Journal Articles - 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|

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: Bazaliiskii, Schulting, 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: Krikunova, Leipe, Kobe, Tarasov|

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 [...]

Erin2024-05-07T09:50:18-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Bazaliiskii, Lieverse, McKenzie, Weber, 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: Journal Articles, Publications|Tags: Leipe, Kobe, Tarasov|

Nature Ecology & Evolution January 2022

Radiocarbon dating from Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov cemetery reveals complex human responses to socio-ecological stress during the 8.2 ka cooling event

Schulting RJ, Mannermaa K, Tarasov PE, Higham T, Bronk Ramsey C, Khartanovich V, Moiseyev V, Gerasimov D, O’Shea J, Weber A

Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov in Karelia, northwest Russia, is one of the largest Early Holocene cemeteries in northern Eurasia, with 177 burials recovered in excavations in the 1930s; originally, more than 400 graves may have been present. A new radiocarbon dating programme, taking into account a correction for freshwater reservoir effects, suggests that the main use of the cemetery spanned only some 100–300 years, centring on ca. 8250 to 8000 cal BP. This coincides remarkably closely with the 8.2 ka cooling event, [...]

Erin2023-04-04T14:10:49-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Schulting, Ramsey, Tarasov, Weber, O'Shea|

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports February 2022

Scanning electron microscopy for differentiating charred endocarps of Rhus/Toxicodendron species and tracking the use of the lacquer tree and Asian poison ivy in Japanese prehistory

Leipe C, Aquaro A, Tarasov PE

The use of natural lacquer for preservation and decoration of various commodities is a remarkable invention. In Japan lacquer production dates back to the Neolithic Jomon period and has been mainly based on the sap extracted from the lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum (Stokes) F.A. Barkley). However, it is still unclear, if lacquer production evolved in Japan independently or was introduced from Neolithic China, another centre of early lacquer production. A debate also revolves around the origin of the [...]

Andrea Hiob2023-03-08T10:22:53-07:00Categories: Journal Articles, Publications|Tags: Leipe, Tarasov|