Study of Paleolithic sites of South Kazakhstan and Semirechye

The stratigraphic detachment of the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR studied the Quaternary deposits of South Kazakhstan. The Mousterian locality was discovered during excavations of the site of the Pleistocene fauna near the village of Koshkurgan, 30 km northeast of Turkestan. The pit (2x2.5 m) was laid in the central part of the now dry spring, which brought fossil bones to the surface. At a depth of 4 m, in Quaternary loams and clays, the marginal part of an aquifer (channel alluvium is in equigranular gravelly sand with pebbles and small boulders), saturated with bones of large mammals and stone artifacts, was exposed. Several lenses of fine-grained sand (traces of channels through which water flowed to the surface), also containing bones and stone products, move obliquely upwards from the main lens.

The raw materials of the industry are chalcedony, quartz, quartzite, sandstone, silicified siltstone, etc. Its source was local pebbles and boulders. Products do not have traces of roundness or significant natural damage. The total number of products exceeds 2,000 (per 2 cubic meters of rock), of which 13–15% are secondary-processed: side-scrapers of various types (including convergent ones), kina limas, Mousterian points, serrated and notched tools, knives, scrapers, piercers. All cores are monofrontal, one or two platforms. There are a few pebble tools, these are scraper choppers made of very flat pebbles. The size of the tools is 3-7 cm.

Within the limits of the Malyi Karatau ridge, Stone Age sites were discovered - Kuigankol I on the northwestern coast of Kuigankol Lake (Late Paleolithic-Neolithic), the Kuigankol 2 workshop site on the surface of peneplain at the foot of erosional remnants 6 km northeast of the lake (Acheulean) and others.

In Semirechye, a vast area south of Lake Balkhash, between the valleys of the Ayaguz in the east and Chuy in the west, Paleolithic sites were not known. Exploration discovered five locations of stone industries in the Aktogay tract on the left bank of the Charyn River. They are located at denudation levels II-VII of this section of the valley, at a 1.5-2 km from each other. Items (214 specimens) are mostly made of gray siliceous siltstone covered with a reddish patina and occur sparsely on the surface without forming noticeable accumulations. Primary cleavage products predominate: marginal and semi-marginal spalls, fragments, less frequently Levallois spalls and cores, radial and klektonic. The tools are single and are represented by pointed and Levallois blades, notched serrations, side-scrapers. Of interest is a massive (14x15x6.5 cm) porphyrite chopping with a surface covered with thick black desert tan, found on a Middle Pleistocene sculptural terrace (II denudation level) at the entrance to the Charyn river canyon.

The products of the localities are of different ages, but do not go beyond the limits of the ancient Paleolithic (the end of the Middle - the beginning of the Late Pleistocene).