Statistical and Typological Analysis of Pottery from the Settlements of the Late Bronze Age in the Lower Reaches of the Belaya River (once again about the problem of the genesis early Ananino Culture of Corded Ceramics – ACCC)

The paper deals with interpretation of the results of the comparative statistical analysis of pottery from the late Bronze Age settlements in the lower reaches of the Belaya river – Kakry-Kul, Birsk, Udelny-Duvaney. The analysis has been aimed to determination the cultural identity of these settlements and to establishing genetic links between ceramics of the Early Ananyino (Pitted Ware and Corded Ware) Culture and the Late Bronze Age ceramics in the Volga and Kama region. The analysis of ceramics has been carried out according to the program and methods developed by V.F. Gening and G.A. Fedorov-Davydov at their time. The obtained results show that the Late Bronze Age settlements in the lower reaches of the river Belaya belong either to the Maklasheevka (according to V.N. Markov) or to the Byrgynda (according to L.I. Ashikhmina) cultures of the Lower Kama basin; in their morphological features, the ceramics of the of Early Ananyino type, decorated with a complex cord and pit ornament, differ markedly from the pottery of the Late Bronze Age in the Volga-Kama region, which does not allow the authors to speak about the genetic relationship between the compared groups of ceramics. That is, the pottery of the Early Ananyino type with a cord and pit ornament was brought to the Volga-Kama region outside. Most likely, the origin of this pottery should be sought in the late Bronze Age settlements in more northern areas.