Investigation of pedocomplex 5 of Lakhuti IV site (Southern Tajikistan) in 2022

The article presents the results of work of the Tajik geoarcheological expedition in the middle reaches of the Obi-Mazar River (Republic of Tajikistan). In the course of2022 fieldwork, the studies of pedocomplex 5 at the Early Paleolithic site of Lakhuti IV were continued. The area of excavation was 16 sq. m with an opening depth of 4.0 m. Ten lithological layers were identified in the section. Archaeological material (909 pieces) was found at several levels in layers 4 to 9. Unlike 2021 excavation, a twice lower density of finds (~55 per 1 sq. m) and their less distinct distribution among the horizons. In the primary knapping, the use of several flat techniques was determined: radial unifrontal, slice, and parallel, in their simplest forms. The share of decortication flakes among technical ones is ~85 %. Among the debitage, a significant part is represented by production waste (~50 %). Among the flakes, the percentage of “slices” and “wedges” of different sizes is significant, ~25 %. In the toolset, the most numerous group is unifacial tools and their blanks. There are notched tools, simple side-scrapers, atypical side-scrapers, and large spurred tools. A single chopper, a serrated tool, and an item with the elements of bifacial processing are present in the collection. The latter is an extremely rare type for the Early Paleolithic industries of the region. In general, the characteristics of the technological complex obtained from PC-5 of the Lakhuti VI site in 2022 corresponds to the 2021 collection. The main differences are associated with a large percentage of “sliced” cores and their utilization products (“slices” and “wedges”), as well as unifacial tools.