UDC 903.9.

In the 1970s, two ornamental balls of baked clay were found on Suchu Island in the lower reaches of the Amur River (Ulchsky district of Khabarovsk Krai). They attracted the attention of researchers with their unusual shape and richness of ornament. It was suggested that balloons should be used as stamps to decorate vessels. Examining the balls and Neolithic miniature balls from the Amur River, as well as "stamp-shaped" (dzemonsky) products, the author comes to the conclusion that the finds are sacred as an objective reflection of the ideological essence of the creators of these cult attributes.

Keywords: Neolithic of the Amur region, sacred object, spiral ornament, worldview.

Introduction

In 1972, at the initiative of A. P. Okladnikov, an expedition team of the Institute of History, Philology and Philosophy of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, under my leadership, began stationary excavations of extensive Neolithic settlements located on Suchu Island near the village of Mariinsky on the Lower Amur. In 1992-1995 and 1997-2002, the Amur-Ussuri group of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences was engaged in research of these monuments (the last three field seasons on the island were worked jointly by archaeologists of the Institute of Ethnography and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the State Institute of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Korea). [Okladnikov, 1973; Derevyanko and Medvedev, 1996, 2002; Derevyanko et al., 2003; Medvedev, 1994, 2002; Medvedev, 1996; et al.]. In various places of the monument island, 20 dwellings were excavated on an area of more than ^2,700 m2, and several shrines were also studied, which I united into a single cult center (Medvedev, 2005).

Most of the studied dwellings (ten completely and four partially) belong to the Malyshev culture of the Early-Middle Neolithic. Six uncovered dwellings and one sanctuary like a residential complex belong to the Voznesenovo culture (Late Neolithic). The extensive material obtained during the excavations (more than 91,000 artefacts) is very important for understanding many components of the Neolithic culture. Together with archaeological sources that allow us to recreate the appearance of material life, technology, economic, industrial and social structure (stone tools, ceramic products, including whole vessels, spinning wheels, ornaments, as well as the remains of the dwellings themselves) of primitive Amur societies, the research revealed exceptionally valuable artistic and ritual-ritual realities: traditional jewelry in the form of rings, beads, various shaped pendants (including magatama type) and expressive labrettes, three-dimensional sculptural zoo -, ornitho -, ichthyoid and anthropomorphic images. It has been established that the Lower Amur Neolithic is characterized by polyeiconicity and polysemantic artistic images depicted in anthropomorphic bisexual (androgynous) and anthropozoomorphic sculptures, figurines, and petroglyphs (Medvedev, 2000, 2001).

Among the various samples of small plastic found on the monument under consideration, two clay ornamental balls occupy a special place. They are well preserved, attract attention with their elegance. First, images of balls

Fig. 1. Balloon 1. Drawing by Yu. V. Tabareva.

a - top view; b - right view; c - bottom view; d - left view.

They were published without any detailed analysis or interpretation [Okladnikov, 1981, fig. 82]. Later, in a special article, the balls were interpreted as stamps for decorating clay vessels (Abramov, Berezin, Glinsky, 1984). I did not agree with this interpretation [Medvedev and Mylnikova, 1993, p. 68].

Conditions of occurrence of balloons, their description and cultural and chronological reference

Both spheres were found in the north-eastern part of Suchu Island near its southern edge, where in the first half of the 1970s three dwellings (C, D, E) were fully and somewhat partially investigated in Excavation I (Derevyanko et al., 2003, Fig. 2). In the specified place of the monument, the remains of semi-earthen dwellings, as well as dugouts, do not have the characteristic signs of pits-depressions, although their foundations-pits are located in sandy loam and sand at a considerable depth. Residential complexes are located on the bottom or gentle slopes of a relatively narrow slope that stretches from a low coastal area to the interior of the island. As a result of slope processes, housing depressions have been completely washed out over the past millennia.

Excavation work at this site, as well as at most other sites on Suchu, was carried out in a continuous area covering the dwellings and adjacent spaces.

Ball 1*. It was discovered in 1975 in V.'s dwelling. This rounded dwelling is one of the largest (up to 17 m in diameter) and deepest (approx.3 m from the present surface) excavated on the island. Its peculiarity is determined by the presence along the walls of the pit of stepped (often very blurred) ledges located like an amphitheater, which served in the past, most likely, as a kind of bunks or shelves. The ball lay on one of the ledges directly near the wall of the dwelling under the collapse of the vessel at a depth of approx. 150 cm from the modern surface (sq. N-52). Clay sculptures of animals, including a bear, as well as birds, ornaments in the form of a toothed wheel and other products were found in the dwelling under approximately the same conditions.

The find is an almost perfect ball with a diameter of 6.3-6.7 cm and a weight of 220 g. In some places of the ball there are small flattening. The surface is heavily smoothed, rough in several areas with weak potholes and chips, and here you can see the structure of dark gray or dark clay dough with admixtures of fine crushed or rounded gravel. The color of the surface is uneven: from brown to dark gray and even black. The product is completely ornamented with a rod-stick or spatula with a blunt rounded end. In the process of smoothing, grooved concentric spirals (1.0 - 2.5 mm deep) were formed, which formed a negative decor. Against its background, a relief-roller positive pattern or composition of eight characteristic serpentine spirals clearly stands out, between which, thanks to the same smoothing technique, six diamond-shaped figures with slightly concave sides are formed in places of stamping; a certain pattern is observed in their arrangement. One of these figures, the smallest in size (length 2 cm), is an almost equilateral rhombus formed by four indentations-grooves. In the center of it, before firing the product, a rounded depression was made with a diameter of up to 5 mm and a depth of approx. 2.5 mm (Fig. 1, a; 2, a). If this part of the ball with a diamond-shaped shape and a depression inside it is conventionally considered the upper one, then two grooved rhombuses will be depicted in the lower one, while one of them is inscribed in the other. The inner rhombus is shown somewhat carelessly: one of its sides is not marked (see Figs. 1, e; 2, c).

The remaining four geometric shapes are located on four sides, respectively.

* In the paper by B. A. Abramov, D. Y. Berezin, and S. V. Glinsky [1984], ball 1 is denoted N 2, and ball 2 is denoted N 1.

2. Balloon 1. Photo by V. N. Kavelin.

a - top view; b - right view; c - bottom view; d - left view.

at the same distance from the "top" and "bottom" shapes. Three of these four lozenges are noticeably larger than the first (length 3 - 3.5 cm). The rhombuses are placed in pairs, their two sides are longer, which determines the asymmetry of the figures (see Fig. 1, b, d; 2, b, d). In the corners of the two "side" rhombuses there are small rounded dimples, stamped with the end of the ornamenter. Dimples slightly lengthen the corners and give the lozenges a waxed outline. The fourth rhombus, the "side" one, is about the same size and shape as the "top" one. It also has a round recess inside.

Ball 2. Discovered by residents of the village of Mariinsky during the repair of a well located 13-15 m from excavation I down the raspadku in the direction of the Amur. It is possible that in this place there was a Neolithic dwelling, washed out, like those excavated nearby, by loose soil. The exact depth of the ball could not be determined, it is only known that it was at least 1 - 1.5 m. At this level, layered deposits of yellow sand and sandy loam are the main ones. Ball diameter 6.3 - 6.6 cm, weight 247 g. It has an almost regular round shape, and is somewhat flattened in several places. The surface is mostly dark brown, dark brown, in part of the ball - dark, almost black; here it is most flattened, apparently due to numerous contacts with a soft object or a person's palm. In general, ball 2, unlike ball 1, looks smoother, as if polished. However, on its surface there are several dimples-caverns with a diameter of 2-4 mm, formed after firing as a result of the loss of wood or lumps of chamotte. The ornament on this ball is clearly grooved, but more simple. Double parallel spiral rollers are formed by in the same way as the rollers on the ball 1, by smoothing the rounded end of the tool, obviously in the form of a spatula (Fig. 3, 4). As a result, concentric grooves (rollers between them) appeared, the ends of which meet at two opposite "poles", forming a so-called double helix, changing direction in the center (see Fig. 3, a, b; 4, a, b). The spirals are uneven, with varying degrees of relief. It is noteworthy that at one "pole" the grooves between the rollers are noticeably deeper than at the other. On these more embossed rollers, in groups of 5-8 pieces, there are shallow, barely noticeable impressions of a rectangular stamp. These vertical (relative to the "poles" of the ball) impressions are formed on four rollers-turns, in several places they have lost their original shape, but many of them are viewed quite satisfactorily. This decoration, applied across the spiral rollers with a small-toothed stamp, can be called combed-each preserved impression is cut mainly by four to five horizontal stripes. Unfortunately, not all prints have clear contours and dimensions, but the nature of their rhythmicity (after 3 - 5 mm) is recorded confidently. If you look at the ball "sver-

3. Ball 2. Drawing by Yu. V. Tabareva, a - top view; b - "right"; c - "bottom"; d - "left".

3, a; 4, a), then the first group of six to seven amorphous impressions can be observed at the very beginning of the roller spiral. Another four or five impressions-strokes are not easily distinguished on the second parallel roller spiral. A little further on the same roller, there are seven or eight more vertical impressions, of which three still have horizontal dent strips. Approximately 5 cm from the specified group of prints, six or seven more similar prints were marked on the same roller, some of which retained horizontal stripes (see Fig. 3, b, d; 4, b, d).

So the balls in question have a lot in common. The finds are similar in size, quality and composition of clay dough, color, decoration technique, as well as firing, thanks to which the products are well preserved. Perhaps it is impossible to speak only about the complete identity of the ornaments on the balls. There is also a similarity in the design: the spiral grooved decoration is the only one on ball 2, and it also occupies a significant part of the surface of ball 1.The topographical and stratigraphic conditions of the balls ' occurrence can be considered identical. Objects were registered within a single Neolithic settlement, more precisely, in its limited peripheral area, where all the studied dwellings, together with material material, with the exception of individual objects from the upper layers of the soil, were located at the same time.-

4. Balloon 2. Photo by V. N. Kavelin.

a - top view; b - right view; c - bottom view; d - left view.

they belong to the Malyshev culture. Ball 1, found, as already noted, near the wall of the dwelling, was associated with a layer of sandy loam - the main filling of the housing pit. Ball 2 was found in similar conditions, presumably within the confines of a washed-out dwelling.

For the studied dwellings of the Malyshev culture on Suchu Island, quite a lot of radiocarbon dates have been determined from charcoal. In particular, for dwelling B there are two: 4,380 ± 40 bp (SOAN-1280) and 4,650 ± 55 bp (SOAN-1281). There is also a date obtained from coal collected near dwellings B and D - 5,830 ± 65 BP (SOAN-843).

So, dwelling B, in which the ball 2 was located, can be dated no later than the beginning of the III millennium BC. As for the neighboring dwellings discovered in excavation I, judging by the date of SOAN-843 and the date of the dwelling D 5 170 ± 90 BC (SOAN-1123), they could have existed even earlier - in the IV millennium BC. Recognizing the cultural and essential proximity of the balls under consideration, it is permissible to assume their age approximately the same - the beginning of the third millennium BC. In general, these dwellings correspond in age to other dwellings of the Malyshev culture studied on Suchu Island.

Balloons are the subject embodiment of religious and mythological ideas of Neolithic man

The fact that the balls could not be used for ornamentation of ceramics, since they themselves served as an object of decoration, we have already written (Medvedev and Mylnikova, 1993). Without repeating what has been said, I will focus on the facts that are very significant, as it seems to me, which allow us to fully argue the proposed point of view.

First, the authors of the article on balls (Abramov, Belizin, and Glinsky, 1984), when describing the spiral ornament that is characteristic of the ceramics of the Malyshev culture, should have paid attention to the fact that all the grooved depressions forming spirals on the vessels of this culture on Suchu Island were created by rolling a jagged metal rod. ornamentyra. The surface of the grooves is always covered with bracket-shaped (scaly) or angular impressions, which are left with a more convenient, one might say maneuverable ornament, such as a toothed stamp-wheel (see, for example: [Derevyanko and Medvedev, 2002, Fig. 2, 6; Okladnikov, 1981, fig. 85, 89]). Such ceramic stamps-wheels are constantly recorded during excavations of Malyshev's dwellings. They are recognized as one of the characteristic elements of the Lower Amur Neolithic; such stamps are especially numerous found on Suchu Island. Understanding that when applying the ornament, the grooves of the spiral rings should have been covered with small rhythmic depressions, the authors of the publication consider it possible to assume: "jagged impressions specially applied to the roller" adorn the inner surface of the grooves. At the same time, they stipulate that these impressions are small and poorly distinguishable [Abramov, Berezin, Glinsky, 1984, p.67]. (We are talking about ball 2.) It is quite possible that there were indeed more jagged impressions on the rollers of the ball, at least on one of its two "poles" (on the other "pole" they obviously did not exist at all) (see Figs. 3, 4). But even if we make such an assumption, then in appearance this rather sparse comb (or toothed) decor cannot be compared with the pattern in the form of solid angular and bracket-shaped depressions on the surface of grooved spirals on Malyshev vessels.

Secondly, taking into account the above, in the numerous collections of Malyshev ceramics (it is characterized by the grooved spiral decor on the Amur River), it is unlikely that one can find samples on which this ornament would correspond to the experimental prints obtained as a result of rolling ball 2 on plasticine [Ibid., Fig. 5]. We can confidently say that that such an ornament is missing. It cannot, of course, be ruled out that somewhere in ancient times there may have been spherical stamps, with the help of which a wave-like ornament was applied to individual sections of vessels (Molodin, 1990, p.77). However, the spiral pattern, which, by the way, is often confused with such a graphic form as a maze [Kern, 2007, p.7], is much more difficult to perform, especially in artistically rich compositions, usually on large vessels belonging to the Malyshev culture.

Third, such characteristics of a complex decorated ball 1, such as belonging to a single archaeological complex, size, shape, similarity of dough and roasting, drawing on the entire surface and its smoothness, supposedly allowing it to be considered, like ball 2, an ornamental stamp, cannot be classified as representative. The bottom line is that all these signs cannot be associated only with ornamental balls - objects of other purposes can also have them. Glinsky probably had doubts about the practical application of ball 1, because its experimental rolling did not give "close analogues in the collection of ornaments of Lower Amur Neolithic ceramics" [1984, p.68]. Often, things that seem to be similar, when carefully considered, cease to be so. The so-called stamp-shaped objects found on many monuments of the Jomon era in Eastern Japan (including Hokkaido) have a certain connection with the analyzed balls. Initially, they were called mushroom-shaped clay products; it was also suggested that these things were used as earrings (vidi-

Fig. 5. Clay stamp-shaped products from monuments of the Jomon era on Hokkaido Island (according to Miya Hiroaki, 1988, Figs. 2, 3).

1-Bannaguro; 2, 3, 6 - 9-Suehiro; 4, 5-Osero-Tojo. The scale is different.

mo, including the hanging holes in some of them). Then the name "stamp-shaped clay products"was assigned to these finds. Specifically, Mia Hiroaki was engaged in the research of these artifacts. It counts about 250 items. Particularly valuable materials are found in central Hokkaido and the pref. Iwate and Miyagi (Miya Hiroaki, 1988, pp. 75-76). Objects are divided into several types depending on the pattern on the surface of the expanded "stamp" part and their shape. The first type, which refers to the end of the middle-beginning of the late Dzemon, combines large, round in cross-section, cone - shaped" stamp-shaped " products that are strongly expanded at one end and have a smooth surface (Figs. 5, 7). The second type corresponds to the beginning of the late Dzemon-products are round in cross-section, with a recess in the middle and a decoration in the center of the in the form of a spiral and concentric circles (fig. 5, 3, 6 - 9), sometimes in the form of a slightly expanding rod with a spiked and linear pattern (Fig. 5,2). The third type of" stamp-like " products represents the middle of the late Dzemon - with various expanded "stamp" parts and corresponding ornaments. A significant place among them is occupied by objects with an oval and diamond-shaped "stamp" part, on the surface of which a grooved pattern is formed in the form of rhombuses inscribed in each other with a dimple in the center (Fig. 5, 4, 5).

Turning to the question of the function of stamped clay products, Miya Hiroaki notes that if used in practice, the bulk of them would show signs of wear or damage. However, the number of finds with signs of exploitation is relatively small; it is likely that the items in question were not used for utilitarian purposes. According to the researcher, stamped clay products reflect one of the aspects of the spiritual culture of the people of the Dzemonsk era. Items that appeared at the end of the middle Dzemon (5-4 thousand years AGO) and existed until the end of the late Dzemon (4-3 thousand years AGO) are treated as amulets or items intended for ceremonies. Miya Hiroaki emphasizes that the ornaments and shapes of the "stamp" part and the "trunk" (elongated conical element) are full of motifs, the main theme of which is the reproductive organs. They contain the ideas of fertility, large families and easy childbirth, safe and successful hunting - extremely important for people of the Stone Age [Ibid., pp. 81-82].

I have already mentioned clay and stone conical sculptural images in the form of a phallus-vulva belonging to the Malyshev and Kondon cultures on the Amur River, which have the same content as the Dzemonsky "stamp-shaped" products (in the form of reproductive organs or vulvae) [2001, pp. 82-83, 88-89]. Without dwelling on this subject, I will mention two other clay sculptures found during the excavations of the Malyshev culture dwellings on Suchu Island.

The first sculptural image was recorded in 1993 in dwelling 3 (Figs. 6, 7). The object is mostly light brown in color, evenly fired. It is a round cross-section rod with a length of up to 7.9 mm and a diameter of approx. 3 cm, with broken ends, one of which is extended. The" upper " broken end may well have been narrowed or pointed. The surface of the extended end (butt) is smooth, without ornament. The object is comparable to Dzemonsky stamp-shaped products (see Figs. 5, 1). Even if the image is not fully preserved, it can be considered phallic. Such figures express, as a rule, the unity of the phallus and vulva.

The second sculptural image was found in 1995 in dwelling 5 (see Figs. 6, 2). The product is broken off. The preserved part is a round cross-section rod-shaped object with a length of 3.6 and a diameter of 2.2 cm, light brown, sometimes slightly reddish in color. The firing is smooth, the terracotta is dense in the fracture, with small cells-voids formed as a result of burning out organic additives in the clay dough. On the surface of the preserved end face, a grooved ring is stamped with a tube. (To deflect possible assumptions about the use of the end part of this item as a reference point).

6. Phallic objects (1, 2) and balls (3 - 10) from the dwellings of the Malyshev culture on Suchu Island.

1, 8-dwelling 3; 2-dwelling 5; 3-7-dwelling 27; 9, 10-dwelling 25.

1-6, 8-10-clay; 7-stone (chalcedony).

However, I should note that I do not know the exact same shape on the ceramics from dwelling 5, or on any other ceramics of the Malyshev culture (and in general the ancient Amur culture).) The rest of the product's surface is ornamented. Below the edge of the end face, two parallel extruded grooves encircle it. Slightly wider paired wavy grooves form, obviously, the main formative motif of the ornamental composition on the side surface of the object. There were at least two paired or double wavy grooves, but only one complete pair and an element of the second one are visible on the preserved fragment. The space between the grooves is also completely filled with paired short rows of oblique, barely visible, in shape close to a rectangle or rhombus, impressions made mainly with a three-pronged comb.

These items from the homes of the Malyshev culture, unfortunately, are poorly preserved. Due to the lack of signs of utilitarian use, these finds can be confidently attributed to the category of phallic products. The second sculpture fits into the typological series of images of the phallus-vulva. The first sculptural image from dwelling 3 actually fully corresponds to clay "stamp-like" products of the first type, and the second-to objects of the second type of dzemon.

It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that many categories of sculptural images and some other objects of the Dzemonsky era and the Malyshev culture of the Amur Neolithic have a great external similarity and, as it is established, the same purpose. They are also close to each other chronologically. "Stamp-shaped" products of the first type of Dzemon are dated, as already mentioned, from the end of the Middle to the beginning of the late period, which corresponds approximately to 4 thousand years AGO (approximately the end of the third millennium BC). The date of Malyshev's dwelling 3 on Suchu Island to ¹⁴ From 4 470 ±100 years ago.It is the first half of the third millennium BC. Dwelling 3 is one of the latest among the studied Malyshev residential complexes. Nevertheless, the sculptural phallic product found in it*, as we can see, is noticeably older than the earliest "stamp - like" products-amulets of Japan. Such materials are one of the evidences of cultural ties that existed in the Neolithic period between the mainland of the Amur Region and the Japanese Islands. Many components that were considered Dzemonian until recently date back to the Early, Early, and Middle Neolithic cultures of the Lower Amur Region (Medvedev, 2000: 64-66). All these materials, including information on the Japanese Jomon era, are used in this case as an example for an objective interpretation of the realities that seem simple and understandable, but in reality are endowed with deep meaning.

Let's go back to the clay balls. They could not be ornamental tools, as shown above. You can't also refer them to things that are intended for games, for example. Such toys are unknown, and it is difficult to imagine these finds in this capacity. Then what are they?

Let us turn to the results of studies of ethnographic and archaeological materials - ornaments of ancient cultures and peoples of the North and Far East. As shown by the analysis of the most extensive material, the so-called circle ornament, a simple circle (sometimes with a dot in the center), double concentric circles are, as a rule, symbols of the sun. It is believed that the circle is one of the most archaic and universal symbols of the peoples of the world, starting from the Neolithic period (Ivanov, 1963, pp. 464 - 473). Such a definition of a circle is so common in historical and archaeological research that it can be called a textbook. A circle (a round three-dimensional image) can rightfully be understood as the analyzed balls.

Ceramic ornaments in the form of rings or circles can not be considered characteristic of the Malyshev culture. In some cases, rings or circles act as separate elements of complex decorative elements.

* In addition to the phallic image presented in this work, another clay sculpture of a phallus-the vulva-was found in dwelling 3 (Medvedev, 2001, Figs. 7, 4).

compositions with the image of stylized fish, whose eyes are marked with round indentations (by the way, semantically the symbols "eye" and" sun " are sometimes connected with each other) [Ibid., p. 466].

In Malyshev's dwellings and cult centers, stone rings are recorded, most often jade rings, also associated with the sun (for example, in sanctuary 2 of the cult center near the village of Voznesensky (Lower Amur), ten jade rings were compactly located) [Medvedev, 2005, fig. 10]. Stone rings were recorded during excavations of monuments of almost all Neolithic cultures of the Lower Amur region.

It is of fundamental importance that on Suchu Island, small clay balls were found in many Malyshev dwellings, and in one - a stone one. They were found, for example, in dwellings 3 (figs. 6, 8), 25 (Fig.. 6, 9, 10), 27 ( 6, 3-7). Clay balls with a diameter of 1-1.2 cm, with a smooth surface of red-gray-dark or yellow-brown color. A stone ball (reddish chalcedony with yellow-gray streaks) of regular shape, with a diameter of 1.3 cm, with a carefully sanded smooth surface.

The presence of round voluminous clay and chalcedony products in the homes of Malyshev residents can be considered a material manifestation of the solar cult. The worship of the sun among the bearers of Malyshev culture was probably expressed in the fact that they wore objects symbolizing the sun in the form of amulets or kept them within their homes. These items included flat jade rings, small clay or stone balls, and relatively large balls.

The main ornamental motif on the balls are spirals: a double helix that changes direction in the center on ball 2; S-prominent and pairs of spirals facing each other with their "backs" on ball 1. It is well known from Far Eastern ethnography that the spiral decoration is based on a realistic image of a snake. For example, around 100 BC, the Ainu people showed a careful attitude to realistic serpentine ornaments. In cases of emergency, such as illness, the Ainu made a ring-shaped image of a reptile from the grass, which they called the divine serpent. They associated the serpent with the sun, the disk. In the collections collected from ainizized Nivkhs on Sakhalin, there is a round tablet with a circle carved around the perimeter, and in it - "two spirally curved snakes". Among the Ainu and Nivkhs, this tablet was called the "sun deity" (Sternberg, 1933, pp. 571-572, Table IV, 1). The image of the serpent among the Ainu is located in the most important places, in the sacred corner of the dwelling. Prayers are dedicated to the snake, sacrifices are made (if they want to learn from it about the cause of the disease) , etc. The snake acts as the most powerful spirit-patron of the shaman, and the most powerful are shamans who have it as their patron spirit [Ibid., p. 573].

Of course, since the time of the Malyshev culture, there has been a significant transformation in the religious and mythological ideas of people living in the lower reaches of the Amur River and in the regions adjacent to it, but some fundamental elements have been preserved. For example, round three-dimensional or flat objects with the image of spiral snakes, which are associated with the deified sun-the source of life, the embodiment of fertility and goodness, were equally reverent both by the bearers of the Malyshev Neolithic culture and representatives of ethnographic modernity. (Let me remind you that the clay ball 1 was lying on a ledge near the topmasts of the dwelling, apparently in a vessel or under it.) It is noteworthy that almost all the religious realities in the" home " Neolithic shrines on Suchu Island were located near the walls of dwellings or in the recesses of the floor (see, for example, [Medvedev, 2005, p. 50, 56]). With a high degree of confidence, we can talk about the use of these objects in cult and ritual actions. The surface of the products is smoothed and even polished (especially ball 2), this is the result of repeated contact with the palm of the hand, body, soft thing.

It can be concluded that the clay balls found at the settlement of the Malyshev culture on Suchu Island are a reflection of the solar cult embodied in object-based protective images. The pattern of simple lozenges or lozenges with a dimple in the middle and at the corners of ball 1 is also semantically interpreted as heavenly bodies; most often this is the designation of the sun [Ivanov, 1963, p. 441].

Conclusion

The Malshgev culture, whose monuments are currently known in a large area from the lower reaches of the Ussuri and down the Amur Valley to its mouth, dates from the VI-V millennium BC (southwestern group of archaeological sites) to the V - mid-III millennium BC (northeastern group). In the material and spiritual life of its representatives, there are features that have no roots in the previous cultures of the Amur region, but have become widespread in subsequent times. Among these elements are dwellings in the form of semi-dugouts and dugouts of a large area (up to 150-180 ^m2), with a depth of more than 1.5 m (some with several steps-tiers along the walls), characteristic of the north-eastern area of the culture. Broad technical and typological analysis of the-

but the variety of stone tools is different. Ceramics demonstrate a rare typological richness and originality of ornaments. Many vessels of the Malyshev culture are decorated with a relief grooved meander and various versions of spirals. Such a pattern, made with jagged ornaments, was not seen in the Russian Far East before. not after the Malyshev culture. On clay utensils, primarily ceremonial, cult, along with a relief pattern, there is a flat zoomorphic and plant decor, applied with bright red paint most often in the upper part, sometimes on the body.

The distinctly expressed originality of the spiritual world of the Malyshevites, their religious and mythological representations was manifested in clay and stone artistic and ceremonial realities that have no analogues in the Far Eastern Neolithic, which include not only the considered ornamental balls and small balls, but also labrettes, churings, polysemantic cone-shaped sculptural images of the phallus-vulva and some other products [Medvedev, 2000, p. 65]. I am not convinced that these elements of the spiritual life of people came to the Neolithic inhabitants of this area of the Amur region from the outside. Such an ornamental motif as the spiral, in all its richness of variants, appears in the Neolithic of the Lower Amur, the toothed-grooved design technique is practically unknown in the ancient cultures of the Russian Far East. By researchers, mainly scientists. Sternberg and A. P. Okladnikov cited facts that prove the possibility of infiltration into some areas of the Far East, primarily on the Lower Amur, of certain cultural elements (for example, spiral (serpentine) ornaments) from the South Pacific region.

The problem of relations between the cultures of the population of the South Pacific Ocean and the Russian South-Far Eastern coastal marine and Amur territories in the Neolithic era deserves, taking into account new data, a special comprehensive study. To some extent, the ornamental balls described in this paper can help in solving this problem, which are somewhat reminiscent of Australian churings and churings with solar symbols of the Malyshev culture from Suchu Island (Medvedev, 2002, fig. 1, 1, 4, 5, 7].

List of literature

Abramov, B. A., Berezin, D. Yu., and Glinsky, S. V., Purpose of ceramic ornamental balls from the Neolithic settlement of Suchu Island (Lower Amur), Izv. SO AN SSSR, 1984, no. 1: Ser. ist., philol. and philos., issue 1, pp. 63-68.

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The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 25.08.08.

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