Lithic “Hoard” from the Neolithic Layer at the Lenkovka Multilayered Site (Based on Field Research in 1936)

This article presents previously unpublished research results from the Neolithic layer of the multilayered Lenkovka site, excavated in 1936. The site was located on the right bank of the Angara River, at the mouth of the eponymous ravine. By now, it has been completely destroyed by wave activity of the Bratsk Reservoir. The site was discovered by the Angara Archaeological Expedition led by A.P. Okladnikov in 1934 and was excavated in 1936 and 1960. The results from the Final Pleistocene and Late Holocene horizons have been partially published in the monographs on the Neolithic and Mesolithic of the Southern Angara region. However, information concerning the Neolithic of Lenkovka has largely remained absent from scholarly discourse. A concentration of lithic artifacts was discovered during the 1936 field season. Now, the collection is kept in the funds of the Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local History. The artifacts were located in a storage pit under the Neolithic layer. The age of the stratum can be determined by the presence of “mesh-plaited’ ceramics therein. The collection includes a core preform, a hard hammerstone, and five tested blanks. Within the context of knapping technology research, the most intriguing artifact is the core preform. It features a triangular crosssection and bifacial edge preparation. The initial blank was a tabular piece of siliceous slate. One of its edges has been reduced. Such artifacts can be classified as a distinct type of core blank, intended for blade production within the framework of prismatic and conical core reduction strategies. Apart from Lenkovka, these items are documented at Early Neolithic sites across Baikal Siberia, providing evidence for the wide distribution of this distinctive prismatic technology throughout the region

Archaeological science · Excavation · Holocene · Knapping · Pleistocene · Marine and environmental studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Soil and Environmental Studies