HUMAN ENVIRONMENT IN THE NAKHICHEVAN REGION DURING THE MOUSTERIAN (Based on the Gazma Cave Site, Azerbaijan)

Palynological and granulometric analyses of Mousterian deposits at the Gazma Cave site demonstrate that the Middle Paleolithic humans of that region lived not only in forests but also in the oak and juniper woodlands of the arid zone. At that time, the climate was less arid than it is today. Human settlement of the Gazma Cave began at a time when aridity was decreasing and the cave was abandoned as aridity levels increased.