Results of excavations at the Algay site in the steppe Volga region in 2020

The paper presents the results of the Algay site study undertaken in 2020 in the steppe Volga region (Aleksandorovo-Gaisky district of the Saratov region) on the right bank of the Bolshoy Uzen river. During the excavations archaeologists discovered three cultural layers, separated from each other by sterile layers. The upper layer contains finds belonged to the Khvalynskaya Eneolithic culture, the middle layer contains finds from the Caspian one, and the lower layer - from the Orlovskaya culture. The ceramics are made of silty clay with an admixture of mollusk shells. The stone tools differ in raw materials: the Khvalynskaya and Caspian artifacts are made mainly of quartzite, and the Orlovskaya ones are made of flint. The range of objects is dominated by various types of scrapers, knives and cutting points. The flat-bottomed vessels of the Orlovskaya culture are ornamented using the technique of a receding lines with oval and triangular pricks. Patterns are represented by horizontal rows and zigzags. Aurochs, tarpan, saiga and onager were identified among the bones of animals. Bones of a domestic dog were found in the Orlovskaya culture layer, and bones of sheep and goats in the Caspian layer. The bone tools and a shell pendant were also found. The radiocarbon dates indicate the existence of the Caspian layer in the V millennium BC, and the Orlovskaya layer in the VII -VI millennium BC.