Publications
Resource processing, early pottery and the emergence of Kitoi culture in Cis-Baikal: Insights from lipid residue analysis of an Early Neolithic ceramic assemblage from the Gorelyi Les habitation site, Eastern Siberia
In the early Holocene, Mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities inhabiting the Cis-Baikal region of Eastern Siberia were participating in a series of important cultural changes. These included the establishment of large cemeteries in the Angara Valley and on the Southwest shores of Lake Baikal, culminating in the formation of the distinctive Early Neolithic Kitoi cultural pattern ca. 7560 cal. BP. Around the same time, the appearance of clay pots in a few Kitoi graves and at some contemporary habitation sites marks [...]
Chronological and regional variation in developmental stress and behavior of Early and Late Neolithic Cis-Baikal hunter-gatherer juveniles: Insights from diaphyseal cross-sectional geometry
This study explores growth (increase in size) and development (change in structure and function) in Middle Holocene Cis-Baikal hunter-gatherer populations to evaluate chronological and regional variation in developmental health and juvenile behavior using post-cranial Cross-Sectional Geometry (CSG). It also evaluates whether sexual differences in size and habitual behavior were evident by the end of adolescence. Age and body size standardized femur, tibia, and humerus midshaft CSG are used to test for differences between Early Neolithic (EN) and Late [...]
Middle Holocene hunter–gatherer mortuary practices in the Little Sea microregion on Lake Baikal, part II: Late Neolithic
This is the second in a series of two papers dedicated to the examination of Neolithic mortuary variation within the Little Sea microregion of Cis-Baikal, Eastern Siberia. The first study, appearing also in this special issue, reviewed the Early Neolithic (EN) mortuary material (Goriunova et al., 2020), whereas the goal of this paper is to summarize the available archaeological material referred to as the Serovo mortuary tradition of the Little Sea area (henceforth, the Little Sea–Serovo). The focus [...]
Integrated stable isotopic and radiocarbon analyses of Neolithic and Bronze Age hunter-gatherers from the Little Sea and Upper Lena micro-regions, Cis-Baikal, Siberia
The Lake Baikal region of southern Siberia has a rich mortuary record that has provided the most comprehensive isotopic database for palaeodietary studies of north-temperate hunter-gatherers in the world, permitting more detailed reconstructions and finer-grained research questions than are usually possible. Building on previous work, this study contributes new δ13C, δ15N, and AMS radiocarbon dating results from the cemeteries of Verkholensk (n = 44) in the Upper Lena River micro-region and Ulan-Khada (n = 19) in the Little Sea micro-region. Our results [...]
Holocene vegetation and climate history in Baikal Siberia reconstructed from pollen records and its implications for archaeology
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 [...]
Ritual practices and social organisation at the Middle Yayoi culture settlement site of Maenakanishi, eastern Japan
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 [...]