Ceramics of "Ananyino types" in the Kama and Urals region

The comparative characteristics of ornament on ceramics of sites forming local variations of Ananyino cultural-historical community are given. From the results of comparative statistical analysis of ceramics of the so-called "local variants" of Ananyino cultural-historical community, the author comes to the conclusion that all these local variants can be combined into larger territorial groups. For example, pottery of local variants "Kama II and III» and the variant«Belaya River» ornamented with impressions of cord and rows of pits (pitcorded) actually represents one type of ceramics due to which the Ananyino archaeological culture in its "classical" variant was singled out in due time. The territory of the sites with pitcorded ceramics includes middle reaches of the Kama River from the mouth of the Chusovaya River to the mouth of the Vyatka River and the lower reaches of the Belaya River.To the west there are sites with pottery decorated with pits combined with impressions of comb stamp carved patterns in the form of notches and cord impressions. By the frequency of occurrence the last are found less often. The territory of the sites with pottery with pitcomb ornament is the basin of the Vyatka River ("Vyatka variant") and the lower reaches of the Kama River ("Kama I” variant).To the north (at a distance of about 500 km in a straight line) there begins the area of the early Ananyino sites of Lasta-Perna type where the pottery with pitcomb and pit-corded ornament prevails.Comparative statistical analysis of ceramics of the mentioned territories of the Kama and Urals region has the following results: on the types of ornament the sites of the compared variants fall into four local-typological groups which may be defined as four archaeological cultures of Ananyino period. These are: in the Middle Volga - Akozino (or Akhmylovo), in the Lower Kama - Postmaklasheevo, in the Middle and Lower Kama and Belaya River - Ananyino, in the basins of Vyatka and Vychegda - pit-comb ware culture. They all have different origins and their unification within a single cultural-historical community requires more detailed study.In the second half of the I millennium B.C. geographical boundaries of these cultures are changing slightly. The settlements with ceramics with pit-comb or- nament appear in the Middle Kama, while settlements with pit-corded ceramics are located in the territory of the Udmurt Kama region and in the lower reaches of the Belaya River. The boundaries of the area of the Vychegda - Pechora Ana- nyino shifted to the northeast. Most likely it was caused by climate change: its cooling and humidification