The problem of the neolithisation process chronology in Povolzhye

Abstract

The Lower and Middle Volga basin regions border the Caucasus and Central Asia in the South. These regions are important in the study of the neolithisation process in Europe and the chronology of Neolithic cultures is of great significance in this respect. New 14C dates of different organic materials from archaeological sites in these regions have been obtained in the last five years. According to these data, the beginning of neolithisation in North Caspian region can be dated to the beginning of the 5th millennium BC; but in the Povolzhye it happened at least a millennium earlier.

Keywords

• Povolzhye
• Northern Caspian Sea
• neolithisation
• pottery
• radiocarbon dating