Early middle Paleolithic assemblage from the east chamber of Denisova cave: 2016 materials

The paper discusses data provided by a technical and typological analysis of a lithic industry recovered during the 2016 study from the bottom part of Pleistocene deposits exposed in the entrance area of the East Chamber in Denisova Cave. A collection of lithic artifacts from layers 15 and 14 includes over 15 thousand specimens. This assemblage reveals the use of the radial primary flaking focused on obtaining truncated and short blanks. In the toolkit denticulate, notched and spur-like tools dominate, as well as scrapers. Based on lithological and biostratigraphic data, as well as the tentative results of absolute dating, the accumulation of deposits comprising layers 15 and 14 appears to have occurred in the environment characteristic of the Shirtinsky interglacial (MIS 7). According to archaeological chronology, it corresponds to the early stage of the Middle Paleolithic.