The emergence of pottery in Europe is associated with two distinct traditions: hunter-gatherers in the east of the continent during the early 6th millennium BC and early agricultural communities in the south-west in the late 7th millennium BC. Here we investigate the function of pottery from the site of Rakushechny Yar, located at the Southern fringe of Eastern Europe, in this putative contact zone between these two economic ‘worlds’. To investigate, organic residue analysis was conducted on 120 samples from the Early Neolithic phase (ca. mid-6^th millennium BC) along with microscopic and SEM analysis of associated foodcrusts. The results showed that the earliest phase of pottery use was predominantly used to process riverine resources. Many of the vessels have molecular and isotopic characteristics consistent with migratory fish, such as sturgeon, confirmed by the identification of sturgeon bony structures embedded in the charred surface deposits. There was no evidence of dairy products in any of the vessels, despite the fact these have been routinely identified in coeval sites to the south. Further analysis of some of the mammalian bones using ZooMS failed to demonstrate that domesticated animals were present in the Early Neolithic. Nevertheless, we argue that intensive exploitation of seasonally migratory fish, accompanied by large-scale pottery production, created storable surpluses that led to similar socio-economic outcomes as documented in early agricultural societies.

陶器在欧洲的出现与两个不同的传统有关：公元前 6 世纪早期在欧洲大陆东部的狩猎采集者和公元前 7 世纪晚期在西南部的早期农业社区。在这里，我们研究了位于东欧南部边缘的 Rakushechny Yar 遗址的陶器功能，该遗址位于这两个经济“世界”之间的假定接触区。为进行调查，对新石器时代早期（约 6 世纪中期）的 120 个样品进行了有机残留物分析^。公元前千年）以及相关食品结皮的显微镜和扫描电镜分析。结果表明，最早的陶器使用阶段主要用于加工河流资源。许多船只具有与洄游鱼类（例如鲟鱼）一致的分子和同位素特征，这通过识别嵌入烧焦的表面沉积物中的鲟鱼骨结构而得到证实。尽管在南部的同时代地点经常发现这些容器，但在任何容器中都没有乳制品的证据。使用 ZooMS 对一些哺乳动物骨骼的进一步分析未能证明驯养动物存在于新石器时代早期。尽管如此，我们认为对季节性洄游鱼类的密集开发，伴随着大规模的陶器生产，