Multi-layered site in Tajikistan's Zeravshan Valley uncovered, offering new insights into human expansion

EurekAlert! ^ | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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"It turns out that the Zeravshan Valley, known primarily as a Silk Road route in the Middle Ages, was a key route for human expansion long before that—between 20,000 and 150,000 years ago," explained Prof. Zaidner. "This region may have served as a migration route for several human species, such as modern Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, or Denisovans, which may have coexisted in this area, and our research aims to uncover who were the humans that inhabited these parts of the Central Asia and the nature of their interactions."

The archaeological team excavated three areas at Soii Havzak, unearthing layers of human activity. The well-preserved remains offer valuable clues to the ancient climate and environment, as well as the potential for discovering human remains that could identify which human species inhabited the region...

The research has broader implications for the study of human evolution and migration, particularly in understanding how ancient human groups may have interacted with each other. The team believes that Soii Havzak location in the mountainous corridor of Central Asia may have served as a significant transition point for human populations, enabling the spread of early humans across vast regions.

"We hope that ongoing research at this site will reveal new insights into how different human groups—like modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans—may have interacted in this region," said Prof. Zaidner. "This discovery is a significant step toward understanding ancient human history in Central Asia and marks an important collaboration between international scientific teams."

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View on Zeravshan river valley from Soii Havzak

Credit: Yossi Zaidner and Team

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“...the nature of their interactions.”

Let me think about that for a moment...OK, I know.

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:^)

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Led by Prof. Yossi Zaidner of the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University [of Jerusalem, Israel] and Dr. Sharof Kurbanov from the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.

Tajikistan is 98% Islamic. Off topic, but it is remarkable a Jew from Israel and a Moslem from Tajikistan can collaborate on this great research. Good for them that their love of archaeology and professionalism transcends religious differences.

Another off topic tidbit of interest: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918

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Other than Sirianides, I’m not sure the Central Asian former SSRs got much attention during the Soviet era, and they probably don’t quite trust the Federation, particularly since 2022. :^)

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During the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 before present, an approximately 2,400,000 square kilometres (930,000 sq mi) ice sheet covered the Tibetan Plateau, causing excessive radiative forcing i.e. the ice in Tibet reflected at least four times more radiation energy per unit area into space than ice at higher latitudes, which further cooled overlying atmosphere at that time. This impacted the regional climate. Without the thermal low pressure caused by the heating, there was no monsoon over the Indian subcontinent. This lack of monsoon caused extensive rainfall over the Sahara, expansion of the Thar Desert, more dust deposited into the Arabian Sea, a lowering of the biotic life zones on the Indian subcontinent, and animals responded to this shift in climate with the Javan rusa deer migrating into India...

10,000-8,000 years ago a paleo channel of Ghaggar-Hakra River - identified with the paleo Sarasvati River, after confluence with Sutlej flowed into the Nara river - a delta channel of the Indus River, changed its course, leaving the Ghaggar-Hakra as a system of monsoon-fed rivers which did not reach the sea and now ends in the Thar desert...

4,000 years ago when monsoons diminished even further, the dried-up Harkra become an intermittent river, and the urban Harappan civilisation declined, becoming localized in smaller agricultural communities.

Thar Desert ecoregion