Rysak - a new Paleolithic locality in Southern Altai

As a result of the 2016 field survey carried out by a joint Russia-Kazakhstan expedition, including IAET SB RAS and the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in the East Kazakhstan region, Paleolithic localities Rysak-1 and Rysak-2 were discovered in the northern periphery of the Zaysan depression. The locality of Rysak-1 is a basin of a small ephemeral lake, where a small collection of lithic artifacts was gathered on the lake’s saline surface, showing a prevalence of flakes. Based on a geomorphological situation, this locality cannot be dated earlier than the Late Pleistocene. The locality of Rysak-2 is situated in 3 km to the east of the dry lake. Archaeological evidence represented by large pebble tools was collected at the base of a small inselberg. The artifacts can be dated within a broad time range, spanning from the Lower to Upper Paleolithic.