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March 29, 2026

Two Lines of the Development of Early Neolithic Ceramics in the Transural-Ob Region

Key Points

This research aims to explore the development of early Neolithic ceramics in the Trans-Ural-Ob region during the 7th-6th millennia BC.
Analysis of cultural types represented by various archaeological sites
Comparison of decorative techniques used in pottery
Examination of significant archaeological complexes such as Mergen and Ust-Tartas-1
Identification of two main lines of ceramic development based on distinct styles and techniques
Discovery of unique pottery traits such as round and flat bottoms
Establishment of sanctuaries and fortified settlements as cultural markers

Abstract

The paper discusses two lines of the development of early Neolithic pottery of the 7th-6th millennia BC in the Trans-Ural-Ob region. The first of them is represented by the Trans-Ural Koshkino and Kozlovo (Koksharovsky-Yurino) cultures, the second one - by the taiga Amnya, Kayukovo, Mulymya, Satyga types and the forest-steppe Baraba culture. The first is characterized by ware with a round bottom, decorated only with the retreating-stroke ornamentation (the Koshkino culture), or with subordinate use of comb impressions (the Kozlovo culture). A bright marker of the second line is flat-bottomed ware, also ornamented in the incised (retreating)-stroke technique with the presence of vessels with a round bottom and comb ornamentation in a number of archaeological cultural types. The Mergen archaeological complex of the northern forest-steppe part of the Lower Ishim region was the contact zone of these ceramic traditions. Moreover, two types of sites render bright features to the early Neolithic in the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia. The first is the sanctuaries represented in the mountain-forest Trans-Urals and the northern taiga zone of Western Siberia by «sacrificial hills» and a ritual ground fenced with a U-shaped ditch with various sacrificial objects of the Baraba site of Ust-Tartas-1 in the forest-steppe Ob region. The second type of sites, new for the Neolithic of Northern Eurasia, includes fortified settlements, which are recorded only in the taiga zone of the Lower and Middle Ob region. The most famous of them are Amnya I and Kayukovo 2. The emergence of these innovations in the prehistoric societies of the region could not be caused only be an influence from outside. In many ways, they were determined by the very course of progressive development of the ancient communities in the Trans-Ural-Ob region, which entered a new historical era, the Neolithic (in the archaeological periodization terms) or the late kin community (in the Russian periodization of the prehistoric society).

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