Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (4) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.4.016-026

Annotation:  The Final Early Paleolithic of Azerbaijan (Based on the Garaja Site) Late Acheulean Handaxes from Northeastern Caucasus: Morphology and Technology A Late Paleolithic Housing and Utility Complex at Afontova Gora IV (Ovrazhnaya): New Findings (2020– Ceramic “Necklace”: A Neolithic Ritual Artifact from the Lower Amur Okunev Statues at Mount Uitag, Khakassia A Functional Analysis of Stone Tools from Bronze Age Burials in the Baraba Forest-Steppe, Based on F Seasonality of Sintashta Funerary Rites (Based on the Kamennyi Ambar-5 Bronze Age Cemetery) A Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) Caster’s Ritual and Memorial Complex at Tartas-1, Baraba Forest-Stepp Star-Shaped Pendants from the Perm Region, Western Urals: Hunnic Polychrome Ornaments Reanimated An Oirat Sphero-Cylindrical Helmet and Arming Cap from the Central State Museum Collection of the Re Log Cabins of Ust-Voikary, a Fortifi ed Settlement in Northwestern Siberia: Dendrochronological Anal “Salt Turn”—A Toponym in the Middle Irtysh Basin: Historical and Archaeological Evidence Literacy and Numeracy Skills of the Inhabitants of Tara and its Rural Districts in the 17th and 18th Aborigines or Migrants? A New Stage in the Okunev Origin Debate Planigraphic (Spatial) Distribution of Mitochondrial DNA Variants at the Andronovo Time Cemetery Tar On the Mongoloid Component in the Pazyryk Population   

Late Acheulean Handaxes from Northeastern Caucasus:
Morphology and Technology

A.V. Kharevich, K.A. Kolobova, and A.G. Rybalko

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

We describe the variability of morphological and technological features of handaxes from two culturally and chronologically consecutive Acheulean assemblages of Dagestan, Northeastern Caucasus. The early one, dating to MIS 11-10, is represented by three sites: Darvagchay-Zaliv-1 (complex IV, layer 3), Darvagchay-Zaliv-4 (layer 5), and Darvagchay-Zaliv-2. The late complex, dating to MIS 7, includes the sites of Darvagchay-Zaliv-1 (complex IV layer 2), Darvagchay-Zaliv-4 (layer 3), and Darvagchay-Karier We examine analogies from other Acheulean sites in the Caucasus. Two-dimensional geometric-morphometric analysis was used to study the shape of tools from Dagestan. The findings suggest that the shape of unifacial tools is the same as that of bifaces. The comparison of tools from two cultural and chronological horizons, including those from contemporaneous sites in the Caucasus, indicates a higher variability in earlier tools. Based on the scar pattern analysis, three chaines operatoires in manufacturing handaxes were reconstructed. Tools of the later complex had been subjected to a more thorough reduction than those of the early complex. Technological continuity was traced over a considerable timespan (MIS 11-7). It was manifested in the standardization of bifacial shape and the gradual sophistication of chaines operatoires. Given the high morphological homogeneity of tools from Dargvachay complexes and other contemporaneous industries of the Caucasus, it can be suggested that these technological tendencies are characteristic of the entire Caucasus.

Keywords: Acheulean, Caucasus, Dagestan, handaxes, geometric-morphometric analysis, scar pattern analysis