Ceramic complex of the settlement Krohalevka-18 (Verkhneobskaya culture)

Purpose.We aimed at dating the cultural and historical monument and identifying its belonging to a certain culture based on the analysis of the ceramic materials found. Pottery being a major de terminant of cultural material and in the majority of the archaeological complexes being a dominating material, it is often the only pointer of the age of the monument. We determined the main morphological and decorative features of the ceramics found and identified the cultural and historical value of the monument. The material obtained on the monument consists mainly of pottery which concentrated as waste in clusters inside the buildings and near the household pits. The paper studies the ceramic complex settlement Krohalevka-18. Results. Our materials are fragments of 48 vessels. The pottery was located mainly in clusters between dwellings. Inside the «citadel» ceramics was a rare finding. Inside the housing, ceramics clusters were discovered mainly in the southern part. The location of ceramics makes us believe that the exposed part of the settlement, outside the citadel, was not popular as a place for settling. Three vessels found on the site belong to the Irmen' culture dating 9th-8th centuries BC. The crockery is low-neck vessels, with clearly shaped neck, the diameter of the body being slightly larger than the diameter of the corolla and exceeding the height of the vessel. We identified the main ornamental motifs and the methods of carving the ornament on the surface of the vessels. The main decorative elements are holes and rows of triangles or halves of ovals which were imprinted with angle sticks or combs. The main area covered with the ornament is the vessels' corolla, neck and shoulders. The main ornament on the corolla makes a series of vertical or oblique lines. The neck is ornamented with pit depressions. Shoulders are mainly ornamented with rows of imprints carved with an angle spatula. These features are in parallel with the ceramic complexes found in the sites of the same age in the Novosibirsk and Tomsk Ob region, which suggests that various local areas had a specific form and decoration typical for ceramic complexes. Comparing the ornamental motifs on the vessels studied, which were found in this settlement and the sites of the same age, we identified one major difference. It is scarcity of ornamental motifs on the site Krohalevka-18. The ornamental scarcity typical for the settlement Krohalevka-18 can be explained, first, by much smaller number of samples of ceramic material, and secondly, by the local features of the pottery in the target building. A similar set of motives and methods of their carving is characteristic only for the settlement Krohalevka-18, which needs further studies. Conclusion. The ceramic complex analyzed is represented by materials of the Odintsovskiy stage of the Verhneobskaya culture and dates the monument as 5th-6th centuries BC. Single ceramic items belonging to the Irmen' culture, which were found on the site, make us believe that this place was used by man in the Bronze Age first, and later this territory was occupied by representatives of the Verhneobskaya culture.