Paleolithic Rockshelter Discovered in Tajikistan: Soii Havzak

The Soii Havzak rockshelter in the Zeravshan Valley in Tajikistan contains several phases of Paleolithic occupation rich in stone tools, faunal and charcoal remains.

Soii Havzak is a small tributary of the Zeravshan River, about 10 km north of Panjakent in northern Tajikistan.

The Soii Havzak site is a rockshelter/overhang carved into a cliff face about 40 m above the stream.

Hebrew University Professor Yossi Zaidner, Dr. Sharof Kurbanov from the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan and their colleagues excavated three areas at the site, unearthing layers of human activity.

The archaeologists discovered a rich array of Paleolithic stone tools, animal bones, and vegetation.

The finds date back to various periods between 150,000 and 20,000 years ago.

They provide crucial evidence that Central Asia played a vital role in early human migration and development.

“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,” Professor Zaidner said.

“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 well-preserved finds from Soii Havzak 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 preservation of organic materials, such as burnt wood remains, as well as bones, is remarkable,” Professor Zaidner said.

“This allows us to reconstruct the region’s ancient climate and provides hope that further excavations might reveal clues about human biology in the region.”

“This is crucial for understanding the development of human populations and behavior in Central Asia.”

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 Soii Havzak site 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,” Professor Zaidner said.

“This discovery is a significant step toward understanding ancient human history in Central Asia and marks an important collaboration between international scientific teams.”

A paper describing the findings was published in the journal Antiquity.

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Yossi Zaidner & Sharof Kurbanov. Soii Havzak: a new Palaeolithic sequence in Zeravshan Valley, central Tajikistan. Antiquity, published online November 4, 2024; doi: 10.15184/aqy.2024.149