Kargopol Culture

an archaeological culture of tribes of hunters and fishermen inhabiting the region around Lakes Lacha, Vozhe, and Kenozero and part of Lake Beloe, in the present-day Vologda and Arkhangel’sk oblasts, RSFSR. The culture is named after the place of the principal finds in Kargopol’ Raion, Arkhangel’sk Oblast, RSFSR.

The most ancient remains date from the end of the Mesolithic period and are characterized by crude flint implements, bone arrowheads, and other articles. Pottery with ornamentation consisting of large pits appeared in the fourth millennium B.C.; this was replaced by pottery decorated with “pit-comb” impressions. The flint tools of this period acquired a Neolithic look, and stone figurines of animals and clay representations of man appeared. At the end of the second millennium B.C., smooth and grid-faced pottery predominated and flint almost ceased to be used.