Early middle Paleolithic of Southeastern Dagestan

The territory of seacoast Dagestan is a location on the Eurasian continent where the constant and massive ancient presence of the Neanderthal populations was observed. This is evidenced by a large number of Middle Paleolithic sites in the Darvagchay geoarchaeological region (South-Eastern Dagestan) discovered in the last decade. This article primarily discusses the results of studies of the archaeological complex of the Darvagchay-Zaliv-1 site, with its materials belonging to the initial stages of the Middle Paleolithic. In 2021, similar artifacts were found at the Darvagchay-Zaliv-4 site, in the middle part of layer 2. The technical and typological characteristics of a small collection of stone articles allow attributing it to the initial period of the Middle Paleolithic. The age of the culture-bearing horizon was established on the basis of a series of OSL dates in the range of 200-180 ka (MIS 7). Previously, lithic industries corresponding to the chronological interval MIS 6-7 were almost unknown in the North-Eastern Caucasus. In general, such technological complexes can be characterized as non-Levallois and non-blade, with the presence of Levallois knapping and low faceting indices. Side-scrapers, notchedtoothed and spike-shaped tools form the basis of the toolkit. Levallois and Mousterian points are absent. Pebble tools are lithic industries in the cultural and chronological scale of the Middle Paleolithic of the Caucasus. Probably, their origins should be sought in more ancient local complexes dating back to the final Early Paleolithic dated to MIS 7, and continuation in the industries of the Early Middle Paleolithic represented by archaeological materials from the same sites related to MIS 5.