Andrey Nedomolkin

• National Museum of Adygeya Republic, Russia, Maikop

The Hadjoh 2 open-air site is one of a few Middle Palaeolithic sites known in the northwestern Caucasus, which provide evidence of both the early (MIS 5) and late (MIS 3) stages of the Middle Palaeolithic occupation of the region. The 2020 multidisciplinary research indicates that Hadjoh 2 preserves four distinct Middle Palaeolithic layers, which h...

A comprehensive study of Paleolithic sites using methods from different disciplines makes it possible to reconstruct the time, climate and paleogeography of the area where sites are located, to make assumptions about the strategies of life support and mobility of human groups. The study of stone industries, involving not only the standard technical...

Located in the north-central Caucasus, about 70 km from the highest European mountain peak of Elbrus (5640 m asl) and 7 km from the only obsidian source (Zayukovo or Baksan) known in the Northern Caucasus, Psytuaje rockshelter is the first stratified late Epipaleolithic site dated from the beginning of the Holocene that was intensively investigated...

In this paper, the authors report results of a detailed technological and typological analysis of the Epipalaeolithic assemblages from three stratified sites in the North Caucasus that were excavated in recent years at a modern scientific level with application of sediment water screening, which allowed to obtain numerous microlithic artefacts. The...

The collective monograph «The Epipaleolithic of the Elbrus region» presents the results of multidisciplinary research in three stratified sites containing the deposits from the final Pleistocene and the early Holocene. The research was conducted in frameworks of the project: «Interaction of man and nature in ancient times in the Central Caucasus: d...

Recent studies of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the northwestern Caucasus are focused on the research of relations between natural (climate and environment) and social (behavior and adaptations) factors that governed settlement dynamics of Neanderthal and anatomically modern human populations in the region. The majority of Middle Paleolithic...

At present, the sites of the Upper Paleolithic of the Caucasus with an age ranging from 25–23 to 12–10 ka cal BP it is proposed to single out a separate period – the Epipaleolithic, by analogy with the Near East. This article summarizes data on the appearance of geometric microliths in the Epipaleolithic of the Caucasus and traces their changes dur...

Saradj-Chuko Grotto is located about 70 km from Mount Elbrus (5642 m), the two-peaked cone of a dormant volcano, Russia’s and Europe’s highest mountain. Near Saradj-Chuko Grotto and Zayukovo lies the only obsidian source known in the Northern Caucasus. Stone Age people highly valued obsidian as a raw material. They transported obsidian both from th...

Les dernières études sur le Paléolithique du Caucase montrent des migrations au Paléolithique entre le nord et le sud, l’ouest et l’est. L’article présente les premiers résultats des recherches complexes effectuées dans la grotte Saradj-Chuko. La grotte est située dans la région la plus importante en matières premières, à seulement 6–7 km du seul d...

Les auteurs de cet article publient les premiers résultats de leur recherche multidisciplinaire et des datations au radiocarbone des sites archéologiques de la fin du Pléistocène – début de l’Holocène dans la région d’Elbrouz et au Nord-Central du Caucase. En se basant sur ces résultats, on a reconstruit la dynamique paléoclimatique des différents...

Résumé Les industries les plus récentes du Paléolithique supérieur du Caucase se caractérisent déjà par une technologie bien développée de la fabrication des lames et des lamelles (microlames). Cet article présente les résultats de l’analyse des collections des fouilles effectuées par la méthode moderne permettant de fournir un nombre important de...

Saradj-Chuko Gro" o is located ~70 km north-east of the highest Caucasian volcanic mountain peak of Mount Elbrus (5642 m asl) and about 5-7 km south from the only obsidian sources known in the Northern Caucasus. This is a huge gro" o that has area of over 300 m2 and the entrance opens to the south-east. Saradj-Chuko gro" o was discovered in 2016 an...

In this paper, the authors report the discovery of a new site called Psytuaje rockshelter, located close to the town of Zayukovo in Kabardino-Balkaria Republic (Elbrus region, north-central Caucasus, Russia). The area is famous in that it is the only obsidian source known in the Northern Caucasus, called Zayukovo or Baksan. A single radiocarbon dat...

In this paper, the authors report for the first-time results of multi-disciplinary research and radiocarbon dating in archaeological sites covering the period of transition from final Pleistocene to early Holocene in the Mount Elbrus region, in the north-central Caucasus. Basing on these results, dynamics of environmental conditions is reconstructe...

The article presents an analysis of the changes in core reduction models at different stages of the Upper Paleolithic in the Northwest Caucasus. The broad chronological framework of this study (40 thousand - 12 thousand years ago) makes it possible to trace the changes in the preferred models for the use of cores. The correlation of the change dyna...

The north-central Caucasus region is notable as the area producing the only obsidian source (called Baksan or Zayukovo) known in the Northern Caucasus. Recent research indicates that both Upper Paleolithic humans and Middle Paleolithic (MP) Neanderthals exploited the Zayukovo obsidian and transported it to distances in order 250 km from the source....

The Zayukovo (Baksan) source is the only obsidian source known in the Northern Caucasus. We report new data, collected in 2017–2018, about exploitation of the Zayukovo (Baksan) source in the Paleolithic, including results of analysis of 34 new samples from Saradj-Chuko grotto, Mezmaiskaya cave, Sosruko rockshelter and Kasojskaya cave. This is the l...

Modern research of the Middle/Upper Paleolithic (MP/UP) in the northwestern Caucasus (NWC) is focused on the study of natural (climate and environment) and social (behavior and adaptations) factors that ruled settlement dynamics of Neanderthal and anatomically modern human (AMH) populations in the region. The most complete and palynologically best-...

В работе приводятся результаты комплексного исследования многослойного среднепалеолитического памятника Хаджох-2 на Северо-Западном Кавказе. Стоянка находится на месторождении высококачественного шаханского кремня. За пять лет раскопано ок. 33 м2 площади памятника, изучены отложения мощностью более 6 м. На стоянке выделено десять литологических сло...

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 fl int. During fi ve fi eld seasons, more than 6-meter deep deposits were excavated over an area of ca 33 sq. m. Ten lithological strata and four habitation-horizons wer...

Представлены результаты проведенных полевых исследований 2017 г. по поиску месторождений кремня на Центральном Кавказе с целью определения, какие могли быть использованы древними людьми в палеолите. Месторождения были картированы, на них отобраны серии образцов. Данные о месторождениях вносятся в специальную базу данных. Петрографические и геохимич...

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 Shahanflint. During five field seasons, more than 6-meterdeep deposits were excavated over an area of ca 33 sq. m. Ten lithological strata and four habitation-horizons wereident...

The Baksan (Zayukovo) outcrop, which is the only obsidian source known in the Northern Caucasus, was the center of attraction for both MP and UP populations. However, previous attempts of many research groups to find stratified MP sites in this area failed. Here we report the discovery in 2016 of the first MP cave site in the Baksan obsidian area....

The paper presents the results of a 2014–2015 comprehensive study of the upper Middle Paleolithic layers 4A and 4C in a multilayer site of Hadjoh-2, located in the North-Western Caucasus. The site is situated on the Shahan high-quality flint outcrop. In the course of this research a new area of the site was discovered and excavated, which provided d...