Application of discriminant analysis to study the peculiarities of the functioning of the Mesolithic and Neolithic sites of the Upper and Middle Kama region

The authors conducted verification of 21 Mesolithic and 28 Neolithic sites of the region. They choose the following characteristics as the main metric indicators: the area of the site, the height of the location above the water level, and the thickness of the cultural layer. The authors conducted a discriminant analysis of the selected groups of sites. The result of correct classification is 69.4%, which can be considered as satisfactory. The authors identified groups of Mesolithic and Neolithic sites with the highest percentages of belonging to groups. Based upon, it was possible to calculate the average metric characteristics for each group of sites. The Mesolithic sites in average have an area of 3,300 m², are located at height of 15 m above the level of water reservoir, and have a cultural layer thickness of 0.2 m. These characteristics correspond to 17 of the 21 sites. The Neolithic settlements in average have an area of more than 16,000 m², are located at height of 6 m above the water level and have a cultural layer thickness of 0.8 m. The 17 of 28 Neolithic settlements correspond to these average characteristics. Discriminant analysis showed that four Mesolithic sites have Neolithic features according to the selected criteria. Five Neolithic sites have both Neolithic and Mesolithic features. The most interesting is the group of six Neolithic sites, which were classified as Mesolithic with a probability of almost 70%. Most of them belong to the early Neolithic. Consequently, the settlements of the Early Neolithic by many criteria do not differ from the sites of the Late Mesolithic. The period of the Late Mesolithic - Early Neolithic must be considered as a single epoch when the neolitization process was going on in the region. Discriminant analysis has proved that there is real correlation between the metric indices of the archaeological site and its age.