BRIEF RESULTS OF WORKS ON THE SITE VAVILINO 1 IN 2020
Authors:   candidate of historical sciences, Director of the branch of the A.Kh.Margulan institute of archaeology, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Mamiror Т. B. ,   tmamirov@mail.ru,   https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2975-0115, Kuandyk S. R. ,   specialist of archeology of A.Kh. Margulan Institute of Archeology, Master of Archeology, Almaty, Kazakhstan; s.r.kuandyk@mail.ru; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1336-4976
Published: October 2020

he article provides brief information about the results of the field works in 2020 at the stratified Stone Age site in Western Kazakhstan - Vavilino 1. The sites of the Stone Age, with a preserved cultural layer, are very rare for the territory of Kazakhstan, and in particular for the studied region. The works of 2018 and 2019 showed the destruction of the upper cultural layer of the site as a result of anthropogenic impact, the excavation in 2020 was expanded by another 12 sq. m eastward, were obtained more than four hundred stone artifacts, fragments of ceramics and animal bones. The first horizon up to 25 (30) cm thick was saturated with eluvium and gaize; artifacts of yellowish-gray quartzitic sandstone, siliceous raw materials of dark gray and light gray shades, single fragmentary bone remains and ceramics were found in the layer. The main percentage of artifacts in the first horizon is represented from quartzite sandstone - 173 specimens. (94%). The tool kit (39 pieces) is represented by the following items: scrapers on flakes and blades (9 pieces), mainly of end types (7 pieces). Fragments of blades with secondary processing along the edges are representative (14 pieces), or 34% of tools. Highlighted in a set are an burin on straight retouched truncation, reamers on a plates and flakes (3 pieces). A single chisel reshaped from a fragment of a core, notched tools on blades and a technical chip (3 pieces), a massive pebble side-scraper, a tool with a spike, chips with retouch, and fragments of tools (5 pieces). Artifacts from siliceous rocks are few in number - 11 specimens (6%), of which 5 tools, all of them endscrapers. On one, measuring 14.3x16.0x3.9 mm, the left edge was retouched with back retouch. The second horizon, 25 (30) cm to 60 (70) cm thick, includes 238 artifacts, 211 specimens from quartzite sandstone (88.6%) and 27 specimens (11.4%) from siliceous rocks. The technique of primary reduction from quartzite sandstone is represented by a double-sided core for removing short spalls, technical spalls, and ribbed plates. The tool kit (37 pieces) is represented by the following items: two end-scrapers on a plate, one end-scraper on a flake, and one side scraper on a flake; fragments of plates with retouch (8 pieces); an angular cutter, a drill on a fragment of a plate, two cutting tools, the first knife with a natural backing, the second with a serrated blade; scrapers on a flake (2 pieces); a chopping tool, the rest are whole flakes and their fragments with secondary processing. From siliceous rock, 10 tools, three end-scrapers, a round scraper on a flake, a chisel, fragments of plates and flakes with secondary processing along the edges were found. Despite the accident rate of the site and the destruction of most of the cultural layer by anthropogenic impact, the study of the site is of great importance for understanding the cultural processes in the Neolithic-Eneolithic era in the Volga-Ural interfluve. The stratigraphy of the excavation showed that the areas in the east and south are the most destroyed. However, in the southern direction, despite the destroyed upper layer, the thickness of the cultural layer increases to 70 cm, which is of interest for increasing the excavation area in the southern, as well as the western part of the site, which is less affected by economic activity. At the site, a bone fragment was used to obtain the first radiocarbon date 7483 ± 23 BP (Hela-4507) (cal 6355- 6335 BC), which indicates the early Neolithic age of the object. Work on Vavilino 1 has just begun, a small stone and ceramic inventory has been obtained, which has similar features to the Neolithic monuments of the Steppe Volga region (Algai, Irrigated 1), the date obtained includes this monument in the circle of the Early Neolithic monuments of the Steppe Volga region, however, additional dating is required and obtaining more massive material, which can solve to some extent the issues of the origin and cultural features of the Early Neolithic in the Volga-Ural interfluve. The article was prepared with the financial support of the KN MES RK (IRN of the project AR05134087 "Stone Age of the North-Eastern Caspian Region").