Recent radiocarbon dating of Neolithic sites in the Upper and Middle Kama region has provided a chronological framework for the Neolithic in the region: the Early Neolithic – second half of 6th millennium BC; the Middle Neolithic – fi rst half to mid 5th millennium BC, and the Late Neolithic – the second half of 5th millennium BC. Sites attributable to the fi rst and the second stages are characterized by ceramics with both comb and pricked ornamentation.