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The Neolithization of Siberia and the Russian Far East: Major Spatiotemporal Trends (the 2013 State-of-the-Art)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Yaroslav V Kuzmin*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology & Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia. Email: kuzmin@fulbrightmail.org

Abstract

The updated chronology of the earliest pottery-containing complexes in Siberia and the Russian Far East is presented herein. The appearance of pottery (i.e. the process of Neolithization) in this vast region of Eurasia is discussed based on a model that represents a simple approximation of calendar ages between key sites as isolines. No clear spatiotemporal patterns for the origin and spread of pottery in northern Asia can be observed because pottery-making (unlike agriculture) could have emerged in different parts of the Old World at various times. Before modeling of pottery dispersal is conducted, careful evaluation of typology and technology of ceramics and stone artifacts should be done, in order to avoid the confusing situation when the results of modeling contradict the basic archaeological information.

Type
Eurasian Archaeology
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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