Dwellings of the Elshan Early Neolithic culture

Dwelling is the most important source, revealing the details of social structure, economy, technical traditions and is of key importance for understanding society. Only a limited number of dwelling complexes which can be reliably interpreted as early Neolithic and classified as the Elshan culture have been identified. Moreover, the cultural and chronological attribution of some interpreted as early Neolithic dwellings, in our opinion, is not sufficiently reasoned. In this paper data on all Elshan residential buildings is combined and a brief interpretation is given, as well as some of the previously mentioned provisions are disclosed in more detail. To the early Neolithic in the forest-steppe Volga region, with a high degree of probability, only dwellings identified on the sites of Vyunovo ozero I, Imerka VII and Utyuzh I, with certain reservations, the dwelling of the Lugovoe III site, with the same reservations, the residential structure investigated at the Lebyazhinka IV site, can be classified with a high probability. Most likely, it belongs to the developed and late Neolithic of the region. In general, the dwellings of the Elshan culture were light frame structures, slightly deepened into the mainland, such as a hut, without a visible system in the location of pillar holes. Probably, but not doubtfully, the area of residential buildings of the Elshan culture increased from early to late stages of its development. In connection with the specific life support model of the Elshan population, which implied a systematic change of place of residence, they functioned for a short time. Judging by the available data, the use of a limited number of dishes (1–3 vessels) is associated with a period of Elshan population residence in one place, and, therefore, settlements with relatively large collections of ceramics were most likely visited many times by the Neolithic population.