The Emergence of the Neolithic in the Upper Volga

Abstract

The paper examines a phenomenon of neolithisation in the Upper Volga basin. On the basis on: 1) research of the stone assemblages from reference sites with non-ornamented ceramics or pottery with simple puncture impressions; 2) comparison between types of tools in the final Mesolithic and initial Neolithic; 3) mapping of the non-ornamented/notch-ware pottery in European Russia, — the author reconstructs the details of the cultural processes in the region in 7100/7000 uncalibrated years BP. The initial spread of the non-ornamented/puncture-ware ceramics, which was not followed by fundamental changes in the stone and bone inventory, presents a model of the dynamics of cultural processes in the Upper Volga region about 7100/7000 years uncal BP. Locally, the Neolithic transition is linked with the arrival of some puncture-ware pottery makers who penetrated into the area occupied by indigenous Mesolithic population. Most likely, the first vessels were brought into the region by migrants. Te untraceable differences between the Final Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic stone industries may indicate hardly recognizable inflow of newcomers from neighboring territories into the Upper Volga region. Pottery-making tradition, either production of non-ornamented vessels or vessels decorated by simple puncture impressions, was formed in the environment of regional culture. Thus that should be regarded as a particular transition time from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic (i.e. neolithization). The later rise of the Neolithic about 6500–6400 years BP (uncal) was marked by shifts in the economy and by the development of local ceramics accompanied by the emergence of thin biface technique in the stone assemblages. These changes provide evidence of a transition to the Neolithic in the Upper Volga determined by the progressive replacement of populations.