Смольянинов Р.В., Ранний неолит Верхнего Дона

Summary the Srednestogovskoy culture at the Bukhovoye 10 site were dis­ covered. The constructions o f the Karamyshev culture were inves­ tigated at lots Rybnoye Ozero 2 (point 202) and Vasilievsky Cor­ don 3. These are light ground buildings; both o f them are oval in shape, with areas o f about 11 and 18 sq.m., only slightly extending into the mainland. The seasonal nature o f the sites o f the early Neolithic population should be noted. The construction from set­ tlement Rybnoe Ozero 2 (point 202) had a hearth and functioned, most likely, in the cold season; the construction from the settle­ ment Vasilievsky Cordon 3 apparently functioned in the warm sea­ son, since no traces o f a hearth were found in the investigated building. It is very interesting to observe that fragments from only one vessel were found in each o f the buildings o f the Karamyshev culture. Exactly the same situation is observed in two early Neo­ lithic dwellings at the Vyunovoe Lake and Utyuzh camps in the Middle Volga. Both o f these buildings belong to the Karamyshev culture o f the Neolithic era, and can be dated at about the same time. For the ceramics o f the Vasilievsky Cordon 3 settlement, one radiocarbon date was obtained: 5868+120 BP (5036-4458 BC) (SPb 1638). The territorial framework o f the Sredncdonskaya culture was outlined by A.T. Sinyukom. The specified border for the distribu­ tion o f its monuments to the north runs along the very upper reach­ es o f the Voronezh River. On the Don River, the most northern of the monuments known to us is the settlement o f Ksizovo 6. Mate­ rials with pin ornament from sites on the Don river in the Tula re­ gion -Monastery llA and others- belong to the antiquities o f the Verkhnevolzhskya culture. I f we discuss the stone industry o f the early Neolithic, it is worth noting that it does not seem to have been present in the pop­ ulation who left pottery o f Elshanskaya and Verkhnevolzhskya cul­ tures in the settlements o f the Upper Don. Stone collections that have been identified that can only be associated with the Sredne- donskaya and Karamyshevskya Early Neolithic cultures. Traditionally, the main feature o f the stone inventory o f the early Neolithic culture in the forest-steppe Don Region - in partic­ ular, o f the Srednedonskaya Neolithic culture - called has been the “blade production character” (coined by A.T. Sinyuk) and the overwhelming predominance o f blade-tools, as well as the absence o f burin. However, the flint collections o f the site Dobroe 9 and 191