New Data on the Chronology and Stratigraphy of the Rakushechny Yar Site

Abstract

Rakushechny Yar site, located in the Lower Don basin, is a multilayered floodplain settlement with a series of buried soils, where Neolithic-Eneolithic and Bronze Age cultural layers have been investigated. Dates with a wide calibration interval for materials from excavation # 1 obtained from total organic content of ceramics, food crust, and charcoal previously demonstrated the length of the Early Neolithic period ranging from the mid 7th millennium BC to the end of the 6th millennium cal BC. The new data allowed us to significantly adjust chronology of the site. A new series of dating based on animal bones from the Early Neolithic layers concentrate within a narrow chronological interval of a few decades around 5600 cal BC. This suggests that burying of archaeological remains was very rapid, and sand interlayers which separated them do not form significant temporal hiatuses. The archaeological layers are distributed within restricted surfaces and correspond to different episodes of coastal zone inhabitation. The variation in the number, thickness and character of the archaeological layers points to repeated episodes of inhabitation during Early Neolithic. The time when the Early Neolithic strata might have been closed differs at various parts – from the 5th mill to the 4th millennium cal BC (based on OSL and AMS dates). The contradictions that existed between the individual dates can be explained either by the reservoir effect (for food crust dating) or by the correlation of the dating from different sections, where layers were not deposited at the same time. It is complicated to determine the rate of deposition of Early Neolithic cultural strata, which may have occurred in a single season or possibly over a longer period of time. The series of dates obtained indicate successive occupation of the site. The change in the pattern of coastal inhabitation from small-scale households’ areas with shell paved platforms and pits to dwelling complexes with clay pavement floors and clay-covered walls/roofs occurred over a very short time. This may explain the homogenous nature of the Early Neolithic material culture and the production of a certain set of clay vessels, stone, bone industry, and shell tools.