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The Spread of the Neolithic in the South East European Plain: Radiocarbon Chronology, Subsistence, and Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Pavel M Dolukhanov*
Affiliation:
School of Historical Studies, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Anvar Shukurov
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Kate Davison
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Graeme Sarson
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Natalia P Gerasimenko
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences and Geomorphology, Taras Shevchenko National University, Kiev, Ukraine
Galina A Pashkevich
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine
Aleksandr A Vybornov
Affiliation:
Samara Pedagogical University, Russia
Nikolai N Kovalyukh
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Laboratory, Institute of Environmental Geochemistry, National Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine
V V Skripkin
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Laboratory, Institute of Environmental Geochemistry, National Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine
Ganna I Zaitseva
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Laboratory, Institute for History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
Tatiana V Sapelko
Affiliation:
Institute of Limnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
*
Corresponding author. Email: pavel.dolukhanov@ncl.ac.uk
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Abstract

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Newly available radiocarbon dates show the early signs of pottery-making in the North Caspian area, the Middle-Lower Volga, and the Lower Don at 8–7 kyr cal BC. Stable settlements, as indicated by “coeval subsamples,” are recognized in the Middle-Lower Volga (Yelshanian) at 6.8 kyr cal BC and the Caspian Lowland at about 6 kyr cal BC. The ages of the Strumel-Gostyatin, Surskian, and Bug-Dniesterian sites are in the range of 6.6–4.5 kyr BC, overlapping with early farming entities (Starčevo-Körös-Criş and Linear Pottery), whose influence is perceptible in archaeological materials. Likewise, the 14C-dated pollen data show that the spread of early pottery-making coincided with increased precipitation throughout the forest-steppe area.

Type
Radiocarbon Chronologies of the Neolithic and Metal Ages
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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