Personal Ornament Production Technology in the Early Holocene Complexes of Western Central Asia: Insights from Obishir-5

The stratified site qf Obishir-5 is one of the most important Final Pleistocene to Early Holocene sites in western Central Asia. In the Early Holocene component (10,700-8200 cal BP) of this site (layers 2 and 3), we discovered one of the oldest and largest assemblages of soft stone ornaments known from the region. It includes 5 items: three oval, sub-triangular, and sub-rectangular pendants, onelabret"-like ornament, and one ornament blank. All specimens come from stratified and well-dated contexts. As a result of the petrographic, experimental, use-wear, and technological analysis, we reconstructed the chain operatoire of these artifacts. lb produce them, local raw materials (talcite and serpentinite) were transported from a source located 4.5 km away from the site. Small pebbles, shatters, and spalls split from nodules were used as blanks. The surface of the blank was first prepared using grinders and burins, then biconical drilling and polishing were used to finish the artifact. Our results point to an established tradition of personal ornament production from soft stone in western Central Asia during the Early Holocene. Comparison of these nonutilitarian artifacts with those from other Final Pleistocene to Early Holocene archaeological complexes across Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Near East suggests that personal ornament manufacture may be an important hallmark of social developments across a broad geographic region.