Some similarity features in the Neolithic Lower and Middle Don
The paper considers the influence of Rakushechny Yar settlement research on ideas about the Middle Don Neolithic. Traditionally, the Lower Don Region was considered as one of the centers of the Middle Don Neolithic culture. The paper contains a comparison of the stone and ceramic inventory of the Rakushechny Yar with the materials of the Middle Don Culture sites. There are common features: stone inventory lamellar with a small number of geometric forms, acute vascularity, the use of pointed ornamentation, technological methods of vessel surface processing. At the same time, a large number of differences in the comparison of Early Neolithic materials of the Lower and Middle Don allow one to conclude that there is no genetic connection between the Middle Don and Rakushechny Yar cultures. In addition, the paper presents the study of the Cherkasskaya 5 site, its materials precede the Srednodonsk in chronological order and have many similarities with the finds from the lower layers of Rakushechny Yar settlement. Thus, the stone inventory of Cherkasskaya 5 is plate, geometric microliths are not found.