Results of archaeological survey in the Eastern Pamir in 2023

Peopling of highlands is a crucial problem in modern archaeology. According to the latest data, the Pamir Mountains became populated no later than 13 ka BP. The study of this region began in the 20th century. This stage was associated with scholars such as V.A. Ranov, V.A. Zhukov, M.A. Bubnova, L.B. Litvinsky. Presently, research has been continued by the joint Russian-Tajik Expedition. During the field season of2023, archaeological works were performed at some known sites (Istyk cave, Kurteke) where samples were taken for geological and paleobotanical analysis. In the course of surveys for discovering new stratified sites, caves and grottoes in the Neyzatash Pass, Kurteke valley, Darvaz-Tash valley, Uch-Jilga, Tik-Tesh and Sary-Tash passes, Istyk River and Madian River valleys were examined. These surveys resulted in discovering a number of new sites of a wide chronological range from the Late Stone Age to the Middle Ages, such as Niyazyk, Samyn-Jilga and Koyon-Salamat caves, Darvaz-Tash, Darvaz-Tash-2, Sangi-Kashida, Neyzatash-2 grottoes, Istyk-4 rock shelter, and the Uch-Jilga geoglyphs which are discussed in this article. The discovery of new sites opens new and wide opportunities for archaeological studies in the region. Particularly important were the newly discovered rock art sites, which testify to much wider presence of rock art traditions than it was previously imagined.