nscArchaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of EurasiaАрхеология, этнография и антропология Евразии1563-0110IAET SB RAS10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.1.044-052nsc-2098Research ArticlePALEOENVIRONMENT. THE STONE AGEПАЛЕОЭКОЛОГИЯ. КАМЕННЫЙ ВЕКShell of Tritia nitida Sea Snail from a Neolithic Burial at the Ust-Aleyka-5 Flat Burial Ground, Barnaul Stretch of the Obhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9543-0596BorodaevV. B.

Borodaev V.B., Leading Specialist 

Molodezhnaya 55, Barnaul, 656031

borodaev_vb@altspu.ruhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3122-1423KiryushinK. Y.

Kiryushin K.Y., Associate Professor

Pr. Lenina 61, Barnaul, 656049

kirill-kirushin@mail.ruhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5003-1249KuzmenkinD. V.

Kuzmenkin D.V., Senior Researcher 

Nikitina 111, Barnaul, 656043

kuzmenckin@yandex.ruhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3085-2330TolpekoI. V.

Tolpeko I.V., Associate Professor 

Pr. Mira 55a, Omsk, 644077

itolpeko@yandex.ruhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6580-2811DavydovR. V.

Davydov R.V., Junior Researcher 

Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090 

puer-viro@mail.ruhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7812-8037FedorchenkoA. Y.

Fedorchenko A.Y., Researcher

Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090 

winteralex2008@gmail.comAltai State Pedagogical UniversityRussian FederationAltai State UniversityRussian FederationTigirek State Natural ReserveRussian FederationDostoevsky Omsk State UniversityRussian FederationInstitute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of SciencesRussian Federation2025030420255314452Copyright © Borodaev V.B., Kiryushin K.Y., Kuzmenkin D.V., Tolpeko I.V., Davydov R.V., Fedorchenko A.Y., 20252025Borodaev V.B., Kiryushin K.Y., Kuzmenkin D.V., Tolpeko I.V., Davydov R.V., Fedorchenko A.Y.Borodaev V.B., Kiryushin K.Y., Kuzmenkin D.V., Tolpeko I.V., Davydov R.V., Fedorchenko A.Y.Данная работа распространяется под лицензией Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.https://journal.archaeology.nsc.ru/jour/article/view/2098

We present the findings of a multidisciplinary study of burial 2 at Ust-Aleyka-5 on the Upper Ob. In 1982, an upright burial of a child with abundant funerary offerings (lithic artifacts, ornaments made of bones and teeth of mammals, shells of Unio bivalves) was unearthed. We focus on a find unique in the region—the shell of a sea snail Tritia nitida, a gastropod, which, at present, lives in the Mediterranean, Black, and Azov seas. The Raman spectroscopy analysis of a mineral pigment detected on the shell allowed us to identify it as red ocher. Similar traces were found on dropshaped pendants made of bone, antler or deer teeth, and on fossil shells of Unio aff. tumidus. On the basis of AMS analysis, burial 2 dates to the mid- or late 4th millennium BC. The T. nitida shell indicates ties (likely indirect ones) of the Barnaul stretch of the Ob to the Black Sea region.

Neolithicchild burialmarine molluskTritia nitida shellBarnaul stretch of the ObRaman spectroscopyThis study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project No. 24-28-01030 “Neolithic-Chalcolithic Burial Complexes of the Barnaul Stretch of the Ob in the Circle of Contemporaneous Sites of Southern Siberia and Adjacent Territories”. The studies using the Raman spectroscopy method were carried out in the Laboratory of Digital Archaeology at the IAET SB RAS, Project No. FWZG-2025-0007 “Use of Digital Technologies in Analyzing Archaeological Sources and Reconstructing the History of Ancient Communities”; microscopic analysis of the pigment was carried out under IAET SB RAS R&D Project No. FWZG-2022-0003 “Northern Asia in the Stone Age: Cultural Dynamics and Environmental Context”.ReferencesAlekseev A.K. 1963 Paleogenovaya fauna mollyuskov Severnogo Priaralya. Yerevan: Izd. AN ArmSSR.Alekseev A.K. 1963 Paleogenovaya fauna mollyuskov Severnogo Priaralya. Yerevan: Izd. 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The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest present.