Our second BAP MORS of 2025! These seminars are a great way to learn and connect with our international team on a regular basis. April 1, 2025: Jennifer Laughton (University of Alberta).“Dental Sex Estimation: creating regression formulae for the Cis-Baikal region” Thank you to Jennifer for presenting her interesting research!
Fun news from Dr. Rick Schulting!: Many thanks to Kristiina Mannermaa and the organisers for hosting us all in the wonderful forest setting of the Lammi research station. We particularly appreciated (after some convincing on my part anyways) the refreshing dips into Lake Pappilanlahti after the sauna. A pool was thoughtfully kept ice-free! The presentations and discussions over three days provided many fascinating insights into the hunter-gatherers of northeast Europe. BAP was represented at the meeting by Rick Schulting [...]
Congratulations to Dr. Angela Lieverse and authors, including former BAP team members Tatiana Nomokonova and Robert Losey, on the recent publication of their paper in Journal of Archaeological Science! Title: ‘Identifying habitual sled-pulling in dogs through the study of entheseal changes" Authors: Sick J, Lieverse AR, Nomokonova T, Losey RJ. Abstract: Sled dogs are among the most iconic animals of the North, and their efforts in pulling sleds facilitated trade and subsistence practices that sustained many Indigenous groups for [...]
Ruairidh Macleod has been elected as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford! He will start there from October 2025. This is an independent research fellowship lasting 5 years and funded by the College from which Ruairidh will develop his own projects related to the study of ancient DNA, particularly around human disruption of ecosystems and zoonotic spillover risk in prehistory. Congratulations, Ruairidh! All the best!
Congratulations to Dr. Angela Lieverse and co-authors, including former BAP team members Tatiana Nomokonova and Robert Losey, on the recent publication of their paper in International Journal of Paleopathology! Title: ‘Multi-level spondylolysis at Egiin Gol: A case from Xiongnu period Mongolia" Authors: Angela R. Lieverse, Iderkhangai Tumer-Ochir, Orgilbayar Samdantsoodol, Tatiana Nomokonova, Robert Losey Abstract: Objective: This paper presents and discusses the aetiology of an extreme case of multi-level spondylolysis with unique presentation. Materials: The affected individual is an [...]
Our first BAP MORS of 2025! These seminars are a great way to learn and connect with our international team on a regular basis. March 4, 2025: Ruairidh Macleod (University of Cambridge).“Lethal Plague Outbreaks in Lake Baikal Hunter-Gatherers 5500 years ago” Thank you to Ruairidh for presenting his interesting research!
Great news! Our second (condensed) monograph on the EN Shamanka II cemetery has been published and is accessible in digital format via our website Details below: Irkutsk State University 2025 Mortuary Variation at the Early Neolithic Hunter-Gatherer Cemetery Shamanka II on Lake Baikal Weber AW, Bazaliiskii VI, Jessup E (Eds.) In this version of the monograph on the Shamanka II cemetery the focus is on chronology, dietary patterns, and variation in Kitoi mortuary practices. Chapter 1 gives background [...]
The Dragon rests again in deep spring, The Snake moves on the high mountain. That's what it says in Chinese on the enclosed postcard, and that's what happened on the night of 29 January. What should we expect from the year of the Snake? ‘Transformation and love, of course!’ a folklorist friend wrote to us. ‘The Legend of the White Snake’ is one of the four best-known folk tales in China and has been recognised as part of the [...]
Great News! Congratulations to BAP team members Rick Schulting, Ian Scharlotta, Angela Lieverse, Erin Jessup, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Vladimir Bazaliiskii and Andrzej Weber on the recent publication of their article in Radiocarbon! Radiocarbon (January 2025), pp 1-13. Title: A 350 14C yr discrepancy between bone and tooth dates from the same grave at the Early Neolithic cemetery of Shamanka II, Lake Baikal, southern Siberia: reservoir effects or a misplaced mandible? Authors: Schulting RJ, Scharlotta I, Lieverse A, Jessup [...]
Congratulations to Dr. Ruairidh Macleod, BAP PhD student at University of Cambridge, for successfully defending his PhD dissertation! On Wednesday the 18th of December, Ruairidh ('Rory') Macleod successfully defended his PhD thesis titled 'An Ancient Genomic Perspective of Kinship, Disease, and Environment' at the University of Cambridge. This centred on ancient genome data from Middle Holocene hunter–gatherers at Lake Baikal, in particular case studies from an apparent EBA massacre group, outbreaks of pathogens among occupants of LN cemeteries, and study [...]
