The Taskuduk Camp Site in the Northern Caspian Sea (preliminary results of the study)

The article presents the results of a study of the Taskuduk site in 2023, located in the Kharabalinsky district of the Astrakhan region. These investigations were a continuation of the 2022 research. An aim of excavations was the clarify cultural layer boundaries and obtain new materials. Planographic analysis allowed the authors to determine the borders of the cultural layer. The stratigraphic analysis gave the possibility for artifact distribution. The excavations provided an increase in the information base of sources about the Late Neolithic of the Northern Cis-Caspian region. A representative collection of stone tools has significant importance. A homogeneous combination of products from different types of raw materials has been proven. The specificity of microscrapers in the Late Neolithic stone industry was established by a typological method. The adze with traces of processing and polishing was found. The unique arrow point, which is untypical for the stone industry of this region was determined. The application of technical and technological analysis as well as the thin section analysis of pottery allowed the authors to determine the recipes of ceramic pastes. A lot of vessels have an influx on the inside of the corolla. This pottery feature has analogies with the vessels of the Dzhangar and Orlovka cultures. On the base of gas chromatography analysis of the charred food crusts on ceramics the diet of ancient people was reconstructed. The study of a representative collection of animal bones provided information about the economic strategy on this site. The radiocarbon dating supports the Late Neolithic age of this site.