Stone inventory of Neolithic sites with flat-bottomed ceramics of the Trans-Urals forest zone

Purpose. The earliest sites with different variants of flat-bottomed ceramics in the forest zone of Trans-Urals and Western Siberia date back to the 7th - the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. To understand the process of neolithization, it is important to ascertain the succession of their lithic industries with previous Mesolithic. Results. A review of the Early Neolithic stone inventory reveals two distinct areas in the forest zone. The northern one (Lower Ob, Surgut Ob and Konda basin) is characterized by three technologies: direct percussion flaking and block-on-block knapping of quartz, with inexpressive rarely retouched tools such as scrapers and scaled pieces; percussion-abrasive technique for polished knives, arrowheads, adzes and axes; punch technique for flint inset bladelets, without any arrowheads. Although investigated Mesolithic sites are not numerous in this area, it is clear that the first two technologies arose in the North since that time, when the microblade technique was the dominant one. Lithic assemblages of Early Neolithic settlements in the southern forest zone (Middle Trans-Urals) are generally analogous to the local Mesolithic. The latter included the microblade industry similar to the northern one but supplemented by polished axes. In the Early Neolithic it was completed by arrowheads (tanged points). The inventory of Early Neolithic sites in the Ob-Irtysh forest-steppe region with similar flat-bottomed ceramics almost exclusively contains the flint blade industry resembling the Mesolithic one of the area. Conclusion. Therefore, it is possible to trace traditions and innovations in stone-processing based on three groups of features. These are the types of available stone raw material and their own appropriate technologies, the preservation degree of microblade industry, the nomenclature and typology of implements. According to these traits, in each of the three districts, the Early Neolithic stone industry inherited traditions of the local Mesolithic, but developed in its own way.