Stone Age Settlements in the Pskov Region (Northwest Russia): A Review of Old Materials and New Fieldwork
Abstract
The paper presents an overview of the Stone Age materials discovered in the central and northern parts of the Pskov district (Northwest Russia). There are 15 sites where stone and ceramic materials were identified. Some materials from the sites were lost, while others were identified only by artefacts from quartz, flint or ceramic fragments, which renders their cultural identification questionable. The most representative collection from the territory discussed was obtainned from site 10 near the lake of Belaya Struga with stone (flint, slate, quartz) and ceramic artefacts. Analogies for pottery could be traced among Typical Comb Ware materials in Latvia, Estonia and the nearest Russian territories (Leningrad district), dating to the 5th millennium-4th millennium BC. Some micro-blades and micro-scrapers were also discovered, which could perhaps be attributed to the Mesolithic period. Further studies in this region seem promising in terms of searching for the cultural layer “in situ” of both the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.
