Initial stages of two Neolithisation models in the Lower Volga basin

In this paper, two groups of ancient sites located in the Lower Volga River basin are analysed. The first group is linked to the emergence of the oldest pottery in this region, which is one of the most ancient in Europe. The presence of this feature of the ‘Neolithic package’ can be dated to the middle of the 7th millenium BC. A production economy is a particular feature of the second group of sites, which can be dated to the end of the 6th millenium BC. This is one of the earliest pieces of evidence of the existence of domesticated species in Eastern Europe. These two groups of sites show the initial stages of two Neolithisation models in the Lower Volga basin.V članku analiziramo dve skupini najdišč na območju spodnjega dela reke Volge. Prva skupina je vezana na pojav najstarejše lončenine na tem prostoru, ki je hkrati ena najstarejših v Evropi. Navzočnost lončenine, ki je del t. i. ‘neolitskega paketa’, lahko datiramo v sredino 7. tisočletja pr. n. št. Pojav produktivnega gospodarstva je značilnost druge skupine najdišč, ki jih datiramo na konec 6. tisočletja pr. n. št. To je eden najstarejših dokazov o navzočnosti udomačenih vrst živali v Vzhodni Evropi. Obe skupini najdišč predstavljata začetne stopnje dveh različnih modelov neolitizacije na območju spodnje Volge

The Development of Early Pottery in the Forest Zone of the Middle Volga Region (Eastern Europe)

The article is devoted to the Neolithisation in the forest zone of the Middle Volga River basin. The different conceptions of the process are considered. The archaeological materials from different sites located on this territory and neighbouring regions have been compared. The question was raised regarding animal domestication and its attributes in the forest zone of the Volga region in the Neolithic period. The hypothesis that pottery spread in the forest zone of the Middle Volga region under the influence of cultures from a forest-steppe zone of the Volga region was examined, and the chronological frame of this process was determined. However, the process has been essentially one of migration and was not autochthonous. The mobile lifestyle of early Neolithic hunters played a major part in their movements and did not connect with a productive economy (i.e. domestication). An indicator of these changes is pottery style. For the forest zone of the Middle Volga region, the earliest Neolithic vessels are characterized by rare ornamental patterns that appeared earlier than other types

Radiocarbon Chronology of the Burial Ground near the village of Syezzheye

The paper deals with absolute radiocarbon chronology of the burial ground near the village of Syezzheye that was established during long-term archaeological investigations. This burial ground is interesting not only for the study of Eneolithic of forest zone in the Volga River region but also for the entire Mariupol historical and cultural area. This publication is timed to 50 years since discovery of this site in 1973 and anniversaries of archaeologists G.I. Matveyeva and I.B. Vasilyev. The most difficult aspects of this burial ground study are determination of its homogeneity and reliable chronological framework because of lack of inventory at some burials. To determine the chronology of burial grounds, several radiocarbon dates on organics from ceramics had been obtained. These dates gave two chronological intervals: the first interval is the second half of the VI millennium BC and the second one is the first half of the V millennium BC. After that the radiocarbon dates of 6520±30 ВР and 5925±25 ВР on the human bones from two burials were obtained that confirmed earlier determined dates. The repeated radiocarbon analysis of three ceramic samples confirmed just second interval of the first half of the V millennium BC. In 2022 three AMS dates were obtained in the Lab of IAE SB RAS. The bone artifact from burial 10 was dated to the Mesolithic. The bone harpoon from the sacrificial zone was dated to the same age as the “collar” pottery of the Eneolithic (4900–4800 calBC). The chronological framework of the Eneolithic complex of burial ground near the village of Syezzheye coincides with the absolute dates of the Caspian culture

The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: All collapsed and paired-end sequence data for samples sequenced in this study are available in compressed fastq format through the European Nucleotide Archive under accession number PRJEB44430, together with rescaled and trimmed bam sequence alignments against both the nuclear and mitochondrial horse reference genomes. Previously published ancient data used in this study are available under accession numbers PRJEB7537, PRJEB10098, PRJEB10854, PRJEB22390 and PRJEB31613, and detailed in Supplementary Table 1. The genomes of ten modern horses, publicly available, were also accessed as indicated in their corresponding original publications57,61,85-87.NOTE: see the published version available via the DOI in this record for the full list of authorsDomestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 BC. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia and Anatolia, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 BC, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 BC driving the spread of Indo-European languages. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium BC Sintashta culture

Proceedings of the seventh international conference on electron spectroscopy

The paper focuses on the results of archaeological, palaezoological, and radiocarbon analyses of Neolithic and Eneolithic sites in the Northern Caspian and Lower Volga regions. New analyses show that only wild animal species inhabited the territory in the Neolithic. Animals were not domesticated until the Eneolithic period.Članek predstavlja rezultate arheoloških, paleozooloških in radiokarbonskih analiz na neolitskih in eneolitskih najdiščih v severno kaspijski regiji in na področju Spodnje Volge. Rezultati kažejo, da so bile v neolitiku prisotne samo divje živali. Prve udomačene živali se pojavijo v eneolitiku

Radiokarbonska kronologija neolitika v porečju reke Volge (vzhodni del ruske Evrope)

The radiocarbon dates obtained on materials from archaeological sites of the Low and Middle Povolzhye are presented in this article. The analysis of the complex of radiocarbon dates allowed a determination of the most appropriate dates for forming chronological schemes of cultural development in this region. The chronological frameworks of the Early Neolithic in the Low Povolzhye were determined from 6600–5500 cal BC; in the Middle Povolzhye they are from 6500 to 4600 cal BC.V članku predstavljamo rezultate radiokarbonskih datacij zbirov iz arheoloških naj­dišč na območju spodnje in srednje Volge. Z analizo kompleksnih radiokarbonskih datumov smo lah­ko določili tiste datume, ki so najbolj ustrezni za oblikovanje časovnega okvirja kulturnega razvoja v re­giji. V spodnjem toku reke Volge ga postavljamo v čas med 6600 in 5500 pr. n. št., na območju sred­njega toka reke Volge pa med 6500 in 4600 pr. n. št