The first experience of studying charred deposits from ceramics of the Eneolithic era of the Middle Don (V – early IV millennium BC)

The publication presents the results of lipid analysis of charred deposits from ceramics originating from the layers of the Eneolithic era from the multilayered stratified site Cherkasskaya-3. Charred deposits from samples from 37 fragments of vessels, most of which belong to the Eneolithic era, were subjected to gas chromatographic analysis. From the upper layer of the site (the first quarter of the fourth millennium BC), 12 samples were taken from ceramics of the late stage of the Srednestogovskaya (Dereivskaya) culture; from the middle layer, 10 samples from ceramics of the Srednestogovskaya culture and three from the late Neolithic were used for analysis.; From the lower layer there are 9 samples of ceramics of the Nizhnedonskaya culture of the Early Eneolithic of the Mariupol cultural and historical region, one sample of the Syncretic Cherkassy type, the Neolithic Dnieper-Donetsk type and ceramics of the Early Neolithic Cherkassy type-5. An archaeozoological analysis showed the presence of a small number of bones of sheep/goats and cattle (6 samples) in the upper and middle layers. No bones of domestic fauna were found in the lower layer, on the investigated area of 42 m². The results of the gas chromatographic analysis of charred deposits and their interpretation showed the presence of signs of dairy products contained in ceramic samples from all three cultural layers of the site, including samples from the Early Eneolithic and occasionally Neolithic.