The Teshik-Tash Child: Evolutionary Montage During the Middle Paleolithic

Authors

Nirosh Moodley, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Alesha Pettit, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Funder

Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

2016

Publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

Publisher Location

Las Vegas (Nev.)

Abstract

Discovered in 1938 in the Bajsun district of southern Uzbekistan, Teshik-Tash 1 represents a juvenile male hominin, aged between nine and eleven years old. He was classified as Homo neanderthalensis. Two pertinent characteristics of the find’s in situ context provided the backdrop for this classification. Firstly, the Teshik-Tash child was buried with associated grave goods surrounded by a Middle Paleolithic assemblage which has been described as “Mousterian-like” (Glantz et al, 2009: 45). Secondly, the very location of this find was the furthest eastern extent of hominin discoveries outside of the Levant. Recent research, however, challenges this boundary by questioning whether Teshik-Tash 1 is truly a Neanderthal specimen (Glantz, 2008). The Teshik-Tash juvenile is thus an important fossil to understand the dynamics and possible cultural links between the hominins of the Near East and those of Central Asia.

Keywords

Fossil hominids; Neanderthals; Paleolithic period; Uzbekistan

Disciplines

Archaeological Anthropology

File Format

pdf

File Size

656 KB

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Repository Citation

Moodley, N., Pettit, A. (2016). The Teshik-Tash Child: Evolutionary Montage During the Middle Paleolithic.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/aanapisi_posters/3