Kryazh II — a Newly Discovered Stone Age Workshop Site in the Forest-Steppe Volga Region

Introduction. The article outlines the results of excavations at Kryazh II workshop site located in the forest-steppe Volga region. The site is unique and contains an impressive collection of flint products and manufacturing wastes. Goals. The work aims to introduce materials from the excavations of 2017–2019 into scientific circulation. To facilitate this, the study shall describe and characterize the archaeological complexes, determine their cultural and chronological affiliations, and clarify the natural and climatic contexts to have witnessed the formation of the occupation layer. Materials. During three field seasons (2017–2019), an area of 192 m2 was studied. The total collection of artifacts numbers 5,989, of which ca. 250 items are ceramics and over 5,700 items are flint products — flakes and tools estimated at 6 % and less than 1.5 %, respectively. The majority of the finds over the entire area of the excavation lay in a thin layer (15–20 cm) of dark brown loam and in the upper part of brown loam. The performed palynological analysis makes it possible to identify three spore-pollen spectra in the section of the occupation layer. The paper also reveals six radiocarbon dates marking the time when the site was active. Results. The uniqueness of the flint complex at Kryazh II is determined by an increased concentration of flint artifacts per square meter of the studied area, an absolute predominance of manufacturing wastes, and a high percentage of products with indurated nodules, which makes it possible to interpret the site as a workshop. From a typological point of view, most of the ceramic items and flint inventory reveal similarities with materials of the Middle Volga culture from the Late Neolithic. At the same time, individual flint items and several fragments of ceramics are close enough to Eneolithic antiquities of the region in a number of aspects. The formation period of the site’s occupation layer dates to the mid-6th – mid-5th millennia BC characterized by the existence of forest-steppe landscapes close to modern ones. Conclusions. The study of Kryazh II workshop site has provided a collection of stone products — unique for the forest-steppe Volga region and dating mainly to the Late Neolithic era.

1. Andreev K. M. Kryazh II site — a new monument of the Stone Age (Neolithic — Eneolithic) in the Samara Volga region. Izvestia of the Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Historical Sciences. 2019. Vol. 1. No. 3. Pp. 98–105. (In Russ.)

2. Andreev K. M., Andreeva O. V., Aleshinskaya A. S., Burygin M. A., Borodulin K. I. Kochkari I site (Mesolithic): 2020 exploration results. In: Stashenkov D. A. (ed.) Samara Oblast: Archaeological Discoveries of 2020. Samara: Samara Scientific Center (RAS), 2021. Pp. 6–7. (In Russ.)

3. Andreev K. M., Somov A. V. Stone Age (Mesolithic–Neolithic) in the Volga forest steppes: Flint extraction strategies reviewed. In: Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy 2020. Miass, Chelyabinsk: South Ural State Humanitarian and Pedagogical University, 2020. Pp. 76–80. (In Russ.)

4. Andreev K. M., Vybornov A. A., Vasilyeva I. N. Kalmykovka I — a newly discovered Neolithic site of the forest-steppe Volga Region. In: Tchernykh I. N. (ed.) Tver Archaeological Collection. Is. 11. Tver: Triada, 2018. Pp. 143–160. (In Russ.)

5. Barynkin P. P., Kozin E. V. Lebyazhinka I site and some issues of Neo-Eneolithic cultures in the steppes and forest steppes of Transvolga. In: Vasilyev I. B. (ed.) Ancient Cultures of the Volga Forest Steppes: Revisiting the Interaction between Indo-European and Finno-Ugric Cultures. Collected papers. Samara: Samara State Pedagogical University, 1995. Pp. 136–163. (In Russ.)

6. Bobrinsky A. A. Pottery of Eastern Europe. Moscow: Nauka, 1978. 272 p. (In Russ.)

7. Bobrinsky A. A. Pottery technology as object of sociocultural study. In: Bobrinsky A. A. (ed.) Exploring Ancient Pottery: Topical Issues Revisited. Joint monograph. Samara: Samara State Pedagogical University, 1999. Pp. 5–109. (In Russ.)

8. Kolev Yu. I., Lastovsky A. A., Mamonov A. E. Multi-layered Neolithic/Late Bronze Age site near Nizhnyaya Orlyanka in the Sok River valley. In: Vasilyev I. B. (ed.) Ancient Cultures of the Volga Forest Steppes. Samara: Samara State Pedagogical University, 1995. Pp. 50–110. (In Russ.)

9. Lastovsky A. A. Troitskoye Neolithic site. In: Topical Questions of Archaeology in the Urals and Volga Region. Samara: Samara Scientific Center (RAS), 2008. Pp. 26–39. (In Russ.)

10. Mamonov A. E. Elshanka culture complex at Chekalino IV. In: Vasilyev I. B. (ed.) Ancient Cultures of the Volga Forest Steppes: Revisiting the Interaction between Indo-European and Finno-Ugric Cultures. Collected papers. Samara: Samara State Pedagogical University, 1995. Pp. 3–25. (In Russ.)

11. Mamonov A. E. Ilyinka site and some issues of the Neolithic in forest steppes of Transvolga. In: Nagovitsyn L. A. (ed.) Early Neolithic in the Forest Zone of the European USSR: Some Research Problems Revisited. Izhevsk: Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature, 1988. Pp. 92–105. (In Russ.)

12. Mamonov A. E. Newly discovered materials from Ilyinka site (Samara Oblast). In: Studies in History and Archaeology. Vol. 5. Samara: Samara State Pedagogical University, 2002. Pp. 148–162. (In Russ.)

13. Morgunova N. L. Ivanovo site in Orenburg Oblast. In: Archaeological Cultures of the Northern Caspian. Kuybyshev: Kuybyshev State Pedagogical Institute, 1988. Pp. 106–122. (In Russ.)

14. Morgunova N. L. Neolithic-Eneolithic site of Ivanovo in Orenburg Oblast. In: Eneolithic in Eastern Europe. Kuybyshev: Kuybyshev State Pedagogical Institute, 1980. Pp. 104–124. (In Russ.)

15. Shalapinin A. A. To the problem of chronological correlation of the Neolithic and Eneolithic complexes from the forest-steppe Volga Region. Izvestia of the Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Historical Sciences. 2017. Vol. 19. No. 3(2). Pp. 380–388. (In Russ.)

16. Somov A. V., Andreev K. M. Luzhki II Neolithic site: Preliminary exploration results. In: Stashenkov D. A. (ed.) Samara Oblast: Archaeological Discoveries of 2020. Samara: Samara Scientific Center (RAS), 2021. Pp. 8–9. (In Russ.)

17. Somov A. V., Shalapinin A. A. The ratio of the Neolithic and Eneolithic complexes of the forest-steppe Volga region according to radiocarbon dating. Samara Journal of Science. 2019. Vol. 8. No. 2 (27). Pp. 229–239. (In Russ.)

18. Vasilyev I. B., Ovchinnikova N. V. Eneolithic. In: Vasilyev I. B. et al. History of Samara Volga Region from Earliest Times to Present Days: Stone Age. Samara: Samara Scientific Center (RAS), 2000. Pp. 216–277. (In Russ.)

19. Vasilyev I. B., Vybornov A. A. Neolithic in the Volga Region. Kuybyshev: Kuybyshev State Pedagogical Institute, 1988. 112 p. (In Russ.)

20. Vasilyeva I. N. On the technology of making ceramics of the Eneolithic burial ground Ekaterinovsky Cape. The Volga River Region Archaeology. 2019. Vol. 1 (27). Pp. 33–44. (In Russ.)

21. Vasilyeva I. N., Korolev A. I., Shalapinin A. A. Eneolithic ceramic complex from Lebyazhinka VI: Morphology and technology. In: Morgunova N. L. (ed.) Phenomena of Early Bronze Age Cultures from Steppe and Forest-Steppe Eurasia: Paths of Cultural Interaction, 5th to 3rd Millennia BCE. Orenburg: Orenburg State Pedagogical University, 2019. Pp. 28–42. (In Russ.)

22. Vassilieva I. N. On the discovery of artificial temper of broken roasted strongly iron-plated clay in ancient pottery. In: Tsetlin Yu. B. (ed.) ‘History of Ceramics’ Bulletin. Vol. 1. Moscow: Institute of Archaeology (RAS), 2019. Pp. 48–62. (In Russ.)

23. Vybornov A. A. Middle Volga culture. In: Vasilyev I. B. et al. History of Samara Volga Region from Earliest Times to Present Days: Stone Age. Samara: Samara Scientific Center (RAS), 2000. Pp. 177–215. (In Russ.)