Kuksaray-2 site (excavation 2): new data on Sel'ungur-like industry in Western Tien Shan

The article provides data obtained during 2022 field excavations at the Kuksaray-2 site (materials from excavation 2) in the eastern Uzbekistan. Excavation 2 was made to verify data obtained during the study of the cultural sequence in excavation 1. A collection of lithic artifacts (112 pieces) was recorded in six stratigraphic positions in the sedimentation sequence up to 5 m thick. The three lower cultural layers-7, 8, and 9-contain a generally homogeneous complex characterized by: predominance of the planar concept of primary knapping aimed at obtaining flakes in parallel and radial directions; tools with double-sided processing of the working edge; notched tools with a specific Sel'Ungur retouch. In overlying layer 6, a blade component appears and predominates (narrow-faced cores, specific technical spalls). Thus, the observation made on the materials of excavation 1 on the combination of centripetal, simple planar (Sel'Ungur) and blade knapping in lithic production, with an increasing role of the latter from the lower cultural layers to the upper ones, received fundamental confirmation. However, such dynamics was not developed in the industry of layer 4, which allows suggesting the alternating presence of carriers of different lithic production traditions at the site instead of the “evolutionary” model, which assumed gradual enrichment of the Sel'Ungur complexes with a blade component. To correlate the stratigraphic cross-sections of excavations 1 and 2 with each other, to provide a detailed reconstruction of the paleoecological conditions in the region in the Middle Upper Pleistocene, and to correlate the discovered materials with the Sel'Ungur cave industry completely, samples were taken for micromorphological analysis and OSL dating.