THE NEOLITHIC–ENEOLITHIC TRANSITION IN THE FOREST-STEPPE AND FOREST MIDDLE VOLGA REGION: FORMS, MODELS AND CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

The transition from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic in the forest-steppe and forest zones of the Middle Volga region is a very complex and multi-vector process. The Samara and Khvalynsk cultures of the forest-steppe Volga region are newcomers and have fundamental differences from the materials of the Srednevolzhskaya Neolithic culture at the early stages of development. The results of radiocarbon dating indicate the time of their coexistence from the beginning to the third quarter of the 5th millennium BC. During the specified period, the indicated groups interact with varying degrees of intensity from the borrowing of individual features to the appearance of syncretic types of dishes (type Lebyazhinka III, the Ivanovo stage of the Samara culture). As a result, these processes lead to the formation of a number of Late Eneolithic cultural types (Chekalinsky and Toksky). In the forest zone of the Middle Volga region, there is a gradual transition from the Neolithic to the Eneolithic. The Neolithic groups of this region (carriers of the Kama comb and Volga-Oka combpit traditions) actively interact with each other, which was reflected in the formation of Krasnyy Most type of ceramics in the last quarter of the 5th millennium BC. In turn, in the first half of the 4th millennium BC, the Krasnyy Most type of ceramics became one of the main components of the Middle Volga variant of the Volosovo Eneolithic culture.