The Neolithic and Early Metal complexes of the Chepkul 5 settlement in the North of the An-dreevskaya Lake System

Abstract

The problems of development of the early Neolithic and Early Metal Age complexes in the Tobol-Ishim interfluve are still insufficiently studied. A certain understanding of the cultural and historical processes that took place during these periods can be based on the materials of the multi-layered settlement of Chepkul 5, located on the territory of the Andreevskaya lake system near the city of Tyumen. The purpose of this work is to introduce into scientific discourse the research materials of the early Neolithic and Bayryk Culture complexes. Within the Neolithic pottery complex of Chepkul 5, it is possible to conditionally distinguish groups of vessels comparable to the ware of the Boborykino, Koshkino, Basyanovo and comb types, which find similarities in the vast territory from the eastern slopes of the Urals to the Baraba forest-steppe, and from the Lower Ob River to the steppes of Kazakhstan. Stone tools of such complexes, including Chepkul 5, contain points with high steep retouch, oblique points on blades, and geometric microliths. The presence of lips (overhangs) on the rims on the inside of the vessels, and certain other characteristics of ceramics, bring the analysed complex closer to the ware of the Boborykino Culture of the Yurtobor 3 settlement [Zakh, 1995]. Considering the date from charcoal from the settlement of Yurtobor 3 — 6591–6478 cal BC (UPI-559) [Zakh, 1995, 2009] — the time of existence of the settlement Chepkul 5 in the early Neolithic can be correlated with the end of the humid stage and the beginning of the dry period (8.2–5.5 cal ka BP) [Zach, 2021]. According to the location of the pits in the trench of the Early Metal Period dwelling 2 of Chepkul 5, which contained pottery with comb-pit and large-stroke ornamentation, the building can be reconstructed as a semi-dugout with a pillar-frame structure, with an area of about 40 m2. Similar structures, ware, stone and clay sinkers and other items belong to the Bayryk Culture, are dated to the 3rd mil. BC and can be considered together with the Ishim complexes of the Alexandrovo stage of the Ekaterinino Cultures within the comb-pit community of the 3rd mil. BC. However, the complexes of the Tobol and Ishim regions belong to different cultures, as evidenced by the complete absence of clay sinkers in the Ishim region and in the territories to the east. The presence of the latter, as well as drawings on dishes and petroglyphs in the Early Metal Period cultures of Trans-Urals, suggests that the population of the Tobol region was engaged in drive hunting for waterfowl during molting [Zakh, 2022], which could not but affect its cultural specificity.