Innovations of the Beginning of the Sixth Millennium BC in the Northern Pontic Steppe

Nadezhda Kotova,Olha Demchenko,Dmytro Kiosak

doi:10.1515/opar-2020-0185

Nadezhda Kotova, Olha Demchenko + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2020-0185

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Abstract

Abstract This study focuses on the pottery-bearing (“Neolithic”) sites of the northern Azov Sea region. The vessels ornamented with comb imprints appeared there in the sixth millennium BC. In the light of a recent re-dating of the Rakushechny Yar site sequence, the sites of the northern Azov region appeared to be the earliest evidence for this innovation. The innovation in the ceramic assemblage is accompanied by an innovative lithic tool set. The latter included macro-blades and fan-shaped end-scrapers, which were previously unknown in the studied region. Their reanalysis (including new field work at the single-layer site of Chapaevka) helped formulate a hypothesis of maritime transmission of comb-ornamented ceramics in the Black and Azov Sea. This hypothesis will stimulate further discussions regarding the ways of Neolithization in Eastern Europe. It underlines the connections between Balkan “classic” Neolithic and pottery-bearing sites of the Ukrainian Steppe. The impressed ware from Makri and other mainland Greek sites is treated as the closest analogy to the finds of the northern Azov Sea region.

Highlights

The dawn of the sixth millennium BC saw a major shift in the material culture of populations of South and South-East Europe
We consider the adjacent regions of the north-western Azov Sea (Meotic) littoral and the Steppe Dnieper river valley (Southern Ukraine)
The earliest ceramics with comb ornamentation were found in the lower layer of Semenovka 1 (Kotova & Tuboltsev, 1996), at the Babino 3 site (Kotova, 2003), at the Razdolnoe site (Kotova, Anthony, Brown, Degermendzhy, & Crabtree, 2017), and at the single-layer Chapaevka site (Kotova & Rassamakin, 2001) in the northern Azov Sea region (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

We consider the adjacent regions of the north-western Azov Sea (Meotic) littoral and the Steppe Dnieper river valley (Southern Ukraine). There are indications of an early appearance of comb-ornamented pottery here. The aim of the study is to characterize the earliest complexes with combornamented pottery in the region. The earliest ceramics with comb ornamentation were found in the lower layer of Semenovka 1 (Kotova & Tuboltsev, 1996), at the Babino 3 site (Kotova, 2003), at the Razdolnoe site (Kotova, Anthony, Brown, Degermendzhy, & Crabtree, 2017), and at the single-layer Chapaevka site (Kotova & Rassamakin, 2001) in the northern Azov Sea region (Figure 1). We give the label “Neolithic” to the sites with pottery, even if other parts of the Neolithic package are absent or not proven (e.g., agriculture or cattle breeding)

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