Сравнительный анализ ранненеолитических культур Прикамья

In the Kama region two types of early pottery exist which played an important role in the development and dispersal of ceramic technology among the Eastern European hunter-gatherers. The first one is ornamented with comb stamp and belongs to the Kama Culture; the second one encompasses ceramics with pricked decoration and is associated with the Volga-Kama Culture. It is still the subject of debates which group appeared earlier. The aim of the work is to analyze information concerning those earliest pottery traditions of the region, including new dates, technological aspects and integration of recent results to the archaeological context. Summarizing the results, the following preliminary conclusions can be drawn. The similarities between the Kama and the Volga-Kama cultures concerning the location of sites, technological aspects of some of the ceramics, and the lithic inventory might be connected with the chronological synchronicity of two cultural groups of sites. It could also be connected to the similarity of people’s household activities and to the contacts and reciprocal influence. The differences in pottery making and in the ways of flint’s secondary treatment might have a culturally determined character and indicate that those cultures were not kindred and did not emerge out of each other. Technological analysis of the comb pottery suggests that its origin might not be connected with early pottery of the steppe and forest-steppe zones but must be sought for in the forest zone. The tradition of making vessels out of clay with a considerable admixture chamotte is not fixed in the steppe and forest-steppe zone bit is the characteristic of the forest zone. Its centre of origin is not yet clear and more research is needed. On the other hand, the analysis of the pricked ceramics indicates a more diverse technological range and points to a connection with the forest steppes of the Middle Volga region. The pottery which is very similar to comparable shapes and ornamentation appears in large parts of the Volga region forest zone at that time (for example, Upper Volga culture, early ceramics of the Mari-El region). Thus the appearance of ceramics in the forest zone may be explained by two factors: 1 external influence (such as the Volga-Kama culture), 2 – internal development (for example, the Kama culture).