The Issue of Western Siberia’s “Flat-Bottomed” Neolithic Research (Chrono-Stratigraphic Aspect)

Abstract

Purpose. The article outlines three large provinces on the Asian territory of Russia which determine morphology of Neolithic ceramic ware (Amour River region and border areas of Far East and Pacific Ocean islands; Trans-Baikal region and Eastern Siberia, Western Siberia). Western Siberia is a territory where, in the Neolithic Age, such traditional shapes as round-, point- and flat-bottomed ones were spread. At the same time, inside the region, two areas – Western (trans-Ural and North-Western regions of Barabinskaya forest-steppe) and Eastern (Barabinskaya forest-steppe, high Ob area, including forest-steppes of Altai, and its foothills, and Kuznetsk basin) are outlined. If in the western part two traditions have been determined, in the eastern part, only one tradition – round-bottomed ceramic ware, has been found so far. Morphological specifics of ceramic assemblages of the Neolithic in the trans-Ural region caused a polemic in solving the issue of their cultural and chronological attribution. The stratified sites of Andreevskaya Lake System were the base of the main line of reasoning. The article presents a critical analysis bringing into question the use of stratified sites of Andreevskaya Lake System Neolithic as the reference. Results. The article suggests that the research of Taiga area sites, in particular Kondinskaya lowland, is the best approach to solve the main issues of flat-bottomed Neolithic of trans-Ural region in the actual conditions. In spite of its poor state of knowledge, the North of Western Siberia shows a relative stability of cultural tradition development. Synchronic and diachronic aspects of a zoned existence of round, pointed and flat bottomed Neolithic ceramic assemblages in the Taiga zone of Western Siberia is presented. Conclusion. The paper analyses the stratigraphic situations on the sites and objects in North-West Baraba (Tartas-1, Ust-Tartas, Avtodrom-1 and 2) which proves the early age of the Neolithic assemblages with flat-bottomed ware. This allowed to draw the conclusion about the identical development processes in the Neolithic of Trans-Ural and Baraba.