Chagyrskaya cave middle Paleolithic assemblage investigation in the 2020 field season

The article provides the results of the Chagyrskaya cave field research, a key site of the Sibiryachikha variant of the Altai Middle Paleolithic in 2020. The cave is located in the North-Western Altai, in the Charysh River valley. During the current field season, the investigations were focused on the study of a paleontological assemblage within the frame of a zoo-archaeological approach, anthropological research, as well as technical and typological analysis of lithic industry of Layer 6a. Stratigraphic profiles completed the results of the last year’s excavations. The new stratigraphic profile located in the southern gallery in line 15 showed a new lithological unit consisting of colluvial layers with the deposits from Layer 6a and Layer 7. Technical and typological characteristics lithic assemblage from Layer 6a is similar to the assemblages from other sub-units of Layer 6. The assemblage is characterized by a significant proportion of tools in relation to primary flaking components. The toolset includes various unifacial scrapers, retouched points, truncated-faceted tools as well as bifacial scrapers and points. According to the zoo-archaeological research results, the studied area shows high activity of carnivores. This along with the fact that the Neanderthals and carnivores preyed on different animals may suggest that the cave was inhabited by the humans and carnivores during different seasons. The most significantfinds of the lastfield season are two teeth represented by the right lower molar M3 and the left lower incisor I2 in a good preservation.