New data on the absolute age of the Eneolithic complexes of the forest-steppe Volga region

The paper is devoted to the publication of a series of radiocarbon dates obtained for the Eneolithic complexes of the forest-steppe Volga region. The paper provides a description of the dated samples, the context of their finding and cultural attribution. The materials from the Bolshaya Rakovka II site, the Lebyazhinka VI settlement and from the Maksimovka I burial ground were subjected to radiocarbon dating. In total, thirteen radiocarbon dates were obtained; they belong to various Eneolithic cultural-chronological groups, namely, the complexes of the Samara culture, Lebyazhinsky, Alekseevsky, Chekala types, ceramics «with an inner edge». The new dates do not go beyond the previously defined chronological framework of the Eneolithic of the forest-steppe Volga region, however, they make it possible to correct the existing ideas about the time of existence of individual ceramic and economic complexes of this region. The most representative series of radiocarbon dates was obtained for ceramics of the Chekala type from the Bolshaya Rakovka II site. New data on the absolute chronology of materials of this type make the time of existence of these complexes somewhat older. The ¹⁴C determinations for ceramics «with an inner edge» from the settlement of Lebyazhinka VI turned out to be somewhat older than the existing dates. For ceramics of the Samara culture, Lebyazhinsky and Alekseevsky types, one radiocarbon date was obtained.