Chalcolithic Sites of the Nizhnee Nilmozero Lake in the Northwestern White Sea Region: The Specifics of the Topography and Chronology

One of the topical issues in studying the adaptation of the ancient population to the natural conditions of the White Sea is to identify the features of the development of the shores of the Kandalaksha Bay by primitive hunters, where, due to the constant movement of the coastline, a process of transformation of part of the sea bays into freshwater reservoirs is observed. The data published in this article were obtained by studying the topography, altitudinal location and chronology of the ancient settlements in the study region and comparing them with the rates of glacioisostatic uplift established in the last two decades for the western coast of the White Sea. In the course of the analysis of the materials of the archaeological sites explored on Nizhnee Nilmozero Lake, data were obtained on the presence in this microregion of a large group of Chalcolithic sites that existed here for a relatively short period (second–third quarter of the 3rd millennium BC), which, in turn, turn, allows us to clarify the time of formation of this large reservoir located in the northwestern part of the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea. The specifics of the topography of the Eneolithic sites on Nizhnee Nilmozero Lake indicate that they functioned under the continued influence of tidal fluctuations in sea level, at a time when this reservoir began to separate from the sea basin. The analysis of the bone remains allows us to conclude that the main occupation of the ancient population of Nizhnee Nilmozero Lake was hunting sea animals (seals). Fish bones were not found at the sites, so fishing probably did not play any significant role in the economy of the Chalcolithic population of Nizhnee Nilmozero Lake. The slate dart tips found at the Eneolithic sites of Nizhnee Nilmozero Lake were probably used by ancient people for to hunt pinnipeds. The connections of the Chalcolithic population of the Northwestern White Sea region with the more southern regions are traced by the finds of fragments of chopping tools of the Russian-Karelian type, apparently from metatuff; and various flint tools, among which the most significant is a series of arrowheads.

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