The Krasnoyask and Kansk forest steppe and its place in the cultural dialogue of Neolithic Period and Bronze Age in Western and Eastern Siberia

In the article an analysis of artifacts from forest-steppe of Central Siberia is given. The main source of information for the article is obtained from the results of a few decades of archeological excavations at the settlement and burial of Nefteprovod 2 in the vicinity of Kansk. According to the author, during the early Neolithic Period an autochthonous culture continues to develop in the Krasnoyarsk and Kansk forest-steppe having its roots in the local Mesolithic. Furthermore, the whole complex of artifacts and sites of the region also has analogies in various historical monuments across East Siberia. This is apparent from similarities in the main types of tools: adzes and stone axes with eyelets, arrowheads, scrapers, lithic cores, bone arrowhead inserts. Early Neolithic pottery has the features of lacing and netting techniques. As this type of pottery is not typical for West Siberia, the author points out that the Krasnoyarsk and Kansk forest-steppe in Early Neolithic Age was a part of the Angara and Baikal Neolithic group having, however, specific features. Pottery from the Eleneva cave and the Kazachka site is dated to 5,000 B.C. using 14 C. The distribution in the late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age of pottery with elliptical toothed impressions, smooth indented prints, and comb-shaped patterns with specific intervals confirms A.P. Okladnikov's theory on the migration of West Siberian tribes into the Yenisei valley. Using archeological evidence from the 2015 field season, the author corrects the conclusions of E.R. Rygdylon, G.A. Maksimenkov and other archeologists concerning the late Bronze Age. He states that all burials at Nefteprovod 2 are earthen with a setting of small stones. They differ from Karatuz burials, which use stone boxes, earthen enclosures and a burial mound. The archeological finds include fine socketed axes, knives, ornaments, and other bronze articles typical of the Karasuk culture, alongside with stone adzes, knives, arrowheads, and bone harpoons. This expressive material enables the author to conclude that at the end of 2,000 B.C. and early 1,000 B.C. there was a unique late Bronze Age culture in the forest-steppe of Krasnoyarsk and Kansk. It was strongly influenced by the Karasuk cultures of southern Siberia and West Siberia.

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