The key site of Veksa. 6000 years of cultural development from the 6th to the 1st millennium cal BC in the North-Eastern European forest zone

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Veksa in North-Western Russia is a lucky case for archaeological research. With its three meters of stratigraphy and the exceptionally good preservation of organic remains that also enlables dendrochronology, the site poses the chance to create a reference chronology for prehistoric cultural and environmental history of North-Eastern Europe through six millennia. Basic research is needed here, because the prehistory of the entire region between Urals Mountains and Baltic Sea, Arctic Ocean and Volga basin is, in contrast to Central Europe, still poorly understood. Veksa is situated by an important river mouth and lies not far from the main European watershed. For this reason the site had been a focus of settlement from the Mesolithic onwards. Today this unique archaeological monument is at risk to be destroyed by erosion of the river bank, and time is running out to initiate modern investigations. Due to the location in a river floodplain, a find-rich, finely stratified sequence of cultural layers has accumulated at Veksa. In encompasses remains from the pottery Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age evidence and Iron Age relicts. Among the archaeological structures are house plans, concentrations of wooden piles, and burials and industrial sites of various periods. Since the 1990s, our cooperation partner Dr. N. Nedomolkina of Vologda State Museum has been conducting rescue excavations, although due to limited means the potential of the site has not been made use of appropriately. Extensive preliminary work by our German-Russian team has started in 2011 and now poses the chance to systematically retrieve fresh stratified material with well-confined measures. Thus, comparatively little resources are needed to take a major step forward scientifically. The main aim of the project is the development of a reference chronology for the cultural sequence in this region from the 6th to the 1st millennium cal BC. For the first time, this will also encompass the conjunction of archaeological and environment-historical data. Among the key aspects are the transition from foraging to a farming economy, the development of settlements, the dispersal of technological innovations such as early pottery or metallurgy, and the reconstruction of supra-regional cultural connections. Together with the Russian partners, two field campaigns will be conducted in 2015 and 2016 during which small excavation trenches will be placed next to old trenches to investigate the stratigraphy by modern methods. The applicant has the necessary language skills as well as close contacts to both the local Russian colleagues and the main research institutions in North-Eastern Europe. Thus, preconditions are perfect to comparatively analyse the results from Veksa and to incorporate them into the wider culture-historical picture.