Discussion of the "new Eneolithic" century in the forest-steppe Don region

The article is devoted to the discussion of the processes of interaction between the population of Neolithic and Eneolithic cultures in the Upper and Middle Don basin. A.T. Sinyuk considered these processes within the framework of «Neolithic survival», A.M. Skorobogatov and A.V. Surkov propose to single them out into a special Neo-Eneolithic stage. The use of the new term does not solve the problem and does not contribute to a better understanding of the situation. There are no metal finds on the settlements of Don forest-steppe area, and the studied burials are few. The topography of the Sredny Stog settlements does not differ from the location of local Neolithic sites. The osteological materials from the Upper Don settlements named Vasilyevsky cordon 17 and 27 indicate that the leading place in the Eneolithic economy was occupied by hunting and fishing. And at the Middle Don settlement of Cherkasskaya 5 domestic animals were known already in the Neolithic Age. The layers with Sredny Stog`s pottery are usually found on the same monuments as Neolithic materials. A prerequisite for the conflict-free coexistence of different groups within a limited area is their orientation towards different sources of food, connected with the development of different natural and economic resources. There were no conditions for the parallel development of the population with different economic and social patterns in the Don region. Migrants and aborigines came into close contact with each other, which was reflected in the emergence of hybrid ceramic materials. The processes described above represent a particular case of transition from the stone age to the metal age, the content of which fully corresponds to the definition of Eneolithic.