The first evidence of bifacial technology in the middle palaeolithic of Tajikistan

The study of Palaeolithic bifacial technologies in western Central Asia is of crucial importance because of their traditional interpretation as a diagnostic element of the Acheulian techno-complex. At the same time, there was noted almost complete absence of bifaces and bifacial preparation spalls in the regional Middle Palaeolithic assemblages. The paper presents the discovery of the first bifaces in the Middle Palaeolithic of Tajikistan, on the Gofilabad site. The stratigraphic position of the artifacts in question within the first buried paleosol alow to date them to MIS5. This discovery expands the geographic scope of the recently defined Middle Palaeolithic bifacial tradition in Western Central Asia.