New Finds in Ortvala Klde; An Innovative Vision of the Paleolithic and New Objectives ofResearch.

Abstract

1.6.1.2.7. New Finds in Ortvala Klde; An Innovative Vision of the Paleolithic and New Objectives of Research. /N. Tushabramishvili/. West Coucasus - Archaeological Context. – 2020. – #1. – pp. 43-71. – geo.; abs.: geo., eng., rus.

The article discusses the outcomes of research which proves cohabitation of two populations – the Neanderthals and modern humans in Ortvala Klde. Yet as early as in 1994, I expressed the opinion that in Georgia there existed the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition period, and that it was possible that modern and Neanderthal humans lived simultaneously, or coexisted. The new laboratory analysis carried out abroad in the late 2018, in fact, confirmed the dates identified by me and the theoretical presumption of coexistence. In other words, as a result of substantial, multidisciplinary research it has been concluded that the Middle Paleolithic industry could belong to both the Neanderthals and the Homo sapiens. I am convinced the given definition will alter the attitude of the world prehistorians towards the industries of Middle Paleolithic. Recent research showed a necessary for conducting a repeated investigation of Georgia’s paleoenvironment, conditioned by the most recent discovery of the fossil of a macaque of the Pleistocene era in the Ortvala Klde. Fig. 20, Tab. 11, Ref. 56.

Auth.