The Ornamentation System of Ceramic Vessels of the Pozdnyakovo Culture in the Late Bronze Age on the Territory of the Volga-Oka Right Bank

The article presents research results of cultural traditions of decorating vessels among the population of the Pozdnyakovo culture, who lived on the territory of the Volga-Oka interfluve right bank in the Late Bronze Age. The research was based on the historical and cultural approach and included analysis of the technology of ornament drawing and its stylistics. Materials from four settlements: Shava 1, Bezvodnoye 1, Novaya Derevnya 1 and Naumovka were involved for analytical work. It was found that the tribes of the Pozdnyakovo culture, who lived in the eastern part of its area, had almost the same tradition of decorating vessels that the tribes in the central part, the middle reaches of the Oka River, had. At the same time, among the analyzed ornamental traditions, differences were revealed that can be associated with chronologically different periods of settlement existence. All settlements belong to the late period of the existence of the Pozdnyakovo culture (the second third of the II millennium BC), but the settlements of Novaya Derevnya-1 and Naumovka chronologically precede the settlements of Bezvodnoye-1 and Shava-1. This is evidenced by the high percentage of vessels with "textile" imprints on the outer surfaces. The recorded changes in the traditions of decorating vessels are associated with the mutual influence of the cultures of the forest and forest-steppe zones in the late Bronze Age, primarily the Pozdnyakovo culture and the culture of "textile" ceramics with the likely participation of the Maklasheyevka culture of the Atabaevo stage.