The Complexes with Flat-Bottomed Ceramics in the Neolithic of the Urals and Western Siberia: Current State of the Problems of Study

Abstract

Purpose. Archaeological science has intensively developed in the last few decades. The methodology is being improved, the number of investigated objects is increasing, and archaeological material is accumulating. One of the most important aspects of scientific activity is the integration of the results of work into the scientific community. Results. On March 16–19, 2020, a scientific seminar named “The complexes with flat-bottomed ceramics in the Neolithic of the Urals and Western Siberia: typology, technology, chronology, genesis” was held in Yekaterinburg. More than 50 leading specialists came from the Urals, Western Siberia, Germany and Japan. The set of reports were presented, each presentation was followed by a discussion. The participants had an opportunity to examine the collections of the archaeological sites with flat-bottomed pottery. At the final discussion, a number of serious conclusions were made. They are relevant for the entire region of Northern Eurasia, not only for the Urals and Western Siberia. Conclusion. It has been confirmed that flat-bottomed pottery appeared in Western Siberia and the Urals in the 7th millennium BC. The earliest complexes were discovered in the Baraba forest-steppe and in the Taiga regions in the North of Western Siberia. In local areas, different types of dishes are distinguished, having both similar features and differences. Discussions remain the genesis of morphologically different vessels. Problems of the attitude of complexes of flat-bottomed ceramics to the early and late stages of the Neolithic, the paths and variants of neolithization processes, the spread of ceramic production in a wide area of the region. The current problem of the ratio of Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Early Neolithic formations in the region appears to be relevant. As well as the time of the invention of pottery by man, the fact which radically changed his economy and culture, as well as the physiology of man himself.