Textile ceramics of the Early Iron Age in the Ardino settlement

The paper presents the characteristic of textile ceramics at the beginning of the Iron Age in the Ardino settlement, located in Mari El Republic near the Senyushkin village on the Arda river bank (of the Volga left tributary). The Ardino settlement with the area of 620 sq.m. was studied by the joint science expedition of Mari State University and Mari Scientific Research Institute. The Ardino settlement had dual layer. It was founded during the Early Ananino period, and there are a lot of fortifications built in the ancient Mari period. The down layer that included a light-gray rubberized sandy loam from 10 to 75 cm contained of fragments of smooth-walled ceramic of the Early Ananino period with a mixture of crushed shells (525 items - 51.07%). It also included utensils with thread- ripple surface with sand or wood in the test (503 items - 48.92%), and the ceramic vessels, that combine the features of the first two groups (19 items - 1.84%). Textile ceramics was usually poorly shaped, with a round bottom. The ornament of vessels' neck consisted of horizontal rows of different pits, sometimes «prints stamp gear» or «cord line» in combination. There are a lot of similarities between the Ardino settlement' textile ceramic materials and the settlements of the Kostroma Volga area, the Middle Oka region and the Dyakovo "grid" dishes of the Scherbinsky settlement. According to the results of the use of the AMC date method, the "textile" fragments were produced 2705+40 years ago. The accompanying equipment (arrow heads, fragments of molds for casting bronze spearhead, crucibles, etc..), similar to the equipment of the Old Akhmylovo burial, does not contradict the received date.