Late Mesolithic–Early Neolithic human adaptation to environmental changes at an ancient lake shore: The multi-layer Zamostje 2 site, Dubna River floodplain, Central Russia

The multilayer waterlogged site Zamostje 2 in Central Russia represents a unique opportunity to study the interplay of human cultural history and its environmental context over the late Mesolithic – Middle Neolithic, ca. 7900–5500 BP (7000–4300 BC). Compared to previous paleogeographical reconstructions made more than 15 years ago and pollen diagrams for a number of profiles from Zamostje 2, along with materials from other sites from the region, in this paper we present new data about the use of wood by ancient inhabitants of lake settlements, and the discovery of fishery constructions. These data are used to reconstruct local changes in paleo-landscape and its exploitation by ancient hunters–fishermen during a period of two thousand years. It was possible to correlate the types of fishing constructions with the water-depth of the ancient lake. The fishery economic zone of the paleo-lake always been a structural part of the settlement. New data allowed us to revise or update previous schemes of local paleo-landscape changes at the site, and the regional scheme of the Holocene vegetation development in the Volga-Oka region.