Culture transformation in Targowisko microregion. Trends of changes inside Danubian farmers

The aim of this article is to deepen the discussion on the nature and mechanisms of culture change based on the analysis of newly acquired materials from the Targowisko settlement region. Three groups of materials were acquired (from narrow time horizons) related to the single-phase relics of Linienbandkeramik (Brzezie, site 40 and Targowisko, site 16) and Malice culture houses (Targowisko, site 14-15). The absolute chronology of the beginning of the late phase (III) LBK was established to be 5100-5000 BC, and the classic phase (Ib) of MC was dated to 4650-4550 BC. Selected threads of the cultural tradition (in the field of ceramic-making technology and ornamentation and flint-blade production technology) were passed on among families living in individual houses. Settlement analysis showed the relative instability of microregions, the increased mobility of small groups of people, and risky colonization attempts in Targowisko region. No evidence of direct, contemporaneous contact between the LBK and MC populations was found. Key words: LBK, Malice culture, early Neolithic, culture change, Targowisko region

Materials of the Early Neolithic Culture of Site Dobroe 9 at the Upper Don

In the vicinity of Site Dobroe on the right bank of the Voronezh River it was discovered an accumulation of the Neolithic monuments, on the three of which the Early Neolithic pottery of the Srednedonskaya culture of the VI millennium BC was received. At the Site Dobroe 9, a homogeneous lithological layer was revealed, containing only the materials of this culture: pottery, bones, stone products. At the moment, 99 sq.m. of the site were researched by the excavations. The date of the pottery collection of the site was established as the last quarter of the VI millennium BC. In author’s opinion the given ceramics has the transitional character from the early Srednedonskaya culture phase, featuring ceramics decorated mainly with triangular pins, to the late phase of this culture, where the comb imprint decoration becomes widespread. The use of geochemical methods allowed the authors to reconstruct the features of the paleoclimate. During the existence of the representatives of the Srednedonskaya Neolithic culture, cool climatic conditions are replaced by warming and humidity increases. There was an increase in anthropogenic activity. This lithologically homogeneous cultural layer is dated-6150±100 BP (5317-4839 calBC) SPb-2840. This stone industry is represented by the flake technique. In total 207 stone artifacts were discovered, and 65 from them were tools. Such a small number probably indicates a high level of the industries that replace them: bone-carving and woodworking. The analysis of the faunal collection suggests the dominant role of the hunting in the ancient population.

Tipe Hunian dan Karakteristik Budaya Sampungian di Situs Gua Lawa, Ponorogo

Settlement Type and Characteristic of ‘Sampung Culture’ at Lawa Cave Site, Ponorogo. Lawa Cave, located in Sampung (Ponorogo, East Java), is an eponym site for the Sampungian culture. Its status within the cultural framework of the Javanese prehistory remains unclear. This article aims to reveal the type and characteristic of settlement in Lawa Cave, including its position within the historical framework of cave habitation in the archipelago. The descriptive-explanative approach reveals that the distribution of artifacts in Lawa Cave shows a distinctive feature. The bifacial arrowhead reported by Callenfels is associated with bone and pebbles (milling stones) in a relatively thick unit of cultural layer. Based on the emergence of milling stones, the inhabitants of Lawa Cave may have known simple agricultural activities through processing wild plants as their food source. Based on this, Sampungian can be categorized as part of the Para-Neolithic culture, which is also found in several sites in Mainland Southeast Asia. Abstrak. Gua Lawa yang berada di Sampung (Ponorogo, Jawa Timur) merupakan situs eponim bagi budaya Sampungian yang statusnya di dalam kerangka kebudayaan prasejarah Pulau Jawa masih belum jelas. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap tipe hunian dan karakteristik budaya Sampungian di Gua Lawa serta kaitannya dengan sejarah perkembangan hunian gua di Nusantara. Melalui pendekatan deskriptif-eksplanatif terlihat bahwasannya distribusi artefak di Gua Lawa menunjukkan suatu ciri khas tersendiri. Himpunan artefak mata panah bifasial, sebagaimana pertama kali dilaporkan oleh Callenfels, faktanya berasosiasi dengan artefak tulang dan kerakal pada suatu unit lapisan budaya yang cukup tebal. Berdasarkan kemunculan artefak kerakalpenggerus, diperkirakan masyarakat penghuni Gua Lawa telah mengenal aktivitas agrikultur sederhana melalui pengolahan tumbuhan liar tertentu sebagai sumber pangan mereka. Berdasarkan hal tersebut, Sampungian dapat dikategorikan sebagai bagian dari budaya Para-Neolitik yang juga dijumpai pada sejumlah situs di Asia Tenggara Daratan.

Geochemical Characterization Of Pottery Shards Unearthed From Kampung Baru Archaeological Site, Kedah, Malaysia

Candi Kampung Baru is situated in the Kampung Baru Archaeological Site, and it is one of the temple sites that used bricks as the main construction material. Based on the Global Positioning System, Candi Kampung Baru is located at N 05.58215°, E 100. 38004°. Apart from bricks, granite stones were also used as the pillar base of the construction’s structure. This study is an analytical approach on the pottery properties of clays discovered at the Kampung Baru Archaeological Site. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and physical analysis have been performed on these potsherds. 15 pottery shard samples were analysed to determine the chemical and mineralogical characteristics of the pottery shards. The results indicate a local provenance of these samples. The mineral content in the pottery samples also indicate the presence of minerals, such as quartz, illite, datolite and microcline. Furthermore, the physical analysis conducted uncovered a variety of motifs that adorned the earthenware, such as lines, nets, square and floral motifs. The mineral content and physical observation of the pottery shards indicate that the open burning technique was used to produce these pottery shards due to the presence of illite mineral in the pottery shards. The mineral content (namely illite) also shows that the samples were baked at a temperature between 650°C and 750°C. The content of the major and trace elements also proves that these potteries were produced from the same source and it is proposed that local raw materials were used in the production of the potteries, from which the nearest source that could be detected is at the Muda River basin. Moreover, the involvement of the local community in producing the potteries should not be refuted, as this proves that the knowledge of producing pottery by the local community had already started since the evolution of the Neolithic culture at the Muda River basin since 4000 to 5000 years ago.

The Origin Of the Kultepe Culture

The different opinions have been put forward about the neolithization of the Azerbaijan. Some researchers note that the South Caucasus’ Neolithic culture is related to Mesopotamia by origin; some note that this culture developed based on local traditions. New researches conducted in the territory of Nakhchivan are essential for solving these problems. New excavations conducted in Kultepe I, located near the city of Nakhchivan, led to the discovery of new facts related to the peopling history of this site and the peculiarities of the Kultepe culture. Studies show that there were various centers of Neolithic cultures’ formation in the VII—VI millennia BC in Azerbaijan. Moreover, the Kultepe is the oldest ceramic Neolithic site in the South Caucasus. Outputs of these studies indicate that Azerbaijan’s Neolithic cultures have no sources in the Middle East’s monuments.

Dwellings of the Kama culture in the Middle Cis-Urals

The paper describes the dwellings of the Kama Neolithic culture, which were studied on the territory of the Middle Cis-Urals. In total, six dwellings are known in the region at the sites of Ust-Bukorok, Khutorskaya (2 dwellings), Levshino, Chernashka and Ust-Zalaznushka II settlements. They belong to different stages of the Kama Neolithic culture. The huts were located either on terraces or in the floodplain. All dwellings had a quadrangular shape. Inside the dwellings, 1 to 6 household pits of the sub-oval or sub-circular shape are distinguished. Hearths are known only in dwellings of the early and Khutorskaya stages Kama Neolithic culture. All huts had no more than one exit. As a rule, it was located on the longitudinal axis of the structure. Dwellings belonging to the Kama Neolithic culture are known on the territory of North-East Europe, the Kama-Vyatka interfluve, the Lower Kama and the Middle Volga Region. The main type of dwellings are structures under a quadrangular shape, deepened into the mainland by 0,20,6 m, with 12 exits, 13 hearths, 16 household pits.

YURINSKY ANTIQUITIES. CONTINUATION OF THE RESEARCH INITIATED BY A.H. KHALIKOV

The article discusses and analyzes the results of field work of the Mari archaeological expedition and the author on a seasonal hunting site of the Stone and Early Bronze Age. Polyanskaya V site, located in the Western part of the Republic of Mari El, was attributed by its discoverer (A.H. Khalikov) to the circle of monuments of the Balakhna Neolithic culture, represented by hundreds of settlement monuments in the Middle Volga region. The main ceramic complex of the site consists of fragments of walls and corollas of vessels with pit-comb ornamentation. In the late 1970s, the Polyanskaya V site was partially destroyed during the creation of engineering protection of the Yurinskaya lowland from flooding by the waters of the Cheboksary reservoir. Due to the lack of possibility to conduct stationary excavations of the monument, V.V. Nikitin (Mari archaeological expedition) and we regularly collected lifting material. These fees were most effective in 2000-2005. The collection of flint inventory of the Polyanskaya V site has been significantly expanded. Thanks to our findings of throwing tools in the damaged by wind erosion cultural layer of the site, it was possible to more accurately determine the cultural identity of porous ceramics, which are also found on the monument square. Visiting the site by groups of hunters of the Eneolithic era is illustrated by flint arrow that have analogies in the inventory of Volosovo type settlements of the Mari Volga region. Keywords: Balakhna culture, stone tools, ceramics, archaeological collection

Stratigraphy at the Tartas-1 Neolithic Site (Baraba Forest-Steppe). The Characteristics of the Burials Cutting Through the Early Cultural Layer

Burial complexes dating back from the Neolithic era to the early-developed Bronze Age have been analyzed. The complexes were revealed at the Early Neolithic site of the Tartas-1 area in the Baraba forest-steppe. The site is represented by two housing buildings and a set of special pits intended for fish fermentation. The peculiar dishes, stone and bone tools, as well as the ritual burials of animals (treasure troves/offerings), made it possible to speak about a previously unknown culture of the Neolithic era called the Baraba Neolithic culture. The necropolises of various chronological periods were periodically constructed in the settlement area. The primary aim of the study was to compile the most complete summary of these burials showing the relative chronology of these objects. The Neolithic burial is the earliest. According to the radiocarbon dating, it dates back to the middle of the 5th millennium BC. This date is much later than the set of early dates received at the Neolithic site, the layer of which the burial cuts. The specificity of the burial practice does not allow making direct analogies with the famous Neolithic burial grounds. This may indicate the future identification of a special cultural and chronological layer, which may have occurred in the Neolithic era of this region. One burial is related to the early-developed Bronze Age (the Odinov culture), as evidenced by the specifics of the burial practice and the inventory. The relative chronology of this burial is clearly emphasized by the fact that the grave was cut by the burial of the Andronovo (Fedorovo) culture. The remaining 18 burials belong to the Andronovo (Fedorovo) culture. Two funeral complexes belong to the same period. Two rows of graves are traced; they are located along the edge of the terrace, parallel to each other. Two funeral complexes, in which the grave was surrounded by an intermittent ring-shaped ditch, are integrated in the upper row system. A distinctive feature of this area of the Andronovo cemetery is the presence of children’s and adults’ graves at the same time. Children’s burials are not planographically differentiated. There are both single and collective tombs. The accompanying inventory found in the graves is common to the Andronovo (Fedorovo) complexes; these are ceramic vessels, bronze cast biconical beads, temple rings, sewn plaques, as well as drilled astragali. The investigated funeral complexes include 20 burials and architectural structures (ditches) accompanying individual burials. To varying degrees, these complexes cut the cultural layer of the Neolithic site and have a later chronological position.