The results of the Fatyanovo-Balanovo and the late Volosovo population contacts in pottery traditions

Due to the Historical-and-Cultural approach to ancient ceramics studies the development of mixed pottery traditions reflects the amalgamation of the very bearers of these traditions. Taken as a problem, the study of populations’ contacts with different levels of pottery production is specific for a wide variety of territories and chronological periods. In the Upper and Middle Volga region the problem manifests itself in appearance of the mixed pottery traditions (morphological as well as technological ones) as a result of contacts between the Fatyanovo-Balanovo population and the late Volosovo population. So-called «Fatyanoid» (or «Fatyanovo-like») pottery that demonstrates features of the Volosovo and the Fatyanovo-Balanovo cultural traditions emerges in the process of amalgamation. A.A. Spitsyn, M.E. Foss, N.N. Gurina, I.V. Gavrilova, O.S. Gadzyatskaya and other researchers paid their attention to the problem. Based on the study of pottery collected at a number of archeological monuments including pottery from unfortified settlements - Nikolo-Perevoz I and II, Sakhtysh I, II, IV, Dikarikha, Iberdus I, Lipovka I and Galankina Gora - the author distinguishes three groups of the Fatyanoid (Fatyanovo-like) pottery: group I includes pottery with mixed Fatyanovo and Oshpandino traditions, group II includes pottery with mixed Fatyanovo and late Volosovo traditions, and group III includes pottery with the Fatyanovo traditions mixed with traditions of the population that consisted of bearers of the Bronze Age culture which is hard to define. These groups are present nearly at all archeological monuments though Fatyanovo-like pottery predominates at every monument. The author distinguishes pottery traditions common to the second group and explains the reason of their differences found at different monuments.