Publications - Baikal Archaeology Project

Quaternary International April 2024

Postglacial vegetation and climate change in the Lake Onega region of eastern Fennoscandia derived from a radiocarbon-dated pollen record

Krikunova AI, Kostromina NA, Savelieva LA, Long T, Leipe C, Kobe F, Kostromina NA, Vasilyeva AV, Tarasov PE

With its numerous environmental archives stored in lake and peat sediments and relatively low human pressure, the Lake Onega region in eastern Fennoscandia is regarded as a particularly promising area for studying past changes in vegetation and climate since the Lateglacial period. The 885-cm-long sediment core RZ19 (62◦27′53″N, 34◦26′4″E) was collected from Razlomnoe Peat on the northern shore of Lake Onega in 2019, radiocarbon-dated and analysed for pollen and cryptogam spores. The age-depth model suggests continuous sedimentation since [...]

Erin2024-04-24T13:03:01-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Leipe, Kobe, Tarasov, Krikunova, Savelieva|

Irkutsk State University 2023

Multilayer Geoarchaeology object Sagan-Zaba II on Lake Baikal: Archaeology and Paleoecology [in Russian]

Novikov AG, Vorobieva GA, Goriunova OI, Weber AW

The purpose of this monograph is to disseminate the new archaeological materials from the Sagan-Zaba II camp site, located in a cove of the same name on the west coast of Lake Baikal, about 12 km SW of the mouth of the Anga River and 154 km NE of the Irkutsk city. The three excavation seasons (2006–2008) carried out at Sagan-Zaba by the Russian–Canadian archaeological expedition provided new knowledge regarding the complex cultural processes taking place within the [...]

Erin2024-03-05T09:21:37-07:00Categories: Publications, Books & Monographs|Tags: Goriunova, Novikov, Weber|

Archaeopress 2023

Growing up in the Cis-Baikal region of Siberia, Russia: Reconstructing the childhood diets of Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers

van der Haas, Victoria

This volume analyses the dietary life histories of prehistoric hunter-gatherers from six cemeteries in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia, Russia. The overarching goal was to better understand how they lived by examining what they ate, how they utilized the landscape, and how this changed over time. Growing Up in the Cis-Baikal Region of Siberia, Russia analyses the dietary life histories of prehistoric hunter-gatherers from six cemeteries in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia, Russia. The overarching goal was [...]

Erin2024-01-01T11:44:23-07:00Categories: Publications, Books & Monographs|Tags: van der Haas|

Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University (Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series) 2023

Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Cis-Baikal: Main Factors and Processes in the Development of Hunter-Gatherer Cultures [in Russian]

Weber AW

Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers (HG) of the Cis-Baikal, Eastern Siberia, display substantial spatiotemporal variation in adaptive strategies highlighted by several cultural transitions. These transitions are examined focusing on the role of the following factors: (1) changes in the distribution of the boreal forest; (2) technological innovations; (3) intensification of fishing; and (4) their combined impacts on subsistence and social structure. The expansion and retreat of boreal forest was important because it directly affected the distribution and abundance of large [...]

Erin2023-12-05T10:47:08-07:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Weber|

Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University (Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series) 2023

Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Cis-Baikal: Spatiotemporal Patterns of Cemetery Use [in Russian]

Weber AW, Bazaliiskii VI, Goriunova OI, Schulting RJ, Bronk Ramsey C

Hunter-gatherer archaeology typically focusses on the details of subsistence strategies and material culture and, in the case of cemeteries, on various aspects of mortuary practices, beliefs, and social differentiation. This paper aims to look rather at patterns of change over time and space in how past hunter-gatherer cemeteries were used from Late Mesolithic to Early Bronze Age (~8600–3500 cal BP) in the Cis-Baikal region of Eastern Siberia. The approach is based on a Kernel Density Estimate methodology applied [...]

Erin2023-11-06T11:06:48-07:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Schulting, Bazaliiskii, Ramsey, Goriunova, Weber|

Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University (Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series) 2023

Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Cis-Baikal: Chronology and Dietary Trends [in Russian]

Weber AW, Bronk Ramsey C, Schulting RJ, Bazaliiskii VI, Goriunova OI

Analyses of radiocarbon dates (all corrected for the freshwater reservoir effect) and associated stable isotope values obtained from the skeletal remains of ~560 individuals provide many new insights about Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers (HG) of the Cis-Baikal region, Eastern Siberia. The new radiocarbon evidence clarifies the culture history of the region by defining better the boundaries between the chronological (archaeological periods) and cultural (mortuary traditions) units, as well as our understanding of the transitions between them. Furthermore, differences between [...]

Erin2023-10-03T10:51:42-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Schulting, Bazaliiskii, Ramsey, Goriunova, Weber|

Quaternary International October 2022

A Holocene floodplain sequence from the Kirenga Valley, Lake Baikal region (Siberia), and its significance for molluscan and mammalian biogeography

White D, Parfitt SA, Shchetnikov AA, Tesakov AS, Preece RC

The archaeological record in the Baikal region is characterised by a marked discontinuity separating different groups of hunter-gatherers within the Neolithic period. A range of sedimentary archives has been studied to investigate this issue and whether it had an environmental cause. Our focus has been on floodplain sequences from river valleys, which can augment other higher resolution records such as those from lakes. Here we report on the molluscs and small vertebrates recovered from a Holocene floodplain sequence [...]

Andrea Hiob2023-09-05T11:44:30-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: White, Shchetnikov|

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology October 2022

Late- and postglacial vegetation and climate history of the central Kola Peninsula derived from a radiocarbon-dated pollen record of Lake Kamenistoe

Krikunova AI, Kostromina NA, Savelieva LA, Tolstobrov DS, Petrov AY, Long T, Kobe F, Leipe C, Tarasov PE

A radiocarbon-dated sediment core collected from the small freshwater Lake Kamenistoe, in the central part of the Kola Peninsula, provides a pollen record of vegetation and climate history of this part of Fennoscandia and the European Arctic during the past ca. 13,000 years. In contrast to existing Scandinavian Ice Sheet reconstructions, the record shows that the study site was ice-free at 13 cal. kyr BP, thus allows to improve our knowledge on deglaciation dynamics in North Europe. The [...]

Erin2023-08-02T09:16:17-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Leipe, Kobe, Tarasov, Krikunova|

Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University (Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series) 2022

Bioarchaeological Analysis of Human Remains from the Destroyed Early Neolithic Cemetery of Moty – Novaia Shamanka (Cis-Baikal)

Bourgeois RL, Weber AW, Bazaliiskii VI, McKenzie HG, Lieverse AR

Moty – Novaia Shamanka (MNS) is an Early Neolithic (7560–6660 HPD cal BP) destroyed Kitoi cemetery, located on the lower Irkut River in Siberia. In 2014–2015, small rescue excavations were conducted by archaeologists from Irkutsk State University. MNS dates to the period between the two phases of use identified at the nearby Shamanka II Kitoi cemetery (Southwest Baikal). This paper presents the results of a bioarchaeological study of the human skeletal remains from MNS and discusses these findings [...]

Erin2024-04-02T13:46:50-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Bazaliiskii, Lieverse, McKenzie, Weber, Featured Publication, Bourgeois|

Quaternary International June 2022

The Early Neolithic–Middle Bronze Age environmental history of the Mamakan archaeological area, Eastern Siberia

Bezrukova EV, Reshetova SA, Tetenkin AV, Tarasov PE, Leipe C

This study presents the first radiocarbon-dated palynological record from a peat section (57°49′10.03"N; 114°03′31.37"E, 251 m above sea level) in the Mamakan area located in the lower Vitim River valley, about 350 km northeast of Lake Baikal. While the area is particularly renowned for its numerous multi-layered Upper Palaeolithic (ca. 50,000–14,000/10,000 cal yr BP) archaeological sites with rich cultural assemblages, there is also evidence for human occupation during the Mesolithic–Neolithic–Bronze Age period (ca. 14,000/10,000–3000 cal yr BP). However, the absence of accurately dated palaeoenvironmental records does not allow discussion of [...]

Erin2024-04-02T13:46:35-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Leipe, Kobe, Tarasov|