Comments on: New hominin remains from Uzbekistan are kinda-sorta Neandertal-like http://anthropology.net/2008/05/26/new-hominin-remains-from-uzbekistan-are-kinda-sorta-neandertal-like/ Beyond bones & stones Sun, 27 May 2012 23:21:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Obi-Rakhmat Grotto « Mathilda’s Anthropology Blog. http://anthropology.net/2008/05/26/new-hominin-remains-from-uzbekistan-are-kinda-sorta-neandertal-like/#comment-12829 Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:10:22 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=860#comment-12829 [...] child, who was only finally labelled as a Neanderthal when the DNA results came back. And a link to the anthropology.net page on the site, for reference. New hominin remains from [...]

]]> By: Krivoshapkin Andrei http://anthropology.net/2008/05/26/new-hominin-remains-from-uzbekistan-are-kinda-sorta-neandertal-like/#comment-12347 Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:10:12 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=860#comment-12347 As a team leader of OR project (since 1998) and principal lithic analyst there, I’d like to introduce some clarity into information posted here that concerns lithics. Obi-Rakhmat industry is NOT Levallois MP on no account. Yes, we have found some Levallois-like elongated points. But they are not classical ones (whether in terms of preparation of striking platforms or dorsal scar patterns). We do not have any classical Levallois cores. Even Levallois-like point cores (not numerous) combine two technological ideas – convergent unipolar production of elongated points from a wide flaking surface and unipolar blade production from an adjoining narrow flaking surface. So, it’s better to say, that we have just a reminiscence of Levallois technological ideas…
In terms of percentage – the dominant technology is a blade/bladelet production from unipolar narrow-faced cores.
As a result of 2008 field season we can affirm that at 70-80 kyr OR people already knew how to produce bladelets and even microblades from wedge-shaped cores (we have a good series of such cores and corresponding blanks from the lowest cultural layer – working on a paper right now :-)). So, OR industry is MP in a chronological sense (that’s for sure), but it has much more complicated technological and typological appearance, combining MP and UP signatures.
From my point of view, OR industry is a result of intrusive event into Paleolithic sequence of Uzbekistan (and that part of Central Asia in general). It has nothing to do with preceding MP industries of the region. As for me, OR type of industry could appear in a “frontier” context (co-existing of different populations). From this point of view, “mosaic” features of OR child look quite intriguing :-).
Unfortunately, our attempts to make a DNA research failed due to bad preservation of organic material in OR human bones…

Anyway, OR project is still in a progress, let’s wait :-)

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