Paleometal Epoch in the Primorye (south of the Far East of Russia)

Neolithic pathways in East Asia: early sedentism on the Mongolian Plateau

“…Furthermore, the adoption of exotic domesticates occurred long after they were adopted in neighbouring regions (e.g. Ames 1998;Crawford 2011;Popov et al 2019;Janz et al 2020). Hence, in contrast to the situation in Western Eurasia, in North-east Asia, the 'Neolithic' was characterised by a series of shifts that did not always result in long-term sedentism or domestication.…”

Provenance and distribution networks of the earliest bronze in the Maritime Territory (Primorye), Russian Far East

“…Due to the close proximity to Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula, the archaeology of Primorye exhibits a high degree of cultural dynamism and long-distance interaction from the Late Neolithic period (ca. 5000-3300 cal BP) as evidenced by the diverse ceramics, textile production, subsistence strategies (particularly millet agriculture), and exotic artifacts, such as ornaments made from a jade-like mineral and stone replicas of metal daggers and spearheads (Nelson et al 2020;Popov, Zhushchikhovskaya, and Nikitin 2019;Tao et al 2020;Zhushchikhovskaya 2018).…”

“…A specific feature of early Primorye metallurgy is the rapid arrival of bronze and iron throughout the region, separated by a short chronological gap, allowing "Early Bronze" and "Early Iron" stages to be identified within the Paleometal period. The first bronze appeared between 1100 and 800 BC and the first iron between 700 and 500 BC, which has been taken as evidence for metallurgy having been transmitted to the region as a package rather than being invented locally (Popov, Zhushchikhovskaya, and Nikitin 2019). The idea that the first copper was introduced by new groups of people is supported by the simultaneous appearance of pottery tempered with crushed shell.…”

“…Overall, the Paleometal period in the Primorye is marked by distinctive archaeological communities, who were supposedly of different cultural backgrounds (Popov, Zhushchikhovskaya, and Nikitin 2019). The apparent cultural diversity represents a marked departure from the situation during the Neolithic.…”

“…Figure 3. (A) The average calibrated dates ("sum") for each Paleometal site (OxCal v.4.4.2 [Bronk Ramsey 2009], calibration curve IntCal20 [Reimer et al 2020]); and (B) chronology of main archaeological cultures discussed in this paper according to Svyatko et al (2009),Taylor et al (2019), Popov, Zhushchikhovskaya, and Nikitin (2019), and Zhu (1998.…”