scholarly journals Experimental Analysis of Splintered Pieces from Upper Paleolithic Assemblages of Central Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Alena V. Kharevich ◽  
Vladimir M. Kharevich ◽  
Alexander Yu. Fedorchenko ◽  
Ksenia A. Kolobova
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Organic Materials ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Tien Shan ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Serial Production ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Experimental Use

Purpose. The subject of the article are splintered pieces and their variability from the Upper Paleolithic assemblies from Central Asia, which have not yet undergone special study. The authors employed an experimental approach to verify data obtained through the analysis of archaeological splintered pieces and to explore modification patterns of these tools. Results. Experiments included splitting various soft organic materials with splintered pieces, including red deer antler, wood, and bone. The experimental use of splintered pieces allowed to draw the following conclusions. The edge characteristic to splintered pieces was shaped by contact with hammers, but not with the soft material to be processed. Double-edged splintered pieces were produced when the tool was rotated and a new stage of use was performed. The morphology of splintered pieces varies depending on the intensity of their use. Conclusion. In the case of Central Asian splintered pieces (Tien-Shan and Siberia), the authors believe that only tools are being researched, not cores for the following reasons: 1. very small size of most double- edged splintered pieces, not allowing them to be considered as cores; 2. metric parameters of the splintered pieces are stacked in one reduction model, which is not typical for cores; 3. there is one bladelet core in Kulbulak’s assemblage, which was later used as a splintered piece; 4. morphometric characteristics of experimental tools used for processing of soft organic materials (wood, bone, horn) are almost identical to archaeological ones; 5. use-wear analysis demonstrated the use of all archaeological pièces esquillées as tools for processing hard organic materials; 6. there are other types of cores in the assemblages, which allow for the serial production of small blanks corresponding to those used for the manufacture of tools; 7. there is no shortage of raw materials that could explain the need to use such a miniature core.

Two Newly Recognized Paleoindian Tool Types: Single- and Double-Scribe Compass Gravers and Coring Gravers

1997 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 508-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Tomenchuk ◽  
Peter L. Storck
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Organic Materials ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Small Collection ◽  
Concentric Circles ◽  
Thin Disks ◽  
Tool Types ◽  
Experimental Use

A small collection of gravers from the Fisher site, an Early Paleoindian (Parkhill complex) site in Ontario estimated to date between 10,400 and 11,000 years B.P., produced two previously unrecognized tool types: single- and double-scribe compass and coring gravers. Experimental use-wear studies on replicated tools confirm that the compass and coring gravers were probably used on organic materials for engraving single or concentric circles, cutting thin disks, and boring holes. Although not identified as such, the compass graver occurs widely in North American Paleoindian assemblages and, judging from the presence and context of similar tools in the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic and Siberian Neolithic, may represent a specialized tool designed to express decorative, artistic, or symbolic aspects of Paleoindian culture. Together with other tools in Paleoindian assemblages, the new tool types promise to contribute to comparative studies concerned with the origin, development, and spread of Paleoindian cultures.

KAZAKHSTAN’S POSITION IN THE ECONOMIC COOPERATION WITH OTHER COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL ASIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-121
Author(s):  
Karlygash MUKHTAROVA ◽  
Yermukhambet KONUSPAYEV ◽  
Klara MAKASHEVA ◽  
Karim SHAKIROV
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Economic Cooperation ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Central Asian Countries ◽  
Economic Ties

Improving the forms and mechanisms of regional economic integration, deepening the mutual understanding on the formation of an economically and politically secure integrated space, expanding trade and economic relations, elaborating joint actions to maintain regional peace and stability, creating a single information space are among the key areas that have become the basis of cooperation among the Central Asian region (CAR) states. The authors reveal the positive aspects of cooperation among the CAR countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. First and foremost, these include common historical roots, linguistic and cultural similarity, convenient geographical location and established economic ties, which allow the states of Central Asia (CA) to establish a deeper and more active understanding of each other, to solve economic and political problems related to finding and realizing domestic investment potential and expanding regional trade and economic ties. The joint establishment of international transport corridors and infrastructure will help reduce the transport costs for Central Asian countries that supply export products to external markets, which is an important area of ​​cooperation in Central Asia. In addition, the economic problems that exist among the regional countries largely determine the nature of relations between them. Future solution of problems determines the subsequent viability of the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) and the regional development prospects. Based on the use of economic research tools, the authors examine the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on the state of trade and economic relations between the regional states. Post-crisis plans for economic recovery in the Central Asian countries will be developed and implemented in the context of the need to solve the present-day problems associated with the gradual lifting of quarantine measures. In this regard, the quickest possible transition of economies to an upward growth trajectory should launch the expansion of trade and economic cooperation and ties among the Central Asian countries. The authors emphasize the fact that another important problem within CAREC is the fact that CAR economies are dominated by raw materials, which does not solve the problems of reducing social inequality and improving the welfare of the regional population. For this reason, Kazakhstan, like other Central Asian countries, is currently in search of a new economic model. The transformation is crucial because the country needs to overcome its excessive long-term dependence on the export of oil and raw materials. The new economic model should be focused on further industrialization and diversification of the economy, on the search for new innovative approaches and development strategies.

Percussive-Abrasive Stone Tools from Chagyrskaya Cave: Results of Functional Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-31
Author(s):  
M. V. Seletsky ◽  
A. Y. Fedorchenko ◽  
P. V. Chistyakov ◽  
S. V. Markin ◽  
K. A. Kolobova
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Wear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Experimental Use ◽  
Abrasive Stone ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Reference Samples ◽  
Comprehensive Study

This article presents a comprehensive study of percussive-abrasive active stone tools from Chagyrskaya Cave, using experimental use-wear and statistical methods, supplemented by 3D-modeling. Experiments combined with use- wear analysis allowed us to determine the functions of these tools by comparing the working surfaces and use-wear traces in the Chagyrskaya samples with those in the reference samples. As a result, we identified 19 retouchers, four hammerstones for processing mineral raw materials, and one hammer for splitting bone, which indicates the dominance of secondary processing over primary knapping in the Chagyrskaya lithic assemblage. Using statistical analysis, we traced the differences in the dimensions of the manuports and lithics under study. These artifacts are a promising and underestimated source of information for identifying working operations associated with stone- and bone-processing; moreover, they can provide new data on the functional attribution of sites and the mobility of early hominins.

scholarly journals CENTRAL ASIAN REGION AT THE FOCUS OF GEOPOLITICAL INTERESTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (383) ◽  
pp. 192-198
Author(s):  
Z. K. Ayupova ◽  
D. U. Kussainov ◽  
M. T. Beisenbayeva ◽  
Winston Nagan
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
The United States ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Natural Energy ◽  
The World ◽  
Sphere Of Influence

In the XXI century the role of Central Asia in international politics is increasing. This region, possessing rich natural, energy, mineral and raw material resources, has an important geostrategic position, in which we see the geopolitical confrontation of global actors. The confrontation is explained by the fact that, for example, for Russia this region, being a “vulnerable underbelly”, is included in the traditional sphere of influence, from the perspective of China, the region seems to be an alternative source of energy and a vital partner for stabilizing and developing the troubled Xinjiang province. As for the United States and their allies, this region appears to be an important transportation hub, for example, for military supplies to unstable Afghanistan. Central Asia is not only a key region on the world map, the establishment of control over which allows you to manage the regional transit of hydrocarbons and other types of strategic raw materials for the largest developing economies, primarily China, and, as a result, affect their economic growth and aggregate power. Central Asia is a crossroad of civilizations, control over which, as was believed over the centuries, allows you to rule the world. The region retains its exceptional geopolitical significance today.

Mantra: a Review Essay on Islam in Soviet Central Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-433
Author(s):  
Eren Tasar
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Muslim Religiosity ◽  
Soviet Central Asia

Abstract This paper traces the development of the historiography of Islam in Soviet Central Asia from the Cold War’s outset to the present by illustrating its uncritical reproduction of modernist and communist templates for describing Muslim religiosity, and its debt to two foundational frames of Soviet antireligious propaganda: “survivals” and “nationalized Islam.” It highlights the important implications of these frames for this scholarship’s development, i.e., its assumptions concerning “normativity” and the “poverty” of Central Asian Islam, as well as the urban-rural divide’s salience in religious life. The essay concludes with a survey of recent scholarship on the subject.

scholarly journals Stress-strain state of the earth’s crust of the Central Asian mountain belt: distant effect of the tectonic impact of the Indo-Eurasian collision

2021 ◽  
Vol 929 (1) ◽  
pp. 012003
Author(s):  
M M Buslov
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Tien Shan ◽  
Earth’S Crust ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Sayan Region ◽  
Earth's Crust ◽  
Cenozoic Sediments

Abstract In recent decades, extensive geological, geophysical and geochronological data have been obtained that characterize in detail the results of the distant tectonic impact of the Indo-Eurasian collision on the lithosphere of Central Asia, which led to the formation of the mountain systems of the Pamirs, Tien Shan, Altai-Sayan region and Transbaikalia from the Late Paleogene (about 25 million years ago). It has been established that the formation of the structure of Central Asia occurred as a result of the transmission of deformations from the Indo-Eurasian collision over long distances according to the “domino principle” through the rigid structures of Precambrian microcontinents located among the Paleozoic-Mesozoic folded belts. The study of peneplain surfaces deformed into simple folds on high-mountain plateaus surrounded by rugged mountain ranges made it possible to reveal the parameters of the deformations of the earth’s crust, the interrelationship of the formation of relief and sedimentary basins. Apatite track dating data, structural and stratigraphic analyses of Late Cenozoic sediments in the basins prove a period of intense tectonic activation the entire lithosphere of Central Asia from the Indian continent to the Siberian platform starting from the Pliocene (about 3.5 million years). As a result of reactivation of the heterogeneous basement of Central Asia, high seismicity was manifested, which is concentrated mainly along the border of the microcontinents (Central Tianshan, Junggar and Tuva-Mongolian) and the Siberian craton, as well as in the zones of articulation of regional faults.

scholarly journals Realizing Value from Central Asian Allium Germplasm Collections

HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp W. Simon
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Genetic Improvement ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Wild Relatives ◽  
Interspecific Crosses ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Center Of Origin ◽  
Germplasm Collections ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Genetic Source

Central Asia is the center of origin for many Allium species and a rich genetic source of wild relatives of onion and garlic. For this reason germplasm collections of cultivated Alliums have targeted the acquisition of seed and bulb samples from this region, and several plant expeditions from Asia, Europe, and North America have collected Allium germplasm in Central Asia. Central Asian Allium germplasm has been valuable both as raw materials for scientific research leading to published data, and as starting materials for genetic improvement of the crop. Utilizing this germplasm it has been possible to improve garlic so it can be bred like other seed-propagated crops. Several interspecific crosses have been made between onion and other Central Asian wild relatives and these crosses have yielded useful traits for onion improvement. Allium germplasm from this region has also been important in elucidating the systematics and origins of diversity in onion and garlic. By any of these measures, Central Asian Allium collections have been valuable. Challenges and successes in collecting, maintaining, evaluating, and using these collections remain.

The “Kalgutinsky” Style in the Rock Art of Central Asia

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. I. Molodin ◽  
J.-M. Geneste ◽  
L. V. Zotkina ◽  
D. V. Cheremisin ◽  
C. Cretin
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Technological Properties ◽  
Special Group ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Desert Varnish ◽  
Ukok Plateau ◽  
Cave Art

On the basis of petroglyphic sites Kalgutinsky Rudnik (Kalgutinsky mine) on the Ukok Plateau, Baga-Oigur and Tsagaan-Salaa in northwestern Mongolia, a distinct “Kalgutinsky” style of rock art of the Russian and Mongolian Altai is described. The distance between these sites is about 20 km. This group is marked by very specifi c stylistic features, common technological properties, a narrowly defi ned motif, featuring only animals, and a very intense desert varnish. All these features and the proximity of the sites suggest that they should be regarded as a special group, which we term the “Kalgutinsky” style and date to the Upper Paleolithic on the basis of several criteria. Images of mammoths at Baga-Oigur and Tsagaan-Salaa are similar to those known in the classic Upper Paleolithic cave art of Western Europe. An entire set of stylistic features typical of the “Kalgutinsky” canon is seen also in the representations of mammoths, and this manner is consonant with that of European Upper Paleolithic rock art. Our fi ndings suggest that a peculiar “Kalgutinsky” style existed and, moreover, that it represented a separate Central Asian locus of Upper Paleolithic rock art.

NEW EU STRATEGY FOR CENTRAL ASIA: HISTORY, VISION, PROSPECTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 007-014
Author(s):  
Assima Aubakir
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
New Strategy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
European Diplomacy ◽  
Regional Agenda ◽  
The Eu

Today, the Central Asian region is once again becoming a point of attraction for the interests of the international community—in geopolitical, as well as in trade and economic terms. The interests of major world powers intersect here, and each has its own approach to establishing relations with the regional countries. The European Union, which never considered this region a geopolitical priority, has been implementing its own Central Asia Strategy since 2007. In July 2017, the Council of the European Union decided to completely revise the Strategy based on new realities, as well as the ambitions and priorities of the regional states in their relations with the EU. A new strategy for relations between the European Union and Central Asia was adopted in June 2019. The revision of the strategy is slated to allow the EU to strengthen its cooperation with the Central Asian countries, highlight the most effective projects, and revise those aspects of interaction that did not bring the desired results. Currently, there is an intensification of intra-regional cooperation in Central Asia; there are positive trends in the development of dialog on important issues of the regional agenda. For this reason, the approaches and tools of European diplomacy in the implementation of its policy in Central Asia are expected to undergo significant adjustments as the Strategy is updated. The subject of this article is precisely this transit period in the relations between the European Union and Central Asia.

scholarly journals New Great Game in Central Asia: An Analysis of China’s Interests

2017 ◽  
Vol II (I) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Manzoor Khan Afridi ◽  
Musharraf Iqbal ◽  
Sumbul Hussan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The World ◽  
Chinese Policy ◽  
International Power ◽  
Central Asian Republics

The importance of Central Asia for China increased with the change in international power structure, growth of its economy, rapid industrialization and increase in population. China is regarded as the second largest energy consumer in the world while Central Asia has rich energy resources and raw materials complementary for its economic growth. It is interested in the energy resources of Central Asia for the security of its energy supply and a large market for its finished goods. Prior to Central Asian energy resources, China was importing oil from the Middle East. The route of oil supply from M.E to China was passing through Malacca strait, under the control of United States, a perceived rival of China in the world politics. In case of conflict this route may be blocked by United States. This situation worried the Chinese policy makers and prepared a comprehensive policy regarding the energy resources of Central Asian region. Energy is not the only concern of China in Central Asia; it is also worried about the security of its Xinjiang, sharing border with some Central Asian Republics (CARs). About 60% of the population of Xinjiang are Uyghur Muslims. The same ethnic community also exists on the other side of the border in the Central Asian Republics. China has an apprehension that in case of instability in the region, terrorists organizations may instigate the China’s Uyghur for independence. That is why, China is supporting United States in its fight against terrorism. Politically, it wants to reduce the influence of United States in the region by integration with the CARs (Central Asian Republics) through SCO particularly after US military penetration in the region in 2001. Applying a descriptive-analytical approach in the paper, the interests of China in CARs are surveyed.

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