Absolute chronology of ceramics of the Lugovskoy type

The ceramics of the Lugovskoy type is represented by small straight-walled, weakly profiled or rounded canals with a flat or flat-concave bottom. The surface of the vessels is carefully smoothed, the external one is clogged. The fragments of ceramics have a visually dense molding material; the original plastic raw materials are silty clay, which sometimes contain an admixture of sand, shell or organic matter. The bulk of the vessels are ornamented only with horizontal bands of pits or pearls, sometimes along the neck of the vessels. The formation of the Lugovskoy type is associated with the interaction of the Elshanskaya and Lower Volga populations, while the Elshanskaya component was dominant. The existence of the Lugovskoy type dishes belongs to the end of the early Neolithic period of the forest-steppe Volga region and characterizes the second stage of the development of the Elshanskaya culture. The problem of the absolute chronology of the Lugovskoy ceramics hasn’t been studied yet. As a rule, the dating obtained for vessels of this type were considered in the context of the general chronology of the Elshanskaya culture and did not receive an appropriate interpretation in special works. To fill this gap is the main task of this paper. During the analysis of a representative series of radiocarbon determinations, it was established that the existence time of the dishes of the Lugovskoy type can be determined within the end of the first – second quarter of the 6th millennium BC. At the same time, with an increase in the radiocarbon date bank, the expansion of the chronological framework for the development of the final stage of the early Neolithic of the forest-steppe Volga region cannot be ruled out.