The significance of Tsagaan Agui in Mongolian Paleolithic Archaeology

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5564/sa.v47i1.4340

Keywords:

Tsagaan Agui, Paleolithic, Gobi Desert, Gobi Altai Mountains, Mongolia

Abstract

Tsagaan Agui (White Cave; Цагаан Агуй), located in the Gobi Altai Mountains of southern Mongolia, represents one of the few stratified and well-dated Pleistocene archaeological sites now known in the Gobi Desert. Archaeological studies undertaken at Tsagaan Agui since 1995 have revealed that the cave’s sediments contain cultural remains ranging from the Middle and, possibly, Lower Paleolithic, to the later historic period. Analyses of these deposits suggest environmental conditions favorable for intermittent human occupation existed throughout most of the Pleistocene and early to middle Holocene, the latter likely during periods of larger-scale climatic and environmental degradation.

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Author Biographies

John W. Olsen, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Russian Federation

School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, USA

Arina M. Khatsenovich, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Russian Federation

School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, USA

Alexei M. Klementiev, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Russian Federation

Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Russian Federation

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Published

2025-09-15

How to Cite

Olsen, J. W., Khatsenovich, A. M., Rybin, E. P., Bazargur, D., Yadmaa, T., Klementiev, A. M., … Derevianko, A. P. (2025). The significance of Tsagaan Agui in Mongolian Paleolithic Archaeology. Studia Archaeologica, 47(1), 6–22. https://doi.org/10.5564/sa.v47i1.4340

Issue

2025: Tomus XLVII

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 John W. Olsen

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