"Neolithisation" or "Sub-Neolithisation" of the Northern Pontic-Caspian Region? (original) (raw)

The Process of Neolithization in the Forest Belt. Arkheologiya Evraziyskikh stepey №5.2021

2021

The paper presents an analysis of the most studied Neolithic cultures of the forest belt from Scandinavia and the Eastern Baltic States to the Volga-Kama region and the Urals (7th-4th Millennia BC). The analysis was carried out using the following elements of the Neolithic package: ceramics, polished woodworking tools, long-term dwellings, large burial grounds, shrines and imported items. In the course of the study, the materials representing 16 archaeological cultures of this region were collected by the author. As a result, the most developed Neolithic cultures of the forest belt were identified, with due account of the currently existing data. The most common features – ceramics and polished woodworking tools – were also identified. The rare feature is the presence of shrines. Conclusions are made on the level of development of the studied cultures.

A New Neolithic Site in the Nothern Caspian Region. Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya. №3 (45) 2023

2023

Tuskuduk site’s materials from the North Caspian Sea region are published in an article. A goal of this work is characteristics of material culture’s remains, which were found as a result of excavation of 2022 year. The tasks of research include: description of the site, ceramics and stone inventory, their cultural attribution and determination of the place within the Neolithic of this region. During the research of the site, spatial, typological, statistical, archeozoological and radiocarbon methods were used. The nature of the cultural layer distribution was determined on the results of spatial analysis. The typological analysis made it possible to identify the features typical in ceramics and stone artifacts, to establish their characteristics in comparison with other complexes within the area of the interest. The archeozoological method contributed to the determination of the species composition of animals. Radiocarbon analysis specified the absolute age of the site. Based on the analysis of materials from the Taskuduk site, the presence of a preserved cultural layer was established. Ceramic and stone inventory belong to the Tenteksor cultural type of the Late Neolithic period. The specificity of the design of the upper parts of the vessels is revealed. Polished and drilled items were identified among the stone tools. Animal bones belong to wild species. The complex dates to 6700–6500 BP on radiocarbon determinations.

Neolithization processes in the Middle Kura basin

Universum Humanitarium

Research into the Neolithization of the Southern Caucasus has entered a new stage in the 2000s, with a remarkable increase in international archaeological investigations employing cutting-edge feld techniques and related laboratory studies. Current research indicates that full-fledged Neolithic societies emerged in the Southern Caucasus in the early sixth millennium BC, most likely through interaction with Neolithic societies of Southwest Asia. Neolithization took place in the southern Caucasus at the beginning of the sixth millennium BC, most likely as part of the expansion of the Neolithic socioeconomy from the Middle East, where the food production economy had been established at least a few thousand years earlier. However, local adaptation and indigenous cultural development are also likely to have played important roles in this process, by which distinct Neolithic ways of life emerged in the southern Caucasus. Tis article reports on 46 radiocarbon dates obtained from the two rec...

THE MESOLITHIC – NEOLITHIC TRANSITION IN THE UPPER VOLGA REGION RESULTED FROM THE STONE INDUSTRY ANALYSES (in Russian)

The paper deals with a phenomenon of neolithisation in the Upper Volga basin. The author studies the results of culture processes in the region based on: 1) the investigation of the stone assemblages from reference sites with non-ornamented ceramics or pottery with simple puncture impressions; 2) the tools types comparison over the final Mesolithic and initial Neolithic; 3) mapping of the non-ornamented/notch-ware pottery in European Russia. The transition to the Neolithic is associated with infiltrations of some puncture-ware pottery makers into the indigenous Mesolithic populations. It is most likely that the first vessels were imported into the region by migrants. The untraceable differences between the Final Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic stone industries may indicate a scarcely noticeable infiltration of newcomers from neighboring territories to the Upper Volga region. The manufacture tradition of the ceramics either non-ornamented or decorated by simple puncture impressions was formed in the regional culture environment. This event should be regarded as a particular transition time from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic. The later rise of the Neolithic was marked by shifts in the economy and by the local ceramic manufacture development accompanied by thin biface technique appearance in the stone assemblages. These changes give evidence of a transition to the Neolithic in the Upper Volga signalized by the progressive replacement of populations.

Early neolithic in Lovat-Dvina basin (in russian)

The article represents analysis of the first early neolithic sites revealed in this region. They include different cultures - the first one serteyskaya with the earliest pottery appeared in the 7th mill BC, rudnyanskaya which has analogies in Narva circle of cultures, and the first findings of LBK culture.

Sorokun, A.A. and Shydlovskyi, P.S. Исследования неолита Нижнего Подесенья / The Investigations of Neolithic of Lower Desna region. (in Russian)

Arheologicheskie issledovanija v Evroregione “Dniepr” v 2012 g.: International Scientific Volume. Gomel State University., 2013

Рассмотрев материалы местонахождений, можно сделать вывод об активном заселении Нижней Десны представителями днепро-донецкой культурно-исторической общности. Одной из причин высокой концентрации неолитических памятников было использование пойменных ресурсов древним населением. Широкая долина, особенно в устьевой части Десны со значительными дюнными массивами, являлась идеальной экологической нишей для ведения охотничье-рыболовного хозяйства и выпаса скота. Дальнейшие исследования неолита региона предполагают поиск местонахождений и полный анализ фондовых материалов, происходящих из известных памятников с целью создания культурно-хронологической схемы развития Нижнего Подесенья в каменном веке.

The Late Neolithic of Trans-Urals: Poludenka issues

Samara Journal of Science, 2021

The paper examines the Poludenka discourse in the context of historiography and modern research practices. It analyzes changes in attributive characteristics and essential interpretation of Poludenka ceramics (culture, traditions) and the associated empirical and theoretical difficulties. It is noted that the problem of typological criteria is associated with the periodization paradigm the use of three- or two-stage periodization, which includes or excludes a transitional stage in the material culture of the Trans-Urals Neolithic between the early and late stages of development. The issue of the genesis of the Poludenka tradition and foreign cultural influence, as well as its local isolation on the southern periphery of culture, is also considered. It is assumed that the ornamental originality of the Poludenka pottery in the forest-steppe Pre-Tobol Region is associated with the interaction of the Trans-Urals population at the end of the Early Neolithic with the bearers of the Makhan...