Complexes with Posol'sk type pottery in the Cisbaikal Neolithic: materials from the upper v layer of the Sagan-Zaba II geoarchaeological object

Posol'sk pottery represents one of the most striking and debated pottery traditions in the study of Neolithic cultures within the Cis-Baikal and throughout Baikalian Siberia more broadly. The small quantity of undisturbed stratified sites containing ceramics of this type makes it difficult to fully characterize the complex, and clear evidence for association with lithic and bone materials is almost completely absent. It thus remains difficult to assign this complex to a chronological period. This article is devoted to the publication and analysis of materials from a stratified complex with Posol'sk type pottery that was excavated from 2006–2008 at the Sagan-Zaba II multicomponent settlement site (Lake Baikal). We investigate morphological and stylistic characteristics of Posol'sk ceramics and describe the stone and bone materials found in association with them. We also discuss correlations between this complex and Neolithic materials from stratified settlement sites in the Ol'khon region and throughout Baikalian Siberia. As a result of clear stratigraphy and a series of radiocarbon dates, it was possible to relate the Posol'sk ceramic complex of the region to the middle Neolithic and to date it to the range of 5500–5000 BP.