Publications - Page 2 of 8 - Baikal Archaeology Project

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 [...]

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

Quaternary International June 2022

Special Issue: Holocene environments, human subsistence and adaptation in northern and eastern Eurasia

Guest Editors: Leipe C, Long T, Wertmann P, Wagner M

All 14 articles combine palaeoenvironmental with archaeological data to create new knowledge and thought-provoking conclusions. Six teams concentrated on the reconstruction of past climate and environmental changes; three articles focus on early grain crop dispersal, one on the use of beans, one on the use of aquatic resources, and one on the role of sheep and horse as well as wild plant and animal species in subsistence economies; one author relates long-term coastal changes to cultural development; and [...]

Erin2023-05-02T11:17:48-06:00Categories: Special Issues, Publications|Tags: Leipe, Kobe, Jordan, Tarasov, Wagner, Gliwa|

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: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Leipe, Tarasov|

Archaeological Research in Asia March 2022

Freshwater reservoir effects in Cis-Baikal: An overview

Schulting RJ, Bronk Ramsey C, Scharlotta I, Richards MP, Bazaliiskii VI, Weber A

This paper summarises research on freshwater reservoir effects (FRE) in the Baikal region and their impact on the radiocarbon dating of human remains. Varying relationships are seen between human δ13C and δ15N values and 14C offsets in paired human-terrestrial mammal radiocarbon dates from the same graves in the different microregions of Cis-Baikal. In the Upper Lena microregion the FRE may also vary through time. These differences can be related in some cases to different isotopic ecologies, and in [...]

Erin2023-02-07T11:09:06-07:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Bazaliiskii, Scharlotta, Schulting, Ramsey, Weber|

Archaeological Research in Asia December 2021

Parental investment as social agency and catalyst to complexity

Scharlotta I, Bazaliiskii VI, Weber AW

Re-examination of the relationships between diets as inferred isotopically and grave goods in light of new data has revealed the importance of parental investment for Early Neolithic populations in Cis-Baikal, Siberia. The Kitoi Culture developed and maintained a flexible but expensive broad-spectrum subsistence strategy. Moderately high extrinsic risk factors produced periodic famines and metabolic stress evidence in skeletons. The small-scale efforts of parents to support their offspring through increased breast milk and plant food provisioning led to a [...]

Erin2023-01-03T10:11:15-07:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Scharlotta, Bazaliiskii, Weber|

Archaeological Research in Asia December 2021

Turning eastward: New radiocarbon and stable isotopic data for Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers from Fofanovo, Trans-Baikal, Siberia

White JA, Schulting RJ, Hommel P, Moiseyev V, Khartanovich V, Bronk Ramsey C, Weber AW

A considerable amount of bioarchaeological research – including AMS 14C dating and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses (δ13C and δ15N) – has been undertaken on the hunter-gatherers from the area west of Lake Baikal, known as Cis-Baikal. No such work has previously been reported for the east side of the lake, Trans-Baikal. Here, we present new radiocarbon dates and isotopic results for twenty individuals from the Fofanovo cemetery, located along the Selenga River on the southeast coast of [...]

Erin2022-12-06T10:20:51-07:00Categories: Journal Articles, Publications|Tags: Schulting, Ramsey, Weber, White|