Avtodrom 2—a Late Neolithic (Artyn Culture) Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe, Western Siberia
Avtodrom 2—a Late Neolithic (Artyn Culture) Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe, Western Siberia
DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.1.049-061
V.V. Bobrov1, 2, A.G. Marochkin2, and A.Y. Yurakova1, 2 1Kemerovo State University, Krasnaya 6, Kemerovo, 650043, Russia 2Institute of Human Ecology, Federal Research Center of Coal and Coal Chemistry, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Sovetsky 18, Kemerovo, 650000, Russia
The study addresses cultural and chronological attribution of Avtodrom 2—the largest and best-known Neolithic site in the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia. The results are summarized of excavations made over eight field seasons (1998, 2004, 2007–2012) in its northeastern part, where dwellings with the Artyn type of pottery and numerous stone implements have been found. We describe ceramics, lithics, habitation and utility structures, and propose attributing them to the Late Neolithic Artyn culture distributed over the forest and forest-steppe parts of the middle Irtysh basin, in Baraba, and partly on the southern Vasyugan. On the basis of radiocarbon and thermo-luminescent analysis of the ceramics, the estimated dates fall within the middle and second half of the 5th millennium BC. The Artyn people maintained ties with those of the Bystrinka (Bystry Kulyogan) culture of the Middle Ob and those of the Kokui culture of the Irtysh and Ishim basins. Cultural affinities with people of the forest-steppe Upper Ob and of the northern Kulunda steppe are explored. The place of the Artyn culture among other Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures is assessed. This culture belonged to the Late Neolithic stage in the evolution of the autochthonous Ob-Irtysh community.
