Elshan culture

Main article: Neolithic in Russia

Elshan culture - Eastern European subneolithic archaeological culture of the 7th millennium BC. e. The area covers the Middle Volga region (Samara, Ulyanovsk regions, Buzuluk district of the Orenburg region). The oldest ceramic culture in Europe.

Parking

The most studied sites are grouped by the left tributaries of the Volga. Ivanovskaya, Staro-Elshanskaya I, Staro-Elshanskaya II, Vilovatovskaya, Maksimovskaya sites are located in the valley of the Samara River and its tributaries, as well as in the Sok River basin: sites Krasny Gorodok, Lower Orlyanka II, Chekalino IV, Lebyazhinka IV, Ilyinka. Almost all monuments are occupied by the remains of the first floodplain terraces located within the low floodplain and localized at the confluence of two rivers. For example, the Bolshaya Rakovka II site is located near the confluence of the Chernaya River, and Ilyinskaya - the Trostyanka River into the Sok River (flows into the Saratov Reservoir). Settlements did not exist for long and were seasonal in nature. No traces of buildings were found in the parking lots, single and few burials, there are no group burials.

Origin

The question of the origin of culture is debatable. A number of authors (I. B. Vasiliev, A. A. Vybornov), based on some similarity of ostrodon ceramic vessels, believe that the emergence of monuments of the Elshanskoro type is the result of migration to the Middle Volga of the foreign cultural population from aridized regions in Central Asia (probably post-Zarzians). Other authors believe that the culture developed as a result of the adaptation of Central Asian ceramics by the local autochthonous population. In particular, the penetration of the population from Central Asia into the Volga region is excluded on the basis of a comparison of flint tools. Some authors note the similarity of Elshan ceramics with South Russian and Ukrainian, believing that ceramic production there appeared as a result of its distribution from the Volga region.

In the first half of the VI millennium BC. e., the Elshan culture experiences a certain impact from the population of the Lower Volga cultural and historical region, as evidenced by the appearance in the Elshan sites of ceramics decorated with knobs applied in the technique of a retreating spatula. Under the influence of this population, as well as as as a result of evolutionary development, the Middle Volga culture is formed on the basis of the Elshan culture.

An important problem is the small number of dates obtained from ceramics. The dates available for 2011 cannot reflect the process of spreading the Elshan culture. In addition, it should be borne in mind that not all radiocarbon dates were made from ceramics. The earliest dates were obtained from radiocarbon analysis of bone and shell.

A.E. Mamonov, relying on the dates C14 on the shells of mollusks from the cultural layers of the sites Chekalino IV, Ilyinka, Lebyazhinka IV: from 8600±120 liters. n up to 7940 liters. n, that is, the second half of the VII thousand BC. e., believes that Elshan-type ceramics formed independently in the forest-steppe Volga region, since chronologically there is no possible substrate or cultural center from where the ceramic tradition could be borrowed (Mamonov, 2006). Supporters of the Balkan origin of sites such as Yelshanka oppose such early dates and declare that there is no connection between shells and the Neolithic layers of these sites (Viskalin, 2006). Unlike the early Neolithic vessels of the cultures of the Northern Caspian and Northern Black Sea region, which were made of silt, Elshan pots were formed from silty clay, sometimes with an admixture of shamot (Vasilyeva, 2006). Dates obtained from Elshan ceramics from Bolshoi Rakovka II - 7790±200 liters. n (SPb-426) and with Chekalino IV - 7660±200 liters. n (SPb-424) agree well with the dates for shells from Chekalino IV, for bones and ceramics of the Ivanovo site.

Genetics

A.A. Khokhlov came to the conclusion that the bones belong to representatives of the ancient Ural race.

In an individual from burial in the site of Lebyazhinka IV, possibly belonging to the Elshan culture, the Y-chromosomal haplogroup R1b1 * (xR1b1a1, R1b1a2) was discovered.

Lifestyle

The main occupation of cultural carriers is hunting and fishing. Wild tour, saiga, red deer, elk, roe deer, wild horse, bear, marten, otter, beaver, turtle and fish bones were found in the parking lots. Such a variegated composition of the fauna indicates the exploitation of various ecological niches by the population. Clam leaf piles, absent from the local Mesolithic sites of the region, complement the picture of the diet and indicate the emergence at a certain stage of specific gathering associated with water bodies. The exploitation of various ecological niches could only occur in a seasonal rhythm, as they all function strictly cyclically. On the one hand, this circumstance implies that the population has seasonal planning of economic activities, on the other hand, it largely explains the existence of a special settlement model that does not provide for long-term residence in one place. A large number of woodworking tools also indicate the active manufacture by the population of certain wooden structures, which, in the absence of long-term dwellings, could be hunting and fishing tools, as well as vehicles. The appearance of ceramic dishes speaks of fundamentally different, compared to the previous era, methods of processing and storing food.

Ceramics

One of the most significant problems in the study of Elshan culture for 2011 is the lack of transitional forms. The Elshan culture was quite perfect - a bright feature is the well-smoothed surface of ceramics. In order to reach this level, the technology for the production of ceramics had to undergo a certain evolution. Finding ceramics, the transitional stages of this evolution, can reveal the origin of the Elshan culture.

For the manufacture of Elshan dishes, it was not clay with impurities of artificial additives that was used, but silty or sapropel deposits that were sculpted into molds laid by animal skins. The outer surfaces of the vessels were smoothed and polished with bone or pebbles, the inner surfaces are rough and bear traces of smoothing with a tool like a wooden scraper. From the inside, static prints of vegetation and dents from finger pressure are recorded on the surfaces of the vessels. Firing was low temperature, but with long-term exposure. It is believed that when using such a technology, water resistance and strength of products were achieved not only by firing, but also by impregnating them with certain organic solutions, which is typical for the pre-finished era. Vessels of relatively small size, thin-walled, through conical holes made after firing are often found in the walls. Corolla sections are flat, pinned and rounded. Flat and adjacent bottoms prevail, but some vessels have rounded bottoms.

Vessel from the parking lot near the village. Old Yelshanka of the Buzuluk district of the Orenburg region. Neolithic, Elshan culture. VI millennium BC.

Of the 37 vessels of the Lower Orlyanka II parking lot, six are completely devoid of ornament, of the 25 vessels of the Chekalino IV parking lot, 10 are not ornamented. A significant part of the vessels is decorated only with a pit-pearl belt: a horizontal row of pits with convex negatives on the inside or outside of the vessel. This row is confined to the top of the vessel; sometimes there are two or three such rows. Often, the pit-pearl belt is a series of through holes in the presence of a "pearl" - a negative.

Relatively ornate vessels carry an additional ornament made using three varieties of the application technique: drawn lines, sparse incisions and dimpled depressions of a regular rounded or irregular shape with or without a negative "pearl." One of the common motifs is a rhombic mesh made with drawn lines. Quite often there is a motif of "hanging" triangles, applied by pits, drawn lines, or rarefied incisions in combination with drawn lines. Vessels are known on which the ornament looks like a zigzag of drawn lines, sometimes in combination with rarefied incisions. In some cases, rarefied knuckles represent an independent ornamental motif.

Many researchers attribute the differences between the two types of Elshan ceramics to the evolution of production, calling one of them preceding the other. There are discussions which form appeared earlier. But these assumptions, for 2011, have little argument, since the available dates of radiocarbon analysis do not provide an opportunity to say with full confidence that one of the forms existed before the other, and in general that they existed at different ^[1]

Stone tools and weapons

The raw material for the manufacture of guns was local flint, found in the form of pebbles and nodules in a number of places in the Samara Volga region. In the production, single-site nuclei with a narrowed base and a chipping zone of no more than 2/3 of the circumference or at the end, as well as nucleoid pieces with haphazard removal of peels, were mainly used. Along with them, fragments of pebbles, various technical chips, frost pieces, etc. were widely used. Secondary processing techniques are represented by retouching, cutting chips, double-sided upholstery. Single instances of guns have traces of partial grinding. Knife-shaped plates, as a rule, of elongated proportions. Among them are both well-cut specimens with parallel edges, and plates with irregular faces and a curved profile. The specific gravity of the plates with traces of a fine pseudo-ear formed as a result of work without preliminary secondary processing of the products is very significant.

The gun kit is represented by various varieties of cutting equipment, woodworking tools, perforators, tips, notched and combined guns. Scrapers are dominated by cleft forms of various types, although there are scrapers on the plates, mainly end ones. Some have alternative working edges. Cutters were made on almost all types of blanks, ranging from plates to peels and technoscols of various types. Retouching and transversal forms play a prominent role among products with cutting chips. The cutters on the plates are made according to the method of chipping on the edge. Along with tools with purposefully designed cutting chips, there are also pseudo-cutters with corners and edges thrown out of operation. Woodworking tools carry double-sided upholstery. On some guns there is a slight filling on the skin parts, which is associated with the attachment of the tool in the clutch. The shapes of the guns are subtrapecially triangular, somewhat asymmetric. Tesla-shaped tools have a slightly convex working edge, chisel-shaped - well-defined back and abdomen. On Lower Orlyanka II, eight cutting guns found in the form of a "treasure" are distinguished by elongated proportions and large sizes. Two "hoards" of flint raw materials were also discovered in the Red Town parking lot. Arrowheads can be considered serial products. The blanks for them were knife-shaped plates. At the edges of the product, they are usually treated with a shallow gentle retouch, with the help of which a petiole is isolated or slightly marked and a point is decorated.

Researchers

For the first time, the Elshan culture was revealed in 1977 during excavations in the Orenburg region. And at the turn of the century, E.A. Mamonov singled out a separate culture.

Notes