Use-Wear and Experiment of the Stone Pendants from the Eneolithic Burials at the Mouth of the Kama River

Abstract

The paper presents the results of traceological experiments aimed at obtaining standards of traces that are formed on slate suspensions as a result of their wearing. Some results of an experiment on the use of denticulate slate stamps when applying an ornament to a clay vessel are also considered. These standards were necessary for the verification of previously obtained data on the use-wear research of slate pendants from the Eneolithic burials of the Murzikha II and Tenishevo burial grounds, which were studied in the Republic of Tatarstan, in the area of the Kama – Volga confluence in the second half of the 20th century. These burial grounds have been singled out to a special Ust’-Kama cultural type of the Eneolithic sites. As a result of the experiments, the authors identified two types of traces from wearing slate pendants, which became decisive for the functional identification of artefacts. The experiment also helped to verify the traces on denticulate pendants of the Murzikha II and confirm their use as stamps in the ornamentation of ceramics. However, the presence of linear traces on the teeth of artefact stamps has not yet been reflected on experimental stamps and additional experiments are needed.