The Lithic Items of the Early Neolithic from the Dnieper-Dvina Interfluve (case study of the lithic assemblage at the Single Kurgan site near the Serteya village)

The paper examines typological and technological characteristics of the lithic assemblage at the Single Kurgan site near the Serteya Village (Dnieper-Dvina interfluve), which can be correlated with ceramic materials of phase b-4. Burins and points prevail in the lithic assemblage (Fig. 1). Tanged points with ventral flat retouch is the main form of industry; geometrical microliths are absent. The Single Kurgan site near the Serteya Village was a workshop site specializing in blade and bladelet industry. Blades and bladelets were obtained from single- and double-platform cores (Fig. 5) employing only a direct percussion technique, mostly, by making strikes with a soft hammerstone (Fig. 6; 7). The lithic items show no clear signs of two-sided striking and abrasion. The lithic industry of the Early Neolithic from the Dnieper-Dvina interfluve related to ceramic phase b-4 shows various degrees of similarity with Neolithic blade industries of the forest belt in eastern Europe in the late VII – VI millennium BC, e. g. tanged and/or foliate points.