Natalia Petrova

This study presents new archeointensity results from the multilayered settlement Yarim Tepe I located today in Northern Iraq. Archaeological evidences and new radiocarbon dates indicate that this site was occupied for about four centuries, between the end of the 7th and the beginning of the 6th millennium BC, leading to a 6.5 m-thick sequence of archeological deposits. A series of 16 groups of potsherds, with a total of 76 fragments, were collected from superimposed stratigraphic layers, with thicknesses of ∼30 cm on average.  Archeointensity measurements were carried out using the Triage procedure, which takes into account both anisotropy and cooling
rate effects on thermoremanent magnetization acquisition. In this study, 114 specimens from 40 fragments have fulfilled our selection criteria and mean archeointensity results were derived from nine different groups of fragments, with a minimum of three fragments per group. According to an age model constructed using a bootstrap approach, the new archeomagnetic record spans a time interval of ∼220 years between ∼6070 BCE and ∼5850 BCE. No significant intensity variations were observed during this time interval, with an overall mean intensity value of 42.0 ± 1.6 μT. A comparison of the Yarim Tepe I data with other archeointensity results spanning the 7th and 6th millennia BC previously obtained from the Near East, as well as from Eastern and Western Europe was conducted. The Yarim Tepe I results enabled to constrain the short duration, one century at most, of an intensity peak evidenced around 5750 BCE from the Bulgarian database. Intensity variation rates associated with the ascending branch of the peak reached values as high as ∼0.12 0.15 T/year. Summarizing – μ the geomagnetic field intensity variations in the Near East and Eastern Europe during the entire 6th millennium BC, it appears that they were likely characterized by the occurrence of two short-lasting intensity peaksat ∼5750 BCE and ∼5500 BCE, with intensity variation rates similar or slightly higher than the maximum rates prevailing in the modern field. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the four radiocarbon dates reported in our study provide new constraints for deciphering the temporal correlation between the cultural/historical phases (Halaf and Hassuna) that were independently defined from excavations carried out in Iraq and Syria.

The small group of early ceramics was detected in 1930s to 1990s at a number of multi-layer sites of Russian northern regions (Arkhangel’sk, Vologda, Karelia, Komi), but underestimated as a source, directly pointing to ceramic production origins in the boreal forest zone c. 5500-5000 BC. The so-called ‘Kargopol type’ ceramics demonstrate archaic technological traits – straight rim, round holes under it, and clay paste with added sand temper. The mapping shows a wide distribution of these vessels (around 1000 km by longitude), almost without changes at least in volumes and decoration pattern, probably reflecting birch bark vessel features. There were no similarities with the neighbouring early ceramic types of the East European Plain central part, dated the 6th millennium BC, but obvious parallels existed with younger types of Pit-Comb Ware and Pitted Ware of the 5th millennium BC. We recognise this phenomena as a key to further understanding of how the process of ceramics production emergence ‘acted’ in the zone of the Russian boreal forest.

Сборник посвящен заслуженному сотруднику Исторического музея, ведущему специалисту по искусству малых форм Сибири эпохи неолита и бронзы - С.В. Студзицкой. Представленные в сборнике статьи посвящены изучению древнего искусства от предметов мелкой пластики до декоративно-прикладного искусства, начиная с эпохи неолита-энеолита до раннего средневековья. В научный оборот впервые вводятся новые находки археологических экспедиций ГИМ, а также предметы их фондов музея. Интерпретация их на современном уровне позволяет поставить ряд проблем межкультурного взаимодействия разных племен и народов, развития идеологических представлений в древности, социальной и культурной атрибуции отдельных комплексов.