Archaeological sites of the late Holocene in the upper Ishim river region (Northern Kazakhstan)

Abstract

The author describes the collections of stone artifacts obtained from the sites of the Eneolithic–Bronze Age in the upper Ishim river. At the stratified site Turgenevka-15, which is a closed assemblage, identified in the fossil soil layer of the Ishim high floodplain, was observed a special production of bifacial tools of various types. Radiocarbon dating of the soil layer with the finds showed that the site belongs to the 14^th–13^th centuries BC, which is not consistent with a modern idea about the age of the stone industry of the Early Bronze Age cultures in Kazakhstan and the wider steppe area in Eurasia. The archaeological material of the open sites of Vishnevka-8 and 9 includes samples of stone products typical of the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age, as well as more archaic forms typical of the Paleolithic (one-sided platform cores, as well as close to Levallois, tools resembling cleavers and axes), which should be considered as vestigial elements of the Late Holocene stone industry. The issue of remnant elements in the stone industries of the late Holocene (and the Holocene in general) in Kazakhstan needs further study with the involvement of more materials.