NEW RESULTS OF DIRECT RADIOCARBON AMS DATING OF THE POTTERY FROM THE BUH-DNISTER SUB-NEOLITHIC СULTURE

Traditional ideas about the origin of the Buh-Dnister Culture (BDC) and its synchronisation with the Neolithic cultures of the Danube-Carpathian region were questioned by series of radiocarbon dates measured on bones at the Kyiv laboratory in the 1998—2004. To start addressing this problem, 11 AMS dates on organic inclusions in the ceramic paste and charred residues on the surface of vessels were obtained at the Tokyo University laboratory. The set of new dates has given a wide scatter of their values within the entire period outlined by the previous BDC dates. Moreover, the two results of the second quarter of the 7th millennium BC for the Hlynske 1 and Bazkiv Ostriv site are beyond it and may potentially be the oldest dates of the culture. However, analysis of the samples in terms of carbon content, their susceptibility to the influence of the freshwater reservoir effect, correspondence to the stratigraphy of the sites and typology of materials detected only six more credible dates. Their order on the timeline coincides with generally accepted ideas about the sequence of existence of the different BDC pottery types. The youngest is the vessel of the Savran type from Shumyliv-Cherniatka has yielded two dates falling into the range of 4723—4491 cal BC, when the Trypillia culture bearers already populat the region. Two vessels of the Samchyntsi type from Bazkiv Ostriv yield three dates within the range of 5288—4847 cal BC, which corresponds to their finding next to fragments of fine «music-note» bowls of the Linear Band Pottery Culture. The Skybyntsi type vessel from Bazkiv Ostriv yield the oldest plausible date of 5621—5514 cal BC, which corresponds to the age of the Criş monuments in Moldova. Unfortunately, the new dates did not shed light on the issues of the time and direction of the first pottery spreading in the region. Thus, this needs further research including reliably direct radiocarbon dating on pottery.