Splitting Technique in the Neolithic Toda-1 Grotto (Southern Uzbekistan)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the results of studying the technique of splitting the stone industry of the newly discovered Neolithic site Toda-1 in the south of Uzbekistan in 2016. A new archaeological site was recorded 16 km west of Baisun at an altitude of 1100 m above sea level. The grotto is made of limestone rock, on the southern branches of the Baisun Mountains. With a depth of 15 m, the entrance of the grotto is 5 m wide and 3 m high, facing due east and resembles an asymmetric triangle. As a result of stationary archaeological research of the grotto, 8 cultural horizons were identified in 2018. Radiocarbon analyses of the samples taken, which were conducted at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed a redefined position of cultural strata. Studies of the grotto allowed us to record several hundred stone products, among which the main place is occupied by materials of primary stone processing – flakes, nuclei and plates. This made us pay attention to the technique of splitting fixed artifacts. The study of the splitting technique at the parking lot under consideration showed that the splitting of stones at the Toda-1 parking lot was carried out using hard and light stone bumpers, as well as an intermediary and a squeezer were used to extract plates and, less often, flakes. Siliceous limestone, dolomite, sandstone and flint were mainly used as raw materials for splitting at the site. The absence of vessels makes it possible to attribute this object to the pre-Ceramic Neolithic. This, in turn, suggests that this grotto belongs to a separate culture, which differs from other Neolithic complexes of Central Asia.