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Papers by Sofia Scott (Chirkova)

Zamostje 2, on the Dubna River, c.100km north of Moscow, appears to offer an ideal opportunity to... more Zamostje 2, on the Dubna River, c.100km north of Moscow, appears to offer an ideal opportunity
to understand the relative and absolute chronology of Upper Volga Early Neolithic pottery. More than 100
radiocarbon (14C) dates are available from a stratigraphic sequence which spans from the Late Mesolithic to the
Middle Neolithic. All typological stages are represented among over 18,000 sherds of Early Neolithic pottery, and
many of these sherds bear deposits of carbonised food remains (food-crusts), which can be dated directly by 14C;
more than 30 food-crusts have been dated directly. Nevertheless, there remains considerable uncertainty about
the date range of Upper Volga pottery at Zamostje 2, and many of the issues raised are relevant to dating early
pottery at other sites. Moreover, the absolute chronology of Upper Volga pottery must have some bearing on the
interpretation of 14C dates for pottery from adjoining regions. In this paper, we discuss alternative interpretations
of the Zamostje 2 evidence.

In: Неолитические культуры Восточной Европы: хронология, палеоэкология, традиции. Материалы международной научной конференции, посвященной 75-летию В.П. Третьякова. Под ред. В.М. Лозовского, О.В. Лозовской, А.А. Выборнова. СПб: ИИМК РАН, 2015. С.92-96

Conference Presentations by Sofia Scott (Chirkova)

In north-eastern Europe, resource-rich aquatic and boreal ecotopes were created with the stabiliz... more In north-eastern Europe, resource-rich aquatic and boreal ecotopes were created with the stabilization of climate during the early Holocene, with a climatic optimum from ca, 8ka cal BP. During this period, pottery technology also dispersed across the continent and was taken up by a broad range of hunter-gatherer societies. We aim to explore how early pottery-producing hunter-gatherers adapted to these new conditions and the relationship between pottery and their subsistence economy. This study focuses on the site of Zamostje 2, located 110 km north of Moscow in Russia, along the Dubna River, one of the most important sites in this region due to its remarkably preserved, uninterrupted stratigraphic sequence from Mesolithic to Middle Neolithic (Lozovski and Chaix, 1996). The site was occupied during the Atlantic period from around 7,000 to 5,500 cal BC. The site has produced a very significant collection of well-preserved artefacts and ecofacts.

Faunal remains at Zamostje 2 site suggest a broad subsistence economy based on hunting/gathering/fishing throughout the late Mesolithic and Neolithic (Losovski and al. 2013), the latter period defined by the introduction of pottery. In order to examine the motivation for its introduction, we aimed to test whether pottery had a specific function or alternatively were used for processing a broad range of foodstuffs. To do this, we undertook molecular and isotope analysis of lipids extracted from 135 samples of absorbed and superficial organic residues on ceramics from Zamostje 2, using GC/MS and GC-c-IRMS. The results are compared to the use of other food-processing technologies (lithic, wooden artefacts, basketry) which are exceptionally preserved at this site, and to the botanical and faunal records.