Смольянинов Р.В., Ранний неолит Верхнего Дона

Summary idence time o f the Elshanskaya culture population at this place. On The ceramics o f the Lipetskoye Ozero site, were identified with the date BP 6854±70 (5888-5631 BC) (SPb 2254). In our opinion, a situation develops on the territory o f the Forest-Steppe Don Basin in which, from the beginning o f the VI millennium BC, two archaeological cultures coexist. One o f them is an autochthonous culture with ceramics decorated mainly with triangular pins, that has possibly developed, based on the local Mesolithic population. The appearance o f the second was the result o f the continuous influx o f the population culture Srednevolzhskoy - into the territory we are studying; this was expressed in the ap­ pearance o f monuments o f Karamyshev culture. Insignificant pene­ tration from the north o f the population o f the Verkhnevolzhskya culture is also noted in the northern part o f the Upper Don. In 1973, D.A. Krainov and his colleagues highlighted the Early Neolithic Verkhnevolzhskya culture, in which E.L. Ko- styleva identified three stages o f development. The northern part o f the Upper Don territory constitutes the southern periphery o f the distribution o f Verkhnevolzhskya-culture monuments in the VI millennium BC. They are few in number, with an insignificant cul­ tural layer; it is not possible to connect any other products from bone, wood, and flint with the Verkhnevolzhskya culture, either. The only certainty is that the Don monuments are not divorced from the rest o f the distribution area o f the Verkhnevolzhskya- culture population. For example, the settlement Gorodok 1 on the Ranove River (Oka River basin) seemingly marks the path o f ad­ vancement o f this population on along the Don River. The first to draw attention to the presence o f ceramics deco­ rated with oval tassels was A.T. Sinyuk; he noted that, lying in the site together with the materials o f the Srednedonskaya culture, they occupy the lowest stratigraphic position. The emergence o f new Neolithic monuments and their study in the early 2000s made it possible to highlight the Karamyshev archaeological culture. The development o f the ceramic traditions o f this population, apparently, follows the path o f most o f the early Neolithic cultures, from ceramics not decorated or decorated main­ ly with pins to the increasingly common presence o f the comb or­ nament on vessels. Unfortunately, due to the multi-layered sites o f the Upper Don, it is almost impossible to stratigraphically separate the materials obtained from the Karamyshev culture. 183