Paleolithic settlements in the western Tian Shan piedmont. The technological analyses allow the identification of a new variant of human adaptation in the regional Middle Paleolithic. The locally -collected river pebbles were knapped using a predetermined Levallois core reduction scheme. Although some volumetric features can be identified within the assemblage, the technology differs from the other well -known sites in the region, such as Obi -Rakhmat of Kulbulak, where blade technology predominates.

The paper deals with survey data recorded in 2021 in Uzbekistan by joint team of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Warsaw University, and National Center of Archaeology Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Based on 2018-2019 data, we carried out local excavations, and the Paleolithic artifacts were recorded in the cross-sections of two sites—Ertashsai-12 and Kuksarai-2 located on the right side of the Akhangaran valley in its midstream. The stratified archaeological material of Ertashsai-12 occurs in three lithological positions (layers 2b, 3, and 4) and is represented mainly by fragments of flakes and wastes of lithic production. Together with the surface complex, these materials can be attributed to the Middle to Upper Paleolithic. Materials from the Kuksarai-2 site are more representative; they occur in four layers (layers 2, 3, 5, and 6). In total, the lithic collection includes 43 artifacts. The technical and typological characteristics of the stratified part of the Kuksarai-2 collection are consistent with the appearance of the exposed materials and contain features of the Levallois technology with an admixture of features transitional from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic. The material complexes of Ertashsai-12 and Kuksarai-2 discovered in the buried state are probably correlated with periodic and long-term visits to these territories by human paleopopulations, and the ancient population was a carrier of the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic process skills. In future, the presence of stratified complexes in the landscape situation of low mountains with the process features of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic can provide a new array of data on the problems of correlating features of the material culture with specific species of ancient hominins, as well as in the context of their relationship with the environment.

The paper discusses the results from an analysis of five cores associated with Layer 11 in the Southern Chamber of Denisova Cave, intended to obtain small elongated blanks such as bladelets and small blades. Analysis of a lithic reduction sequence employed in the research has made it possible to clearly recognize the phases in producing flake scars on lithic artifacts through the preparation of core blanks, and in core reduction, as well as to determine stages at which some of these pieces were used as tools. The analysis provided insights into a general flaking pattern for the cores under study. Such artifacts were predominantly made on large massive flake blanks, had a plain striking platform, and the working edge showing traces of reduction associated with detaching the target flakes. These technological characteristics are fully consistent with the technological repertoire of a hominin group, based on cores from the same assemblage, intended to obtain larger target removals such as flakes and blades. A cross section of the flaking surface shows no evidence for a deliberately created and maintained convex relief, while typologically four of the five artifacts were defined as sub-prismatic. The analysis of a lithic reduction sequence shows that artifacts from the examined collection related to the production of blanks in the form of small flake-blades, without using new techniques and the controlled reduction of a flaking surface.

The paper addresses analyses of the raw material of the Middle Paleolithic lithic complexes of the Kulbulak site (layers 12.1, 12.3, 14, 16, and 17.1). The lithic industries described in the paper are characterized by the nearest provenance of raw materials (within 1.5 km) including flint outcrops and alluvial effusive pebbles. Flint predominated; it was used for both Levallois and bladelet production, the bladelet share increases up the profile. Effusive rocks were used for large flake and point production through the Levallois and radial techniques. Other Middle Paleolithic raw material selection strategies were noted in the neighbor valleys (within 30 km from the Kulbulak site). Kattasai-1 and -2 and Ertashsai-9 show the preference of effusive or metamorphic rocks despite availability of flint in relative proximity. These industries do not have any Upper Paleolithic features in their technological repertoire and show practicing the Levallois technology in several versions. Such raw material choice could indicate the absence of the Upper Paleolithic skills in stone working or their uselessness. Thus, the Kulbulakian version of raw material procurement demonstrates the greatest variability in terms of technological necessity among mentioned Middle Paleolithic complexes.

In 2019, a joint Russian-Kazakh expedition discovered the first stratified Mesolithic locality in eastern Kazakhstan. Excavations at the Karasai site revealed a rich Early Holocene cultural layer (Layer 2). The lithic industry includes elements of all stages of lithic production. Cores include low-backed prismatic and narrow faced varieties and the tool assemblage is dominated by non-geometric microblade inset, fragmentary points, borers, micro-burins and microlithic scrapers. The Mesolithic age of the finds is confirmed by two AMS radio-carbon dates between 10,000-8,500 cal years BP. The Karasai industry most closely resembles lithic assemblages dating to the beginning of the Early Holocene in northern Kazakhstan.