The excavations of the multilayer site Algay in 2021 confirmed the stratigraphical strata of Neolithic and Eneolithic layers. The cultural layers with artifacts of the Orlovskaya culture are well stratified. The faunistic remains of the Neolithic period are numerous and have different localization. This is also evidence of several stages of occupation of this place by people during Neolithic. There are solely wild species of animals. The stone tools are characterized by homogeneity. The stone tools from the hoard were made with different raw sources but they are the same types. There are scratchers of several types, perforators, and geometric microliths (trapeziums with planed backs). According to their typologies these stone tools are the same as the tools from layers 2B and 2A of the Varfolomeevka site. The ceramics was made from fat clay rich of organics and tempered by crushed shells. The lipid analysis of charred food crusts in the pottery showed that they were used for the animal and plant cooking. The pottery decoration is typical for the vessels of the Orlovskaya culture with some differences in comparison to the pottery from the Vorfolomeevka site. Four points made of bones are also found. The stone tools of the Cis-Caspian culture were made of other type of quartzite unlike to the Neolithic ones. The technique of an enhanced push-up was applied for the stone tools in comparison to the Neolithic period. The radiocarbon dates confirmed the chronological framework of developed and later stages of the Orlovskaya culture from 6800 to 6100 BP.
Researchers suggest a hypothesis that one of the indicators of the Neolithic is settlements based on stable fishing using boats and nets. The northern part of the Lower Volga region is a steppe zone. The peculiarities of natural and climatic conditions (arid climate, a small number of rivers) predetermined a low population density in comparison with other regions. The location of long-term camps is traced on different rivers on particular distance from each other. This provided normal conditions for life of the Orlovskaya culture representatives. The culture stratification in loam leaded to good preservation of faunal remains. The big archeozoological material was accumulated for reconstruction of these societies household. Hunting was carried out mainly on large ungulates. In addition, waterfowl accounted for a significant proportion. A domestic dog provided assistance in hunting. Finds of bone harpoons and hooks, accumulations of scales and bones of pike and perch are speaking about individual fishing. Stone sinkers, axes and adzes, vertebrae may suggest fishing with a net from a boat or a raft. The absence of sturgeon remains give a thought that the Bolshoi Uzen River didnt flow into the Caspian Sea in the Late Stone Age.
The processes of Neolithization and Eneolithization are two of the most important in the study of the human prehistory. The territory of the Lower Volga is of particular importance. In the Neolithic period, one of the oldest ceramic traditions in Eastern Europe appears. In the Eneolithic, cultures with signs of a productive economy are recorded rather early here. A further study of these issues depends on a quality source base. Monuments of the Neolithic and Eneolithic in the Volga steppe are rare. Therefore, the study of the new site Algay is very relevant. Its importance increases due to the discovery of stratigraphic data in 2019: the Eneolithic and Neolithic layers are separated by relatively sterile layers. This allows us to establish reliable periodization. Features of the lower cultural layer allowed us to trace the process of its formation. The work was interdisciplinary. The results of the technical and technological analysis of ceramics revealed the characteristic features of the Neolithic and Eneolithic. Archaeozoological definitions established the species composition of animals in the Neolithic and Eneolithic. New radiocarbon dates provide a basis for determining the exact chronological framework of the Orlovskaya and Caspian cultures in this region. Among archaeological materials, rare artifacts have been discovered that testify to social stratification already in the Neolithic period.
The paper presents the results of the Algay site study undertaken in 2020 in the steppe Volga region (Aleksandorovo-Gaisky district of the Saratov region) on the right bank of the Bolshoy Uzen river. During the excavations archaeologists discovered three cultural layers, separated from each other by sterile layers. The upper layer contains finds belonged to the Khvalynskaya Eneolithic culture, the middle layer contains finds from the Caspian one, and the lower layer - from the Orlovskaya culture. The ceramics are made of silty clay with an admixture of mollusk shells. The stone tools differ in raw materials: the Khvalynskaya and Caspian artifacts are made mainly of quartzite, and the Orlovskaya ones are made of flint. The range of objects is dominated by various types of scrapers, knives and cutting points. The flat-bottomed vessels of the Orlovskaya culture are ornamented using the technique of a receding lines with oval and triangular pricks. Patterns are represented by horizontal rows and zigzags. Aurochs, tarpan, saiga and onager were identified among the bones of animals. Bones of a domestic dog were found in the Orlovskaya culture layer, and bones of sheep and goats in the Caspian layer. The bone tools and a shell pendant were also found. The radiocarbon dates indicate the existence of the Caspian layer in the V millennium BC, and the Orlovskaya layer in the VII -VI millennium BC.
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