Dichotomy of lithic industries at the Kuksaray-2 site

For discovering location with clear stratigraphic sequence of cultural strata, two excavations pits with areas of 6 and 10 sq. m connected by 8 m trench were made in 2023 at the Kuksarai-2 site. Excavation has shown that despite generally similar stratigraphy in the upper layers of both excavation pits, there were noticeable differences in the underlying sediments. The excavation areas were separated by a mass of Neogene deposits, which prevented development of slope erosion of deposits in excavation pit 2. The earliest deposits of layer 4 in this excavation pit could belong to MIS-5. If this assumption is confirmed by the OSL dating, the Kuksaray-2 site will be the earliest open air site in the Western Tien Shan with the minimally disturbed cultural layers. The composition of the industry leaves no doubt that Kuksaray-2 was a workshop site. Specific features of lithic industry from excavation pit 1 indicate non-laminar, "Mousterian” nature of lithic production. However, individual instances of laminar technology indicate that in the Middle Paleolithic, the site was visited by the creators of the Obi-Rakhmat and pre-Obi-Rakhmat industries. The evidence from excavation pit 2 was more difficult to interpret. Blades and bladelets obtained from layers 0-3 do not match general non-laminar (centripetal) strategy of lithic production and typical Middle Paleolithic tools. The lithic industry from layer 4 seems to be the most homogenous phenomenon in terms of its technological context. The blanks present in the industry (flake from a radial core and Levallois flakes), accompanied by a preform of a tool made using techniques of truncation and ventral thinning, corresponded to the earliest evidence from the excavation pit of2021.