Découverte des sites du Paléolithique inférieur au Nord de l’Arménie

Palaeoenvironmental Background for the Early Paleolithic Occupation of the Volcanic Upland in the South Caucasus

“…In the beginning of this century new important discoveries happened in the Lori intermountain depression, Armenia (Figure 1) that is not far from the Dmanisi site. Three sites with the Early-Middle Pleistocene deposits and archaic Acheulian industries have been found in the foothills of volcanic Javakhetian Ridge (Muradovo, Karakhach quarry) and folded Basum Ridge (Kurtan I quarry) [13,14]. Recently several localities with similar artifacts were discovered as well in the foothills of Somkheti Ridge (Figure 1) but their geological context remains to be seen.…”

“…Almost three thousand artifacts of the Early Acheulian aspect (crude handaxes, pics, choppers) were found in the entire lowermost Bed III (~ 8m) that consists of gravels, interbedded paleosols and ash lenses (Figure 3). The lower levels of the overlapping Bed II (tuff) also yielded a number of artifacts, which are partly similar to those of the Bed III [13,14].…”

“…Fauna and pollen were also absent there and, moreover, unlike at Karakhach, these layers were not covered with dateable tephra deposits. However, the layers 4-9 of Muradovo as well as artifacts in them look as those from the Bed III of Karakhach to such an extent that one can assume their close ages and define both industries as the local variant of the Early Acheulian [13,14,16].…”

“…Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis existing in the range of 1.4-0.5Myr, the layers 1-3 of Kurtan I were attributed to a wide interval of 0.5-1.0Myr [16]. Lithic industry contained in these paleosols may be defined as the Middle Acheulian [13,14].…”

“…Hence, there is more or less considerable evidence suggesting that the volcanic upland of the South Caucasus was populated by early humans at different stages of the Early Paleolithic [14]. It was also shown that until now very few stratified sites were found in the region and, moreover, only two sites, namely Dmanisi and Azykh, have yielded a variety of information on palaeoenvironmental conditions.…”