Preliminary results of the 2021 excavation campaign at Tsagaan Agui cave in the gobi Altai region, Mongolia

Middle and Upper Paleolithic human migrations and dispersals throughout Central Asia are usually associated with middle altitudes and mild steppe and forest-steppe environments with herds of large game mammals. However, since at least the Middle Paleolithic, human populations penetrated areas of Central Asia characterized by extreme arid climatic and environmental conditions in modern times. Investigation of archaeological sites in such regions demands understanding whether Pleistocene environmental conditions were more favorable to human habitation, what types of adaptation pressures human populations faced, and what kinds of adaptive mechanisms were developed. The Gobi Desert and Gobi Altai Mountains of southern Mongolia comprise one such region. Exposed and stratified Paleolithic sites there include Tsagaan Agui Cave and a variety of surface occurrences. Middle and Upper Paleolithic archaeological complexes at Tsagaan Agui are associated with various faunal species recovered in situ from sediments, allowing the reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental conditions of human habitation there. Following trilateral excavations conducted at Tsagaan Agui in 1995-2000, the longitudinal profile of the cave was uncovered in 2021 to collect sediments and other samples and a small test pit was excavated in the cave ’s main chamber. Layers 2.1-4 of Test Pit 2021/2 yielded a bone industry, Paleolithic art mobilier, and a small collection of lithic artifacts, all in stratigraphic context. Evidence of episodic hyaena occupation was also revealed in Layer 2.2. The 2021 Tsagaan Agui Cave excavation campaign provides clear rationale for further investigation of this site, especially excavations in the northern part of the cave that has not been previously studied, as well as garnering additional data for refined paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions.