Surface collection near the Bobkovo village of the Altai Kray during the 2024 survey

In the 2024 field season near the Bobkovo village (Rubtsovsky District, Altai Kray), an archaeology survey was conducted. During the survey, signs of human presence in the area during the Neolithic were found. This part of the valley of the Aley River was chosen for the study because of its similarity to the location of the Rubtsovskoye site. According to the planographic and geomorphological contexts of artifacts found at the site, people in the Neolithic preferred to settle in the immediate vicinity of the Aley River, its channels and small lakes. Based by the finds from the Rubtsovskoye site, their main occupation was fishing. The site is presently located on the shore of an old lake, which was not destroyed by the Aley River during its multiple changes. The Bobkovo village is located on the bank of a similar old lake on the right side of the Aley River valley; the terrace section here has a flat relief and a convenient southern exposure. During the inspection of a many different exposures along the lake and on the terrace site, a small amount of archaeological material was found: a core-like fragment, debitage without retouche (blades - 7 specimens, flakes - 5 specimens), and an undecorated ceramic vessel fragment. Laminar flakes are comparable to the Neolithic materials from the region in terms of morphology and raw material composition. A flake found in the bank cliff has slightly smoothed edges and may be close to the materials discovered west of the Bobkovo village in 1964, preliminarily dated to the Paleolithic. Signs of human activity were recorded during the survey, although the small number of the collected artifacts and the lack of a clear archaeological context make it impossible to identify a part of the terrace as a site or settlement. The surveyed areas are likely to be located too high and too far from the water, and they were not comfortable enough for the long-term habitation of social groups in the Final Stone Age.