Arrow heads at Obi-Rakhmat (Uzbekistan) 80K years ago?

Research presents a functional and technological study of lithics from the Obi-Rakhmat rock shelter (western Tian Shan foothills, northeastern Uzbekistan) dated to about 80,000 years ago. Ten meters of Pleistocene deposits record an industry rooted in Levantine Early Middle Paleolithic continuity but showing several innovations: systematic blade production from unipolar, bipolar and Levallois-like cores, shorter convergent pieces, and bladelets from burin-cores. The study applies traceological criteria and critiques standard acuteness indices (TCSA/TCSP) as insufficient alone for identifying projectiles, emphasizing impact-damage patterns and hafting-related morphology instead.

Analysis of a selected sample of 20 armatures identifies three distinct types: retouched points, bladelets, and notably unretouched triangular micropoints that had been overlooked because many are fragmentary. Morphology and functional indicators indicate the micropoints are too narrow to have been used for tasks other than as tips on very thin, arrow-like shafts; their design parallels microlithic projectile inserts previously documented in a modern human site in the Rhône Valley some 25,000 years later. These findings push evidence for light, mechanically delivered projectiles - a key element of later Upper Paleolithic hunting technology - back into an early Middle Paleolithic context, challenging assumptions about when such armatures first appeared.