The typological aspect of the study of bifacial tools within the Sibiryachikha variant of the Altai Middle Paleolithic

Late European Neanderthals, who migrated from the territories of Eastern and Central Europe to the Altai region between 70,000 and 60,000 years BP, introduced a material culture that underwent minimal transformation in their new habitat. The Micoquian technocomplex, documented in the Altai, exhibits characteristics consistent with European industries, most notably the production of plano-convex asymmetrical bifacial tools. This article pre-sents a pioneering assemblage of bifacial tools recovered from Chagyrskaya Cave — a key archaeological site as-sociated with the Sibiryachikha variant of the Altai Middle Paleolithic, featuring notable Micoquian assemblages. A typological approach has been developed for a corpus of 144 bifacial tools, incorporating methodological advances proposed by European researchers. The approach prioritises edge length as a primary criterion, enabling inferences about the degree of reduction, the availability or potential scarcity of high-quality raw materials, and the specific tech-niques employed in tool retouch. Several types of asymmetrical plano-convex Keilmesser knives have been identi-fied within the analysed complex, including Bocksteinmesser and Klausennischemesser. The analysis of edge an-gles reveals that bifaces of varying shapes can be classified into distinct functional groups.