First data on stratigraphy and cultural attribution of Rakhat a multi-layer upper Paleolithic site in Southeastern Kazakhstan

In 2018 a joint team of the Institute of Archaeology, RAS, and the State Museum-Preserve ‘Issyk’ (Kazakhstan) carried out test excavations of Rakhat. The site is a Palaeolithic station located in Southeast Kazakhstan in the piedmont region of the Trans-Ili Alatau which is one of the northern mountain ranges of Tian Shan. The test works revealed 13 meters of the loess deposits at the site. Two paleosols and 8 cultural layers werepreliminarily detected. Most occupation layers represent buried habitation levels. In most cases stone finds have an explicit vertical localization, there are cases of stone artefacts refitting in various layers. Layer 1 revealed burned and ash spots; a hearth was discovered in layer 4. Charcoals, sometimes, bone fragments, including calcined bones, were found in almost all layers. Preliminary archaeological dating is the early stage, possibly, the middle stage of the Upper Palaeolithic.