Kelteminar Culture

an archaeological culture of the Neolithic and Aeneolithic periods (fourth-third millennia B.C.). Discovered in 1939 by an expedition in Khorezm led by S. P. Tolstov, it was named after the abandoned Kel’teminar Canal, near which the first finds were made.

The culture was widespread primarily in the ancient Akcha Darya Delta of the Amu Darya River and its adjacent territories. The remains of large, oval, frame houses were discovered at campsites of the Kel’teminar culture. Microlithic-type flint articles were found, as well as pottery with round and pointed bottoms and with incised and stamped decoration and ornaments made from shells. The population engaged in fishing, hunting, and gathering and, at a later stage, in stock raising. The Kel’teminar culture, which had ties with the highly developed agricultural cultures of the south, in its turn influenced the Neolithic cultures of the Urals Region and the region of the lower Ob’.