NEW DATA ON RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY OF NEOLITHIC CERAMICS FROM THE VOLGA-KAMA REGION

The present article outlays a chronological sequence based on radiocarbon dating using ceramics from Neolithic sites in the Volga-Kama region. Sites in the North Caspian region are considered the most ancient being dated to the first half of the 6th millennium BC. The Neolithic culture of the southern forest-steppe zone of the Volga-Ural interfluve was formed at approximately the same time. Neolithic sites in the Lower Volga region are considered slightly later dating to the second half of the 6th millennium BC. Contacts between the steppe and forest-steppe cultures of the Middle Volga led to the emergence of the pricked decorative style in ceramics in the early 5th millennium BC. This tradition survived until the early 4th millennium BC. In the mid 5th millennium BC, the comb-cogged stamp decorative element emerged in the forest-steppe zone of the eastern Volga and in the forest zone of the Volga-Kama region. In southern areas, this tradition continued until the mid 4th millennium BC, and in northern areas, until the late 4th millennium BC.