456 Settlement and economy in Neolithic Ukraine: a new chronology D.Ya. Telegin 1 , M. Lillie 2 , I.D. Potekhina 1 & M.M. Kovaliukh 3 The authors use their revised chronology for the Mariupol-type cemeteries (presented in Antiquity 76: 356–63 (2002)) to offer a new sequence for Neolithic settlement and economy in Ukraine. They find that the transition to the Neolithic began about 6500 cal BC, but co-existed with Mesolithic communities for a further millennium. In about 4500 cal BC early copper age cultures appeared, which in turn coexisted with the Neolithic in neighbouring areas. Co-existent cultures are defined in terms of their artefacts, subsistence strategies, burial practice and physical types. The Mariupol-type cemeteries seem to have had their origins in the late Mesolithic and endured into the Copper Age, a period of more than two thousand years (c. 6500–4000 cal BC). Keywords: Neolithic, Ukraine, settlement, chronology. Defining the Neolithic The question of the origins and subsequent development of food-producing economies in Ukraine in the prehistoric period is comparatively well studied for many cultures such as the Linear pottery, Bug-Dniester, Surska and Dnieper-Donets cultures, among others. Numerous papers have been published relating to the timing of animal domestication and the species composition of food producing communities (Bibikova 1963; Formozov 1972; Krainov 1957; Tsalkin 1970; Telegin 1977), but the precise definition of the transition to agriculture remains to be established (cf. Zvelebil 1995). Faunal studies have shown that domesticated cattle and pigs were available to the Neolithic cultures in Ukraine and Moldova mentioned above, and in addition it appears that sheep/goat formed part of the Linear pottery cultures resource base. In addition, sheep is listed amongst the faunal remains found in Neolithic horizons of Rakushechny Yar near the Don River (Belanovskaia 1995). Krizhevskaya (1998: 248) reports the presence of sheep/goat at the Matveev Kurgan settlements (I and II) which are located on the river Mius on the north side of the Azov Sea. The former of these sites is dated to 7180–78 and 7505–210 BP (St. Petersburg and Groningen lab.), which calibrate to 6220– 5890BC and 6600–6050BC respectively. 1 Institute of Archaeology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Geroiev Stalingrada street., 12, Kyiv, Ukraine (Email: ira@iarh.kiev.ua) 2 Wetland Archaeology & Environments Research Centre, Department of Geography, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX UK (Email: M.C.Lillie@hull.ac.uk) 3 State Scientific Center of Environmental Radiogeochemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Palladin av., 34a, Kyiv, Ukraine (Email: kyiv14c@radgeo.freenet.kiev.ua) Received: 10 May 2001 Revised: March 2003 Accepted: March 2003