Hadjoh-2: A Middle Paleolithic Workshop-Camp in Northwestern Caucasus

Hadjoh-2: A Middle Paleolithic Workshop-Camp in Northwestern Caucasus

Hadjoh-2: A Middle Paleolithic Workshop-Camp
in Northwestern Caucasus

DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.1.016-026

E.V. Doronicheva1, A.G. Nedomolkin2, A.A. Muriy3, M.A. Kulkova4, T.V. Sapelko5, and E.S. Nosevich6
1ANO “Laboratory of Prehistory”, 14-ya liniya 3, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia
2National Museum of the Republic of Adygea, Sovetskaya 229, Maykop, 385000, Russia
3Sergeev Institute of Environmental Geoscience, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulansky per. 13, bldg. 2, P.O. Box 145, Moscow, 101000, Russia
4Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Nab. r. Moyki 48, St. Petersburg, 191186, Russia
5Institute of Limnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastyanova 9, St. Petersburg, 196105, Russia
6Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 5, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

This article outlines the results of a multidisciplinary study of stratified Middle Paleolithic site Hadjoh-2, northwestern Caucasus, situated at the outcrop of high-quality Shahan flint. During five field seasons, more than 6-meter deep deposits were excavated over an area of ca 33 sq. m. Ten lithological strata and four habitation-horizons were identified. Excavations focused on bottom layers 6 and 7. During their accumulation, the site occupied a fl oodplain terrace on the right bank of the Sredniy Hadjoh River, a right tributary of the Belaya. Because the terrace dates to the Middle/Late Pleistocene boundary, the site is no earlier than the beginning of Late Pleistocene, 130–120 ka BP. Results of pollen-analysis suggest that the climate was cold and dry, and subalpine and alpine meadows prevailed around the site at that time. The study of lithic assemblages shows that the bottom layers accumulated when the site was a workshop near the flint outcrops. In both layers, knapping debris such as cores, chips, and small fragments predominate. Most tools are unfinished bifacial forms. These assemblages are paralleled by the Eastern Micoquian industries of Mezmaiskaya, Barakaevskaya, Monasheskaya, and Ilskaya.

Keywords: Paleolithic, workshop site, stone industries, Caucasus