On some aspects of the formation of early Neolitical tableware in Western Siberia

Issues of the origins and development of pottery are actualized through a study of new Early Neolithic forest-steppe and taiga sites in Western Siberia. The flat-bottomed and round-bottomed Neolithic dishes found in Western Siberia are similar in shape and ornamentation. They seem to be a continuation of an earlier ceramic tradition that was introduced into the region. Based upon the radiocarbon dates, those dishes appeared in West Siberia within the 7th millennium BC. We adhere to the opinion that the local population borrowed ceramic production from migrants and believe that imitation of structural parts of birch bark containers in ceramic vessels was important for the formation of West Siberian pottery. For example, such sculptured elements as ledges, drips, and moldings on the outer and inner sides of the rims of ceramic vessels can be correlated to the bands on birch bark dishes and their fastening elements. In our opinion, sculptured elements on ceramic dishes gradually transformed into semantic elements: wavy lines (zigzags) on the drips on the inner side of the rim not only refer to a band attached to the vessel but apparently represent water (waves) as the contents of the vessel.