Asbestos in the culture of the ancient population of Karelia with rhomb-pit and comb-pit ware traditions

The article presents the results of a study aimed at revealing the reasons that caused the appearance of pots with asbestos temper and ornaments made of this fiber material in the culture of the population with rhomb-pit ware tradition in the Onega Lake region (Obonezhye) in the first half of the 4th millennium BC. During the study of pottery collections, the information about all the rare finds of potsherds with pit-comb decoration and asbestos temper in the region was collected and the discovery sites were mapped. The morphological characteristics of the potsherds were also described and compared with the characteristics of rhomb-pit and comb-pit ware with sand and gravel temper. The article discusses the archaeological materials from an ancient workshop for producing asbestos pendants (probably for exchange). The authors substantiate their assumption that the beginning of the asbestos use could be connected with the influence of the population with typical comb-pit ware from the Saimaa Lake region in eastern Finland. The population with the rhomb-pit ware tradition did not used asbestos often, which can be explained by a rather long period of transition to a new strategy of extraction and use of local mineral resources.