N.L. Morgunova, A.A. Vybornov, N.N. Kovalyukh, V.V. Skripkin

Key words: Eneolithic cultures, absolute chronology of the Volga-Urals interstream area, steppe, forest-steppe, Caspian culture, Samara culture, Khvalynsk culture, Tok, Turganik and Repino types.
The authors used radiocarbon dating of pottery from Eneolithic cultures in the Volga-Urals interstream area. The about 50 dates that were obtained were then compared with 14C dates obtained from other material found at sites belonging to the Samara, Caspian and Khvalynsk cultures, and also to cultures of the steppe zone of Eastern Europe. The authors have arrived at the conclusion that the process of Eneolithization and transition to the Bronze Age in the Volga and Urals regions took a rather long period of time, from the second half of the 6th millennium BC till the end of the 5th millennium BC (calibrated). The radiocarbon dates for the early Eneolithic materials (of the Caspian and S’yezhinsky types) synchronize with late Neolithic sites, which fact allows to consider both within the limits of the neo-Eneolithic stage, the chronological boundaries whereof are within 5400 to 4800 BC. The following Eneolithic stage is connected with the development (possibly with the arrival) of the Khvalynsk culture, and also with the emergence of sites of the Ivanovskaya, Tok, Altata and other types, which followed the local traditions of cultural development. The chronological boundaries of the period are determined as 5000 to 4300 BC. Radiocarbon dating of pottery of the Turganik and Repino types determined the time of their existence as the 4th millennium BC.