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The Soii Havzak rockshelter in the Zeravshan Valley in Tajikistan includes numerous stages of Paleolithic profession abundant in stone tools, faunal and charcoal stays.
The Soii Havzak rockshelter is among the extremely couple of multilayered stratified Paleolithic websites in Central Asia. Image credit: Yossi Zaidner & Sharof Kurbanov, doi: 10.15184/ aqy.2024.149.
Soii Havzak is a little tributary of the Zeravshan River, about 10 km north of Panjakent in northern Tajikistan.
The Soii Havzak website is a rockshelter/overhang sculpted into a cliff face about 40 m above the stream.
Hebrew University Professor Yossi Zaidner, Dr. Sharof Kurbanov from the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan and their associates excavated 3 locations at the website, uncovering layers of human activity.
The archaeologists found an abundant range of Paleolithic stone tools, animal bones, and greenery.
The discovers go back to numerous durations in between 150,000 and 20,000 years back.
They supply essential proof that Central Asia played an important function in early human migration and advancement.
“It ends up that the Zeravshan Valley, understood mostly as a Silk Road path in the Middle Ages, was a crucial path for human growth long before that– in between 20,000 and 150,000 years earlier,” Professor Zaidner stated.
“This area might have acted as a migration path for numerous human types, such as contemporary Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, or Denisovans, which might have existed side-by-side in this location, and our research study intends to discover who were the people that populated these parts of the Central Asia and the nature of their interactions.”
Paleolithic stone tools discovered in the Soii Havzak rockshelter, Tajikistan. Image credit: Yossi Zaidner & Sharof Kurbanov, doi: 10.15184/ aqy.2024.149.
The unspoiled discovers from Soii Havzak deal important ideas to the ancient environment and environment, along with the capacity for finding human remains that might determine which human types populated the area.
“The conservation of natural products, such as scorched wood stays, in addition to bones, is amazing,” Professor Zaidner stated.
“This permits us to rebuild the area’s ancient environment and supplies hope that additional excavations may expose ideas about human biology in the area.”
“This is important for comprehending the advancement of human populations and habits in Central Asia.”
The research study has more comprehensive ramifications for the research study of human advancement and migration, especially in comprehending how ancient human groups might have engaged with each other.
The Soii Havzak website in the mountainous passage of Central Asia might have functioned as a considerable shift point for human populations, making it possible for the spread of early people throughout large areas.
“We hope that continuous research study at this website will expose brand-new insights into how various human groups– like contemporary people, Neanderthals and Denisovans– might have engaged in this area,” Professor Zaidner stated.
“This discovery is a considerable action towards comprehending ancient human history in Central Asia and marks a crucial cooperation in between worldwide clinical groups.”
A paper explaining the findings was released in the journal Antiquity
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Yossi Zaidner & & Sharof Kurbanov. Soii Havzak: a brand-new Palaeolithic series in Zeravshan Valley, main Tajikistan. Antiquityreleased online November 4, 2024; doi: 10.15184/ aqy.2024.149
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