Origins of pottery production and ethno-cultural processes in the Neolithic of the Amur region

The article summarizes the results of many years of research into the Neolithic pottery from the lower Amur River basin. Pottery remains of the Osipovskaya (fragments of 122 vessels), Gromatukhinskaya (fragments of 12 vessels), Novopetrovskaya (fragments of 22 vessels), Mariinskaya (fragments from 149 vessels), and Malyshevskaya (fragments of 43 vessels) archaeological cultures have been studied from the historical and cultural approach. The authors describe the main features of various traditions followed by the carriers of these cultures in terms of pottery manufacturing techniques, shapes of vessels, and their ornamental decoration; the common and specific features of these traditions are described. Several general patterns of the origins and evolutionary development of pottery production in the early period of its history are demonstrated on the basis of the data obtained.