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The article is dedicated to cave drawings from Shakhty and Kurteke sites located in the high mountain areas of the Pamir. The main studies at these sites were carried out by V. A. Ranov in the late 1950s and 1960s of 20th century. The re-documenting of these drawings in 2019 and the processing of the received photographs by DStretch refined the contours and details of some images, important for attribution and subsequent interpretation. These data called into question some of the earlier analogies from rock art of adjoining territories, and also allowed to attract new analogies. On the basis of the analysis of sources, the possible chronological boundaries of the creation of rock drawings in the Eastern Pamir were clarified. It is assumed that images of the Shakhty rock-shelter can be dated within the range of Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. Some of the drawings of the Kurteke may be attributed to the Bronze Age, but this does not preclude an earlier date of the rest of the imagery of the site.

This article studies the discoid Didacna sp. shell beads discovered at Kaylu, a Middle Holocene burial site located in Southern Turkmenistan. Microscopic, morphometric, spectrometric, and SEM analyses were carried out on the material to identify how the beads were manufactured and used. New radiocarbon dating and bioanthropological data to age and sex the two skeletons discovered in the burials are provided. A regional synthesis shows that personal ornaments from the Caspian region were diversified through time and that a stylistic shift between the last foragers and the first farmers occurred. We also observed strong correspondences between the personal ornaments documented in the northern, eastern, and western Caspian Sea during the Neolithic, with no evidence of similar symbolic production in Northern Iran. We propose that a northern route may have allowed the diffusion of common ornamental traditions in the Caspian region to the exclusion of the southern Caspian. Alternatively, discontinuities in material culture diffusion in coastal areas could be evidence of maritime voyaging. Seafaring may have granted the fast and spatially erratic diffusion of specific bead types, people, information, knowledge, and symbols from both sides of the Caspian Sea, by long maritime voyages or by leapfrog diffusion during the Neolithic.

The materials of most of the archaeological sites of the Eastern Pamirs are known from lifting samples. One of them is the Kurteke rock shelter, that was discovered in 1960 by V.A. Ranov. At that time at the site there were distinguished two cultural layers dated to the Neolithic-Eneolithic and Eneolithic-Bronze period. This site is also interesting because on the walls of the rock shelter , directly above the cultural layers there are rock paintings of anthropomorphic and geometric figures. Modern data have shown that the first layer associated with the settlement of the site belongs to the final Pleistocene (older than 13 thousand years ago). In the course of the new stage of the study, palynological and carpological analysis of the soil, the study of undetectable faunal remains using the ZooMS method, and the documentation of rock carvings of the site were carried out. A comprehensive interdisciplinary study of the Kurteke materials showed that the stone industry presented here is typical of the mountainous part of Central Asia; the climate during both periods of human settlement of the site was arid, and despite the presence of cereal plants, no direct indications of their domestication were found; the faunistic composition of the site is represented by taxa typical for the territory of the Eastern Pamirs today; in the rock art there are images common in the territory of Central and Central Asia in the Bronze Age., Материалы большей части археологических памятников Восточного Памира известны по подъемным сборам. Одним из трех известных на сегодняшний день многослойных стратифицированных памятников на этой территории является навес Куртеке, исследованный в 1960 г. В.А. Рановым. Тогда же были выделены два культурных слоя, датированных периодами неолита — энеолита и энеолита — эпохой бронзы. Этот памятник интересен еще и тем, что на стенах навеса непосредственно над культурными слоями присутствуют наскальные изображения, выполненные краской, — антропомофные и геометрические фигуры. Современные данные показали, что первый слой, связанный с заселением стоянки, относится к финальному плейстоцену (древнее 13 тыс. л.н.). В ходе нового этапа изучения проведены палинологический и карпологический анализ грунта, изучение неопределимых фаунистических остатков по методу ZooMS, а также документирование наскальных изображений памятника. Комплексное междисциплинарное исследование материалов Куртеке показало, что представленная здесь каменная индустрия является типичной для горной части Центральной Азии; климат в оба периода заселения стоянки человеком был засушливым, и несмотря на присутствие злаковых растений, прямых указаний на их окультуривание обнаружено не было; фаунистический состав стоянки представлен таксонами, типичными для территории Восточного Памира сегодня; в наскальном искусстве присутствуют образы, распространенные на территории Средней и Центральной Азии в эпоху бронзы.

The transition to farming is a revolutionary step in human history. Domesticated species of cereals and small ruminants which spread from the territory of the countries of the Fertile Crescent appear in Central Asia during the early Neolithic period (the 6th — 5th millennium BC). In the middle of the 20th century several Neolithic cultures prominent for the Central-Asian region were defined: Jeitun, Kelteminar and Hissar. This publication is devoted to the consideration of the Hissar culture and the existing reconstructions of its economic structure. The Gissar culture is widespread on the territory of the Gissar-Alai and dates from the 6th to the 2nd millennium BC. Since the late 1950s the researchers tried to determine the type of economy of the carriers of the Hissar culture: the early stage of agriculture and cattle breeding; hunting and gathering; nomadic cattle breeding. This article examines the main arguments “for” and “against” the existence of a productive economy in the Hissar culture, namely, cattle breeding. Based on a number of signs, such as the presence of long-term and short-term camps, a large number of bones of small ruminants, the availability of year-round pastures at the site, the absence of hunting tools in the toolkit, the team of authors agrees with the point of view of V. A. Ranova and G. F. Korobkova about the use of early cattle breeding by the Hissar people. However, this hypothesis requires additional elaboration using bioarchaeological research methods. Keywords: Central Asia, Hissaro-Alay, Hissar, Neolithic, pastopalism Acknowledgements: The analysis of the general problems was carried out with the support of the project of the Russian Science Foundation No. 19–78–10053 “Origin of the Industrial Economy in the Mountainous Part of Central Asia”, the analysis of materials from the Hissar culture was carried out within the framework of the research program No. 0329–2019–0002 “Ancient Cultural Processes in the Territory of Central Asia”.

Ust’-Biyke-I may become one of the most important archaeological complexes in the northern Altai region. Previous research established that the site was first occupied in the developed Mesolithic. Traces of subsequent occupations up to the Bronze Age were later discovered, in addition to burial structures. A loss of archaeological deposits at the mouth of the Biyke River occurred due to natural and anthropogenic activity. In order to identify the most promising areas for future excavations, geophysical surveys of the site were conducted. An area of 31.5 x 24 m was examined with electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Results revealed an object with a diameter of about 4 m that was not visible on the ground surface. In its center at a depth of 1.5 m, a local anomaly was observed. Another isometric anomaly was observed in the southwestern part at a depth of 0.75 m. Other anomalies were also noted in the surveyed area, some of which are visible in the modern terrain as small depressions. Future excavations will clarify the geophysical survey. Keywords: Altai, archaeological site, geophysical research, electrical resistivity tomography, groundpenetrating radar, settlement Acknowledgements: Geophysical study at the site was conducted with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project № 17–29–04122), archaeological work was carried out at the expense of the project NGS-67706R-20.

Geometric microliths are one of the key-element of Central Asian Epipaleolithic complexes. This article presents a detail study on rectangles and lunates from layer 3 of Tutkaul site (Tajikistan) that were studied through the use-wear and negative scar pattern analysis. The results of the scar pattern analysis show two chains of operations in production of rectangles. In frame of the first sequence, the bladelets were truncated, then, the right lateral was retouched with backing retouch. In frame of the second sequence, at first one lateral of the blank was prepared with backing retouch and after that the two short sides of the blank were truncated. The lunates were made by backing retouch on the bladelet right side. Use-wear analysis shows that lunates were used as heads of the projectile weapons, and the rectangles as composite items for working on soft material. This is indicated by the following: traces of polishing resulted from contact with soft organic material on the working edge; traces offastening on the longitudinal retouched side of the basal part; in addition, several items bear traces of ventral retouch securing a tighter fastening of microliths in the haft. Thus, the rectangles could be used as knives or as lateral inserts of the projectile weapons where lunates were the arrowhead.

The development and dispersal of agropastoralism transformed the cultural and ecological landscapes of the Old World, but little is known about when or how this process first impacted Central Asia. Here, we present archaeological and biomolecular evidence from Obishir V in southern Kyrgyzstan, establishing the presence of domesticated sheep by ca. 6,000 BCE. Zooarchaeological and collagen peptide mass fingerprinting show exploitation of Ovis and Capra, while cementum analysis of intact teeth implicates possible pastoral slaughter during the fall season. Most significantly, ancient DNA reveals these directly dated specimens as the domestic O. aries, within the genetic diversity of domesticated sheep lineages. Together, these results provide the earliest evidence for the use of livestock in the mountains of the Ferghana Valley, predating previous evidence by 3,000 years and suggesting that domestic animal economies reached the mountains of interior Central Asia far earlier than previously recognized. Results - Site excavation. - Archaeofaunal remains. - Cementum analysis and dental eruption/wear. - Animal DNA. Discussion Methods - Excavation. - Radiocarbon dating. - Thermoluminescence dating. - Zooarchaeology and ZooMS. - Cementum analysis. - DNA analysis. -- PCR amplification. -- Library construction and sequencing. -- PCA of genome-wide sequences. -- Mitochondrial genome analysis.

Intensive research on the Mesolithic of western Central Asia began in the mid twentieth century, when the discovery of key sites allowed for the formulation of the main regional cultural-chronological schemes (Figure 1).