Candidate of Science in History, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Archaeological Studies, Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ufa Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia)

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the site-workshop Karyshkino-11, found on the eastern slope of the Irendyk ridge in the Southern Urals and characterized as a new Acheulean monument. The industry of the workshop was based on the use of local raw materials: pebbles, tiles, pieces of flint, and jasper. Primary treatment was characterized by splitting pebbles. Nucleuses are presented by amorphous forms with roughly radial cleavage of flakes along the edges. Similar techniques were used for making chopping tools, and many of them have a plano-convex shape. They usually have a sharpened end on the distal half, whereas the lower half (the heel) preserves natural pebble crust. Some side-scrapers have thinned backs with cleavages of radial direction. Rough scrapers of high shape, as well as convergent and denticulate shapes of tools, are present among the tools. Tools with sharp ends and spikes, distinguished by retouch, form a special group. The monument is a site-workshop, where there was a production of stone tools, cutting (probably) of animal carcasses, hides and wood processing, and, possibly, production or repair of hunting weapons. The presence of similar forms of tools in other sites of the region allows us to speak of a special line of development of the Ashel industry in the Southern Urals, which was called “the Karyshkino type of industry”. Direct cultural analogy of the tradition is the Tayac industry in France, dating back to the Riss time.