Results of research on the Stone Age site Luzhki II in the forest-steppe Volga Region

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Abstract

The article introduces the results of a comprehensive study on the Stone Age site of Luzhki II (Samara Region, Krasnoyarsk District). A representative collection of artifacts was obtained numbering more than 5,500 units. Out of this number, 1,060 flint products and 3,345 ceramic fragments from 274 vessels, as well as most of the osteological materials, are associated with the Stone Age. This ceramic complex is homogeneous and is associated with the developed Neolithic of the region (the Middle Volga culture), while among the lithic artifacts, a small group stands out, finding the closest analogies in the Middle Stone Age of the forest-steppe Volga Region. Radiocarbon dating makes it possible to relate the time of visiting the site in the Mesolithic to the first half of the 7th millennium BC, and in the Neolithic – to the last quarter of the 6th millennium BC. The second period of the site functioning is characterized by fairly dry and warm conditions when steppe landscapes with cereal-wormwood groups were common.

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About the authors

A. V. Somov

Samara State Social and Pedagogical University

Author for correspondence.
Email: somov.anatoly@gmail.com
Russian Federation, Samara

K. M. Andreev

Samara State Social and Pedagogical University

Email: konstantin_andreev_88@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Samara

O. V. Andreeva

Samara State Social and Pedagogical University

Email: olgayer@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Samara

A. S. Aleshinskaya

Institute of Archeology of the RAS

Email: asalesh@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

M. A. Kulkova

Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia

Email: kulkova@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Saint Petersburg

E. V. Parkhomchuk

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the RAS; Novosibirsk State University

Email: evparkhom@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Novosibirsk; Novosibirsk

N. V. Roslyakova

Samara State Social and Pedagogical University

Email: roslyakova_n@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Samara

I. M. Sosnovtseva

Samara State Social and Pedagogical University

Email: irinasosnovtceva@gmail.com
Russian Federation, Samara

References

  1. Andreev K.M., Andreeva O.V., Aleshinskaya A.S. et al., 2023. Kochkari I – a new Late Mesolithic site in the forest-steppe Volga region (the research results). Rossiyskaya arkheologiya [Russian archaeology], 1, pp. 7–24. (In Russ.)
  2. Andreev K.M., Kul'kova M.A., 2024. Some results of petrographic study of Neolithic ceramics from the Luzhki II site. Samarskiy nauchnyy vestnik [Samara journal of science], vol. 13, no. 1. C. 75–84. (In Russ.)
  3. Andreev K.M., Vybornov A.A., 2017. Ranniy neolit lesostepnogo Povolzh'ya (elshanskaya kul'tura): monografiya [Early Neolithic of the forest-steppe Volga region (Elshanka culture): monograph]. Samara: Porto-Print. 272 p.
  4. Andreev K.M., Vybornov A.A., Vasil'eva I.N., 2018. The Kalmykovka I site – a new Neolithic site of the forest-steppe Volga region. Tverskoy arkheologicheskiy sbornik [Tver archaeological collection], 11. I.N. Chernykh, ed. Tver': Triada, pp. 143–160. (In Russ.)
  5. Matyushin G.N., 1989. Mesolithic of the Southern Trans-Urals. Mezolit SSSR [Mesolithic of the USSR]. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 144–148. (Arkheologiya SSSR). (In Russ.)
  6. Somov A.V., Andreev K.M., Roslyakova N.V., 2022. The Neolithic site of Luzhki II in the forest-steppe Volga region (first research results). Samarskiy nauchnyy vestnik [Samara journal of science], vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 166–182. (In Russ.)
  7. Spiridonova E.A., Aleshinskaya A.S., 1999. Divsion into periods of the Neolithic – Eneolithic of European Russia according to the palynological data. Rossiyskaya arkheologiya [Russian archaeology], 1, pp. 23–33. (In Russ.)
  8. Vasil'eva I.N., Somov A.V., 2023. Ceramic assemblages of the Luzhki II Neolithic site: morphology and technology (preliminary results of research). Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo tsentra Rossiyskoy akademii nauk. Istoricheskie nauki [Izvestiya of the Samara Scientific Centre of RAS], vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 138–160. (In Russ.)
  9. Vybornov A.A., 2008. Neolit Volgo-Kam'ya [Neolithic of the Volga-Kama region]. Samara: Izdatel'stvo Samarskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta. 490 p.
  10. Yudin A.I., 2004. Varfolomeevskaya stoyanka i neolit stepnogo Povolzh'ya [Varfolomeevskaya site and the Neolithic of the Volga steppe region]. Saratov: Izdatel'stvo Saratovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. 200 p.

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2. Fig. 1. Luzhki II site: 1 – the location on the map of Samara Region, 2 – a satellite image, 3 – a topographic plan, 4 – a cross-section of the cultural layer in sq. 1 with sampling locations for palynological analysis, 5 – a cross-section of the cultural layer in sq. 75 with sampling locations for geochemical analysis.

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3. Fig. 2. A stratigraphic cross-section along the north-south line (1), planigraphic and stratigraphic distribution of finds (2).

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4. Fig. 3. A spore-pollen diagram (1), geochemical indicators of palaeoclimatic conditions and anthropogenic activity (2).

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5. Fig. 4. Flint and stone products from the Mesolithic (1–110) and, possibly, Neolithic (111–115).

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6. Fig. 5. Flint and stone products from the Neolithic.

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7. Fig. 6. Weakly ornamented pottery, as well as items with stroke ornamentation.

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8. Fig. 7. Pottery ornamented with impressions.

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9. Fig. 8. Individual finds made of clay (1–45, 57–59), shells (46–56), and bone (60–72).

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