METHODS OF NATURAL SCIENCES IN THE STUDY OF ANCIENT CERAMICS (Transition Time from the Bronze Epoch to the Early Age. South Western Siberian Plain)

Abstract

The article publishes the results of studying the molding masses and the quality of firing ceramic vessels of the Linevo 1 site (transition time from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age). The research was carried out using the methods of natural sciences: petrographic, X-ray phase and thermal. Five groups of ceramics were identified in the ceramic complex of the site. The second — Late Irmenskaya culture is a continuation development of the autochthonous — Irmenskaya. Three others: Molchanovskaya, Samodelkinskaya and with features of the early Iron Age — are imported. Within the framework of one site Linevo 1, there were recorded the existence of two traditions of making molding masses: chamotte and granitoid. The second tradition has been singled out both for the Molchanovskaya ceramic group and for the Samodelkino group but they differ in the composition of rock fragments. It was calculated that most of the collection is made up of «transitional» forms, «forms of imitation». There are no identical or closely related products in terms of morphological features in the collection. Syncretism of the complex under consideration is evidence of the complex ethno-cultural composition of the inhabitants of the ancient settlement. It can be clearly traced as a local autochthonous component that grows on the Irmenskaya culture basis and the northern taiga, coming to the forest-steppe most likely from the southern taiga of the Ob River. Obviously the fifth group of ceramics is foreign. As for the Linevo settlement complex it generally confirms the tendency of the joint existence of various ceramic traditions of the forest-steppe, steppe and taiga circle of cultures already noted for the cultures of the transitional time of the West Siberian forest-steppe with the predominance of the Irmenskaya culture — Late Irmenskaya culture component. All the results obtained are objective in nature, since they are based not on visual definitions, but on petrographic, X-ray phase, thermal methods and mathematical miscalculations.