Materials of the Samus and Shelomok Cultures of the Samuska III Settlement (Tomsk Ob Region): Based on the Results of the 2018–2019 Work

The article is devoted to the publication of materials from the Samuska III settlement, discovered in 2016 on the territory of the Samus archeological microdistrict (Tomsk Ob region), and is a continuation of the previously published results of the study of the stone industry of the site based on the results of the 2018 works. The basis for writing the article was the materials of the 2018–2019 field studies, obtained from 7 test pits with a total area of 14 m². The finds include fragments of ceramic vessels, fragments of technical ceramics, stone objects, and their fission products, fragments of mineral pigments, a fragment of petrified wood, slag, and calcined bones. The artifacts of the Shelomok culture from the Early Iron Age and the Samus culture from the Early and Middle Bronze Age as well as individual vessel fragments from the Late Neolithic and Eneolithic form the basis of the ceramic complex. The analysis of the site's lithic industry is complemented by findings from the 2019 collection and is consistent with previously published data. Tools with traces of crushing and grinding of dyes and mineral pigments with traces of processing reflect the phases of paint production by the Samus culture population. The stratigraphy in the test pits with occupation layers corresponds to the stratigraphic situation in the areas with natural soil formation. In the 2018 pit, however, two stratigraphic layers were distinguished, corresponding to the Early and Middle Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. In addition, an assemblage of tools, intermediates, and objects with nonutilitarian functions was found in this pit, which is located near a site with dark gray, dense, sandy clay immersed in an archeologically sterile layer. This work made it possible to place the previously published data from the site in a cultural and historical context and to attribute the stone industry to the Samus culture. The radiocarbon data obtained, together with the collected finds, give reason to attribute the Early and Middle Bronze Age complex to the late phase of the Samus culture. Given the stratigraphic and planigraphic position, the collection of artifacts from the 2018 pit can be interpreted as a set that was kept or carried in a case, or as grave goods.

Tomsk Ob region, Samus, Tom, Early and Middle Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Samus culture, Shelomok culture