Study of the Edrala-1 site (Republic of Altai) in 2022

The article discusses the study of the Edrala-1 site in the excavation season of2022. First archaeologicalfinds were discovered in the mouth of the Edrala River in the second half of the 20th century in an exposed state. A little later excavations on the right mouth promontory of the river revealed two cultural layers partially mixed with each other. The material evidence included Paleolithic artifacts and pottery fragments. The works in 2022 were aimed at establishing the preservation of the site, its typological features, and stratigraphic situation. Three exploration pits were made, cut of trenches of the modern pipeline was cleaned up, and surface materials were collected. It was possible to establish that location of the Paleolithic cultural layer in the tested areas of terraces which have the alluvial origin from the Katun River can be excluded. Paleolithic evidence was associated with the low level of the Edrala River valley exposed by its watercourse. The area of the cultural layer is a conglomerate of crushed stone, coarse-grained weakly rounded sand, and blocks of various types of stone, including those of relatively large sizes. This area was partly exposed by the riverflow up to 0.2-0.3 m deep and 7 m wide. The remaining bottom of the Edrala River valley is covered by alluvial and deluvial sediments of crushed stone and sand. According to the data obtained during archaeological survey of2022, the Edrala-1 site is a Paleolithic object with the open cultural layer. Artifacts associated with process of lithic reduction primarily included large-sized performs as well as edge-faceted core and large flake.