@article{a4cda511af44482c9489d798fa15dfac,
title = "The Middle Paleolithic of Tsagaan Agui Cave in the Gobi Altai region of Mongolia and its Siberian and Central Asian links",
abstract = "Stratified Middle Paleolithic industries in Mongolia are mostly known from final Middle Paleolithic complexes in the Orkhon and Kharganyn Gol valleys in the north-central part of the country, while Middle Paleolithic sites in the Gobi Desert have not attracted as much attention. Re-analysis of archaeological collections made during excavations of Tsagaan Agui Cave in 1987–1989 have made it possible to define transitional specific tool types as well as the systems of primary flaking employed through different lithic complexes. Recent excavations of Tsagaan Agui in 2021 and 2022 place the lithic complexes first identified there in the 1980s into a more refined chronological sequence. Preliminary technological and typological analyses reveal the non-Levallois Mousterian character of the Middle Paleolithic industry at Tsagaan Agui Cave. Here, we attempt to identify analogs of this industry in Siberia and eastern Asia.",
keywords = "Gobi Desert, Levallois, Lithic industry, Middle Paleolithic, Mongolia, Mousterian, Tsagaan Agui Cave",
author = "Khatsenovich, {Arina M.} and Rybin, {Evgeny P.} and Yadmaa Tserendagva and Dashzeveg Bazargur and Ganbold Margad-Erdene and Marchenko, {Daria V.} and Byambaa Gunchinsuren and Olsen, {John W.} and Derevianko, {Anatoly P.}",
note = "Funding Information: Lithic studies, spatial analyses, and excavations of Tsagaan Agui's Entrance Terrace were supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation, Project 19-78-10112П. Field investigations in the cave's Main Chamber were undertaken with support from the Leakey Foundation and the Je Tsongkhapa Endowment for Central and Inner Asian Archaeology ( University of Arizona ). Funding Information: We thank the Government of Mongolia and the administrations of Bayankhongor aimag and Bayanlig sum for their invaluable assistance in facilitating our work. Fieldwork was undertaken under Permit No. 22-12 provided by the Mongolian Ministry of Culture and facilitated by the Institute of Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. We appreciate the hard work of the 2022 JMRAAE expedition team and Ivan Dolgushin for their help in the field and laboratory as well as with documentation of fieldwork undertaken at Tsagaan Agui in the 1980s. We are deeply indebted to Prof. Andrei I. Krivoshapkin, for his assistance and advice; Maxim Kozlikin for his comments on archaeological materials from Denisova Cave; and to Gao Xing, Li Feng, Zhang Xiaoling, and Steven Kuhn for allowing examination of and productive discussions about Chinese Middle Paleolithic collections at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, in 2017-2019. Lithic studies, spatial analyses, and excavations of Tsagaan Agui's Entrance Terrace were supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation, Project 19-78-10112П. Field investigations in the cave's Main Chamber were undertaken with support from the Leakey Foundation and the Je Tsongkhapa Endowment for Central and Inner Asian Archaeology (University of Arizona). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 Elsevier Ltd",
year = "2023",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1016/j.ara.2023.100462",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "35",
journal = "Archaeological Research in Asia",
issn = "2352-2267",
publisher = "Elsevier BV",
}