New interdisciplinary research on Neolithic-Eneolithic sites in the Low Volga River region

Abstract

The Neolithic and Eneolithic sites in the Low Volga River region have been poorly investigated in comparison with other territories due to a small number of excavated sites. On the Algay site and the Oroshaemoe I settlement there is evidence of the earliest appearance of Neolithic pottery and the first sign of domestication in the Eneolithic period within the Volgo-Ural territory. Archaeological, lithological, grain-size analyses, mineralogical-geochemical methods and radiocarbon dating of cultural deposits have been applied to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment in the Holocene in this area. The results show that the landscape-climatic conditions in the steppe area of the Lower Volga basin strongly affected the development and adaptation of ancient societies.

Keywords

• Neolithic
• domestication
• Eneolithic
• Low Volga River region
• geochemical indication
• Holocene climate