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Tsagaan Agui
Tsagaan Agui
White Cave
Location	Gobi Desert of southwest-central Mongolia
Coordinates	44°42′43.3″N 101°10′13.4″E / 44.712028°N 101.170389°E
Discovery	1972

Tsagaan Agui (Mongolian: White Cave), located in the Gobi Desert of southwest-central Mongolia, is a stratified Paleolithic cave site with a calcium carbonate crystal-lined inner chamber. The cave has yielded abundant archaeological materials, some perhaps as old as ca. 700,000 years ago. The cave has been (and continues to be) used sporadically by Buddhists as a pilgrimage destination. The cave has been under the protection of the Mongolian government since 1988.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Geographical location

Tsagaan Agui is located in Bayankhongor province (aimaq) in the southern foothills of the Gobi Altay Mountains at 44º 42´ 43.3” N, 101 º 10´13.4” E, about 40 km northeast of the Bayan Lig county (suum) administrative center, southwest of the Zuun Bogd Uul (Baga Bogd Uul) mountain range.^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

History

The cave was discovered by Mongolian archaeologists in 1972 and first investigated by the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Historical-Cultural Expedition in 1987. In 1988–1989, excavations were continued by a Soviet-Mongolian Stone Age research team led by A. P. Derevianko and D. Tseveendorj. Between 1995 and 2000, excavations were undertaken at Tsagaan Agui by the Mongolian-Russian-American Archaeological Expeditions (JMRAAE).^[2] JMRAAE reinitiated excavations at Tsagaan Agui in 2021 with support from the Leakey Foundation and the University of Arizona's Je Tsongkhapa Endowment for Central and Inner Asian Archaeology.

Cave structure and stratigraphy

Tsagaan Agui consists of five parts: 1) the Entrance Terrace, 2) the Entrance Grotto, 3) the Main Chamber, 4) the Inner Chamber, 5) and the Lower Grotto.^[2]

Based on multiple analyses of the cave deposits, sedimentation is thought to have occurred during four cycles:

Strata 10–11 of the cave's entryway, Stratum 6 in the lower grotto, Strata 13–14 in the entry grotto, and Strata 12–13 in the main chamber. A wetter and warmer environment prevailed. In this sedimentation cycle, around 70–90 % of the pollen is associated with trees and shrubs. The remains of spruce and pine pollen were detected.
Strata 6–11 in the Main Chamber and Stratum 5 in the Lower Grotto. A cooler and drier environment than previously prevailed. Investigations show that arboreal species such as pine, birch, and spruce predominated in this part of the sedimentation cycle. Pollen of elm, maple, oak, lime, fir, honeysuckle, and hornbeam was also discovered here.^[2]
Lower part of Stratum 4 along with Stratum 5 in the entryway zone and Strata 3–5 in the Main Chamber. A cooler climate in comparison with the previous period was reconstructed here. A steppe ecosystem was most noticeable despite the presence of a forest complex. Among the spore and pollen findings, herbaceous and shrubby species predominated. However, the pollen of Picea, Pinus, and Betula in smaller amounts were also detected.^[2]
Stratum 2 in the entryway, the Entrance Grotto, and the cave's Main Chamber. A drier environment than previously was reconstructed. The debris revealed in this part of the cave includes a mixture of gravel, limestone, and calcite crystals.^[2]

Archaeological finds

The earliest cultural remains revealed in the cave are associated with the first period of sedimentation (Stratum 13 in the entrance grotto and Stratum 12–13 in the Main chamber). Bifacially worked tools, combination tools, flakes, and retouched remnants were recovered here.^[2]

Different forms of cores and core preforms, core-like pieces, blade spalls, flakes and chips, only a few with retouched platforms, and just one faceted platform were recovered from the second sedimentation cycle.^[2]

Levallois-like flake cores, core platforms, core-like pieces, part of a Levallois blade, and flakes were observed in the third cycle of sedimentation.^[2]

Remains of tools associated with the fourth sedimentation cycle are quite different from artifacts of the previous cycles. Tools were prepared on high-quality lithic raw material and a core reduction strategy was mainly used for producing bladelets. Scrapers, end-scrapers, trimmed tools, as well as retouched blades, burin-like tools, and combination tools were also recovered from this horizon.^[2]

Based on the analysis of artifacts from the lowermost horizons at Tsagaan Agui Cave, it is suggested that a Levallois-Acheulean like industry existed in Mongolia as early as 500-400 thousand years ago. According to Derevianko and Okladnikov, similar technologies appeared in Central Asia because of the in-migration of a population using bifacial technology to this region. It is also assumed that the bearers of Levallois-Acheulean tools emigrated from central Kazakhstan (Lake Balkhash region) to southern Mongolia. Tools prepared on Levallois-like cores belonged to the Late Middle Paleolithic (early Zyrian glacial) period. Blades were found in the cave belonging to the Early Upper Paleolithic period. These blades reveal that the first Initial Upper Paleolithic blade technologies were present in the Gobi by around 27–33,000 years ago (i.e., the last half of the Kargan interstadial).^[2]^[12]

Floral and faunal remains

Pollen of broad-leaved species such as elm, hornbeam, maple, and lime and grains of grasses including members of the Moraceae, Lonicera, and Juglans families were detected. Myrica and Ostrya seeds showed that they are no later than the Pleistocene.^[2]

A relatively humid environment was reconstructed in the bottom of the sediment column, therefore animal remains were only recovered from the upper units, especially from Strata 1–5 in the Main Chamber. Mammals associated with open steppes and montane niches, including kulan, arğalı, Siberian goat and dzeren (all currently present in Mongolia) dominated the faunal assemblage. In addition, bones of rhinoceros, cave hyenas and Tibetan antelope (Pantholops or chiru) were discovered in the cave's Pleistocene horizons.^[2]

References

^ "Gobi Desert | Map, Plants, Animals, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Derevianko, A.P; W. Olsen, John; Krivoshapkin, A.I; Tseveendorj, D (2000). "The stratified cave site of Tsagaan Agui in the Gobi Altai (Mongolia)". Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 1 (1): 23–36.
^ Blunden, Jane (2008). Mongolia. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 312/420. ISBN 9781841621784.
^ "WHITE CAVE". bayankhongor.khural.mn. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
^ "Ikh Bogd Mountain | Gobi Desert| Magnificent Mongolia". Mongolian Tours Copy. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
^ Baumer, Christoph (2012). The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors. I.B.Tauris. pp. 23/372. ISBN 9781780760605.
^ Deserts and Steppes. The Rosen Publishing Group. 2011. pp. 70/256. ISBN 9781615303175.
^ Brantingham, P. Jeffrey; Kuhn, Steven L; Kerry, Kristopher W (2004). The Early Upper Paleolithic Beyond Western Europe. University of California Press. pp. 207–221. ISBN 9780520238510.
^ Habu, Junko; V. Lape, Peter; W. Olsen, JohnOlsen (2017). Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology. Springer. pp. 68–69, 299–300. ISBN 9781493965212.
^ "Tsagaan Cave | Mongolian Cave Research Association". www.mongoliancave.com. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
^ O'Malley, Thomas; Skolnick, Adam Skolnick; Kohn, Michael; Karlin, Adam; Holden, Trent (2018). Lonely Planet Mongolia. Lonely Planet. ISBN 9781787019034.
^ Shunkov, Michael (2005). "THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ALTAI (RUSSIA) MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC IN REGIONAL CONTEXT". Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin. 25 (3): 69–77.