ON THE COLONISATION OF THE CENTRAL RUSSIAN PLAIN IN LATE GLACIAL AND EARLY HOLOCENE ACCORDING TO GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA

Abstract

Until recently, interpreting archaeological data on the colonisation of the Central Russian Plain during the last glacial epoch (Late Valdai, Vistulian) had been hampered by the prevailing view that vast areas along the ice sheet boundary were submerged by large proglacial lakes. Under the hypothesis that the Tver proglacial lake was covering Upper Volga lowlands and the Dubna depression, these territories would not be habitable until the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary when they finally dried up in the process of deglaciation. In 2018-2021, geoarchaeological investigations were carried out in Zabolotsky peatland (Moscow Region) to test this hypothesis. It was found that during the whole Late Valdai (Vistulian) glacial epoch, the prevailing environmental conditions in the Dubna Lowland were fluvial, rather than lacustrine. Thus, it is entirely plausible that large parts of the Zabolotsky area could already start to become populated at that time. AMS-dating of resin samples from the grooves of bone and hornbeam artefacts attributed to Epigravettian Resseta culture pinpoint the potential timing of this event to circa 15,500 cal BP. During Early Holocene, Zadnepilevo industry was the successor to Resseta tradition. Other populations known to exist in Central Russian Plain during late Pleistocene – early Holocene are attested from Bromme, Ahrensburg, Kultino and Purgasovo culture complexes. The identification of Elin-Bor, Butovo and Ienevo cultures in the Volga-Oka basin during the Mesolithic had been made by tampering with primary data. Therefore, any further allusion to these cultures would be unethical Seasonal migration patterns of both Resseta and Zadnepilevo populations are evidenced not only by data from the Russian Plain, but also from the Scandinavian Peninsula. Here, they are represented by the so-called "eastern pulse" industry. To piece together the cultural and historical development of Eastern and Northern Europe, a substantial increase in field research is needed.