The earliest centres of pottery origin in the Russian Far East and Siberia: review of chronology for the oldest Neolithic cultures

Abstract

The earliest pottery from the Russian Far East, Osipovka and Gromatukha cultural complexes, was radiocarbon-dated to c. 13 300–12 300 BP. In Siberia, the earliest pottery is known from the Ust-Karenga complex, dated to c. 11 200–10 800 BP. The Osipovka and Gromatukha complexes belong to the Initial Neolithic, and they are contemporaneous with the earliest Neolithic cultures in southern China and Japan. In spite of the very early emergence of pottery in the Russian Far East, there is no evidence of agriculture at the beginning of the Neolithic, and subsistence remains based on hunting and fishing, including anadromous salmonids in the Amur River and its tributaries.