CONCLUSION
Given the new AMS results from Zamostje 2, we cannot date the first Upper Volga pottery at this site to before c. 5700 cal BC. While we would not assume that Zamostje 2 was the first site with pottery in central Russia, it is difficult to accept that pottery was produced in this region for c. 300 years before it appeared at Zamostje 2, if the site was occupied in the first third of the
... [Show full abstract] 6th millennium, as dates for the Late and Final Mesolithic layers imply. However, the apparent lack of pottery dating to the late 6th and early 5th millennium, a period represented at Zamostje by vertical timbers, argues for caution in proposing the idea that Upper Volga pottery was not produced elsewhere until 5700 cal BC. Nevertheless, it is now essential to carefully investigate the early 6th millennium dates from sites with Upper Volga pottery, or pottery derived from it.