Pages: 359-443

At least 50 sites with Mesolithic finds are known at present in the basin of the Lower Moksha river, but valuable informative material was obtained only from Purgasovo 3 and Barashevo 1. The main task of this work is a monographic description of the collections.
Over 3000 artefacts were collected in Purgasovo 3, tool constitute 34% of the association. The peculiarity of Purgasovo 3 is strikingly strong, this fact permits to single out this site together with similar ones as an original Purgasovo archaeological culture, included into the circle of post-Swider cultures.
Collection from Barashevo 1 comprises 6820 artefacts, tools make for 7.5% of the assemblage. Lack of post-Swider arrowheads is a specific feature of this collection, which distinguishes it from typical Mesolithic sites of the Volga-Oka region. Comparison of Barashevo 1 with the sites of Kultino 1, Staraya Pustyn’, Ugolnovo 1 and Velet’minskaya 9 displays their similarity, on the one hand, and their difference from the stations of Butovo, Ienevo, Resseta, and Purgasovo cultures, on the other hand. These observations produce the ground to consolidate the sites mentioned above into Kultino archaeological culture. Its genesis, probably, was related to the Mesolithic of the Kama-Vyatka rivers’ interfluve.
The site of Barashevo 1 enables a homogeneous association, while Purgasovo 3 displays syncretic features, though the origin of the syncretism is not clear so far. Having analyzed Mesolithic sources, the author claims that syncretism occurs more frequently not as a result of interaction of ancient population’s groups, but is caused by the activity of natural factors, and first of all, soil processes. Phenomenon of naturation in this sense represents a threat, since it produces normally a source, practically indistinguishable in outward appearance from that emerging in the course of different ethnic groups’ interaction. The material from Mesolithic sites located on the Moksha river is an obvious testimony of numerous and still unresolved problems in the Mesolithic studies.