Study of the Middle Paleolithic complex at the Khonako III site in southern Tajikistan in 2024

Research at the Khonako III site in the Obi-Mazar River valley (Southern Tajikistan) in 2024 was done on pedocomplex 2, where two pits were excavated. The maximum width of excavation 1 was 7 m reaching 11 m in depth. Fiftyfive stone artifacts andfive faunal remains were found. Deposits of PC2 which included three paleosols (PC2A, PC2B, andPC2C) were 7 m thick. The maximum width of excavation 2 reached 4 m and depth of 8.5 m. In the excavated area, PC2 deposits included three paleosols 6 m thick. Twenty seven stone artifacts were discovered in pit 2. The occurrence of all stone tools within the same pedocomplex as well as their technical and typological features indicated a single industry. The artifacts included pebbles, blades, flakes, and debitage. Several Levallois flakes and formal tools, such as side-scrapers, burin, notched tool, spurred tool, and hammer-stone, were discovered. According to current chronostratigraphy, the age of this technocomplex was in the range of240-190 ka BP (MIS7). Works of2024 at Khonako III have revealed that archaeological evidence associated with PC2 occurred there both in paleosol deposits and in loess which separated them. The artifacts were found in several levels, which indicate that the site was a place of short-term but periodically recurring occupation probably associated with hunting. All materials in these deposits belonged to a single industry and corresponded to the blade complexes of the Middle Paleolithic.