Study of the Stone Age sites on the coast of Sarytash Bay (Mangyshlak Peninsula, Western Kazakhstan) in 2024

In 2024, the Russian-Kazakh-Azerbaijani geoarchaeological expedition carried out survey on the Mangyshlak Peninsula. One of the main areas of research was the coast of Sarytash Bay in the area of the Shakpakata Valley, where in the 1960s an expedition led by A.G. Medoev collected representative collections of stone artifacts, which he later attributed to different stages of the Stone Age (Early Paleolithic - Chalcolithic). In 2024, five main locations with accumulations of artifacts were discovered on the coast of the bay, generally corresponding to the sites reported by A.G. Medoev. The survey has established that in the Shakpakata area, archaeological evidence occurred at three main hypsometric levels: the northern slope of the Mangyshlak plateau, Early Khvalynian terrace, and Late Khvalynian terrace. Technical and typological composition of artifacts from all sites has manifested similar parameters and makes it possible to view the sites as workshops at the outcrops of raw materials. Artifacts from all locations had a similar degree of surface change - weak deflation and desert varnish, or their absence - which does not confirm their long-term presence in the open. Parameters of primary reduction were more consistent with industries of the Final Paleolithic or Early Holocene complexes. The paleogeographical context indicates that the main archaeological assemblages were concentrated on the surfaces formed after regression of the Early Khvalynian sea. Thus, an analysis of the entire data obtained during the survey indicates that the evidence from Shakpakata is most likely no earlier than 15 ka and, apparently, can be associated with the Neolithic.