Kama Neolithic culture: settlements of the Nizhnekamsk local variant

The article summarizes information about the settlements of the Kama Neolithic culture located on the border of two natural zones – forests and forest-steppe (Lower Kama region). The studied monuments are stationary base settlements, on which the remains of six semi-underground residential structures have been identified. The number of identified vessels in the settlements varies from 3–4 (Kaby Kopra) to 311 specimens (Dubovogrivskaya II). At the same time, materials of both early, developed and late stages were noted at the Dubovogrivskaya II parking lot. The most significant sites in this regard are Observatorskaya III (8 vessels of the Kama culture of the early stage) and Lebedinskaya II (36 vessels of the developed stage). The cartography of the Early Neolithic complexes of the Kama culture shows the wide geography of the formation of this tradition: the Middle Kama region (Mokino, Ust-Bukorok), the Lower Kama region (Ziarat, Dubovogrivskaya II, Mullinskoye II), Sviyaga (Kaby Kopry), Vyatka (Tarkhan I, Ust-Shizhma I) and the European Northeast (Pezmog IV). At the same time, the Mullinskoye II settlement stands out among the monuments of this period with an abundance of ceramic dishes, the number of which is not typical for the Early Neolithic stage. Ceramics of the Early Neolithic stage (A) of the settlements of the Kama culture are divided into types (A1–3); ceramics of the developed stage (C) are generally identical in terms of their indicators and content throughout the territory of the spread of this ceramic tradition; ceramics of the late stage (C) begin to trace foreign cultural influences, expressed in the appearance of a group of vessels «Russian-azibeysky» (C2) and single dishes of «Chernashkinsky» (C3) types.