Publications - Page 5 of 7 - Baikal Archaeology Project

Archaeological Research in Asia September 2020

Holocene vegetation and climate history in Baikal Siberia reconstructed from pollen records and its implications for archaeology

Kobe F, Bezrukova EV, Leipe C, Shchetnikov AA, Goslar T, Wagner M, Kostrova SS, Tarasov PE

Past research has greatly improved our understanding of palaeoenvironmental changes in the Lake Baikal Region, but at the same time has indicated intra-regional variations in this vast study area. Here we present a new AMS-dated late glacial–middle Holocene (ca. 13,500–4000 cal. yr BP) pollen record from Lake Ochaul (54°14′N, 106°28′E; altitude 641 m a.s.l.) situated in the less-studied area of Cis-Baikal and compare reconstructed vegetation and climate dynamics with the published environmental history of Trans-Baikal based on the pollen record from [...]

Erin2020-12-02T10:25:28-07:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Leipe, Kobe, Tarasov, Wagner|

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences June 2020

Ritual practices and social organisation at the Middle Yayoi culture settlement site of Maenakanishi, eastern Japan

Leipe C, Kuramochi S, Wagner M, Tarasov PE

Combined archaeobotanical and archaeological data from Middle Yayoi (fourth century BCE–first century CE) cultural layers of the Maenakanishi site (36°08′55″ N, 139°24′08″ E) in northern Saitama Prefecture indicate that rice was less significant as everyday food, but played an important role in ritual practices and in strengthening social stratification at the studied settlement site. The results further suggest that the crop was used in feasting performed in context of pillared buildings that were often large and occupied a spatially separated central [...]

Erin2020-11-03T12:08:40-07:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Leipe, Tarasov, Wagner|

Quaternary Science Reviews February 2020

Late Glacial hunter-gatherer pottery in the Russian Far East: Indications of diversity in origins and use

Shoda S, Lucquin A, Yanshina O, Kuzmin Y, Shevkomud I, Medvedev V, Derevianko E, Lapshina Z, Craig OE, Jordan PD

During the Late Glacial, hunter-gatherers began using ceramic cooking containers in three separate geographic regions of East Asia: China, Japan and in the Russian Far East. While recent research has clarified the use of early pottery in Japan, very little is known about what led to the emergence of pottery in the other two areas, including the likely environmental, economic or cultural drivers. In this paper we focus on a series of key sites along the Amur River [...]

Erin2021-03-03T13:54:01-07:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Jordan|

Science Advances September 2019

Discontinuous spread of millet agriculture in eastern Asia and prehistoric population dynamics

Leipe C, Long T, Sergusheva EA, Wagner M, Tarasov PE

Although broomcorn and foxtail millet are among the earliest staple crop domesticates, their spread and impacts on demography remain controversial, mainly because of the use of indirect evidence. Bayesian modeling applied to a dataset of new and published radiocarbon dates derived from domesticated millet grains suggests that after their initial cultivation in the crescent around the Bohai Sea ca. 5800 BCE, the crops spread discontinuously across eastern Asia. Our findings on the spread of millet that intensified during [...]

Andrea Hiob2020-10-06T11:24:26-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Leipe, Tarasov, Wagner|

Hydrological Processes January 2020

Moisture origin and stable isotope characteristics of precipitation in southeast Siberia

Kostrova SS, Meyer H, Fernandoy F, Werner M, Tarasov PE

The paper presents oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of 284 precipitation event samples systematically collected in Irkutsk, in the Baikal region (southeast Siberia), between June 2011 and April 2017. This is the first high‐resolution dataset of stable isotopes of precipitation from this poorly studied region of continental Asia, which has a high potential for isotope‐based palaeoclimate research. The dataset revealed distinct seasonal variations: relatively high δ18O (up to −4‰) and δD (up to −40‰) values characterize summer air masses, [...]

Andrea Hiob2021-12-01T14:23:30-07:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Tarasov|

Quaternary International May 2019

Special Issue: Climate change and human-environment interaction from Neolithic to historical times

Guest Editors: Novenko E, Tarasov PE, Shumilovskikh L

The idea of the special issue “Climate change and human-environment interaction from Neolithic to historical times” arose from a session bearing the same name, which has been organized by the Commission on Environment Evolution of the International Geographical Union under the framework of the 33rd International Geographical Congress held in Beijing (PR China) in August, 2016. This volume is focused on multi-disciplinary studies of landscape evolution, climate dynamics and human activity in different regions of the world during [...]

Erin2022-04-27T12:46:06-06:00Categories: Publications, Special Issues|Tags: Tarasov|

Quaternary International May 2019

Heterogeneous vegetation sensitivity at local and regional scales: Implications for pollen-based climate reconstruction

Ding W, Xu W, Fu T, Ma C, Tarasov PE

Vegetation–climate relationships are often different at varying spatial scales, which is seldom taken into account in reconstructing past climate changes from fossil pollen spectra represent more local vegetation composition but using regional or extra-regional modern pollen–climate calibration set. In this paper, we employ 2620 surface pollen spectra and six pollen sequences from continental East Asia to reconstruct Holocene climate with modern analogue technique. A novel data set of vegetation sensitivity index (VSI) is introduced to examine vegetation–climate relationships [...]

Erin2020-08-04T10:43:14-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Tarasov|

Quaternary International May 2019

Postglacial vegetation and climate history and traces of early human impact and agriculture in the present-day cool mixed forest zone of European Russia

Tarasov PE, Savelieva LA, Long T, Leipe C

This study is based on the reassessment and correlation of five pollen records from the upper Western Dvina River region. For the most complete record (Korovinskoe Mire; 56°16′N, 31°20′E) we constructed a Bayesian age-depth model to provide robust chronological control for the reconstructed changes in the regional environments and to facilitate interregional comparisons. The results show that the Holocene Thermal Maximum in the study region (ca. 8600–6900 cal BP) started and ended some centuries earlier than suggested for the [...]

Erin2020-07-07T11:06:39-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Leipe, Tarasov|

Quaternary International May 2019

Testing the performance of sodium polytungstate and lithium heteropolytungstate as non-toxic dense media for pollen extraction from lake and peat sediment samples

Leipe C, Kobe F, Müller S

Pollen analysis is one of the most important methods to reconstruct past climate change and to understand prehistoric and early historic human-environment interactions. Every study based on fossil pollen assemblages from sedimentary archives starts with the preparation of collected sample material. The most widely employed protocols to concentrate pollen involve the use of several chemicals including hydrofluoric acid (HF), which is extremely hazardous to human health. As an alternative to HF, we have tested the reliability of dense [...]

Erin2020-06-03T12:16:30-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Leipe, Kobe|

International Jounral of Paleopathology September 2019

An innovative method to visualise mastoiditis using a hand-held X-ray system

Purchase S, Bazaliiskii V, Lieverse AR

Objective: We explore the utility of using a hand-held X-ray system to diagnose mastoiditis in archaeological populations. Materials: A sample (n = 56) of hunter-fisher-gatherers from the Early Neolithic (8,000–7,000/6,800 cal. BP) Cis-Baikal cemetery of Shamanka II (Russia) were examined. Methods: Images were taken medio-laterally, approximately 90° to a sensor temporarily affixed to the lateral surface of the mastoid process. Digital radiographs were analysed for signs of mastoiditis occurring pre- and/or post-puberty. Results: Two thirds of individuals (39/56) exhibited evidence of [...]

Andrea Hiob2020-05-05T10:25:55-06:00Categories: Publications, Journal Articles|Tags: Bazaliiskii, Lieverse|