Archaeological Findings on Suchu Island (Excavation Area I, 1975)

Abstract

This study describes the finds from dwelling B excavated in I975 on Suchu Island, near Mariinskoye, Khabarovsk Territory. Lithics, ceramics, portable objects of art, and ritual artifacts (the total of II,574 items) are housed at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS. Excavations in area I have been carried out since I972 in an extension of dwelling B, which had been partially unearthed previously. In I975, 252 m² were cleared, finishing the works in excavation area I. Stratigraphic and planigraphic methods were used to reconstruct the layout of the dwelling and the space outside it. A morphological classification of the lithics was undertaken, ceramics were studied with a binocular microscope, and the chronology of all finds was evaluated. Some of these date to the Middle Neolithic (Malyshevo and Kondon cultures, and the Belkachi complex), some to the Late Neolithic (Voznesenovskoye culture) and Final Neolithic, some to later periods, such as the Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, or the Middle Ages. Lithics include tools and debris. Ceramics, objects of art, and ritual items mostly represent the middle stage of the Malyshevo culture. Two burials, dating to the Neolithic and the Early Iron Age, were found inside dwelling B. They were arranged after the dwelling had been abandoned, and they are especially relevant to cultural and historical reconstructions, since ancient burials are very rare in the region, and not a single one dating to the Neolithic was known until the present time.