R. S. Gabyashev’s Role in the Study of the Neolithic in the Volga-Kama Region

The works by R.S. Gabyashev characterizing the Neolithic cultures of the Volga-Kama region with their combed and stroke-ornamented ceramics are analyzed in the article. In the 1970s, the researcher worked out a chronology of the Neolithic sites located in the Lower Kama river region and suggested a concept of their origin and development. The latest studies using radiocarbon dating have confirmed the validity of the basic conclusions made by R.S. Gabyashev, namely: on the autochthonous origin of the Neolithic cultures in the Middle Volga – Lower Kama river territory; on simultaneous existence of sites with combed and stroke-ornamented pottery; on synchronicity of the southern Chalkolithic cultures and the forest-belt Neolithic ones; as well as those referring to the two stages in the existence of sites with stroke-ornamented pottery singled out by him. However, the dating of the Neolithic sites proposed by R.S. Gabyashev has currently been modified with a view of their earlier emergence