Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 42 (3) 2014

Annotation:  Zooarchaeology and Taphonomy of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic in Bondi Cave, Republic of Georgia Development of a Virtual 3D Model of Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains Holocene Seal Imagery in the Lake Baikal Region of Eastern Siberia The Organization of the Mortuary Space in the Late Bronze Age: The Stary Sad Burial Ground, Baraba F Cheek-Pieces for a Horse Harness from the Kamenny Ambar Settlement “Hoofed Carnivore” Image Carved on a Bone Spoon from the Sara Burial Ground, Eastern Orenburg Region Subsistence and Ritual Practices at the Polui Fortifi ed Settlement, Western Siberia (Based on Fauna Revisiting the Chronology of the Early Sculptural Art of Kashmir, India New Belt of the “Byzantine Circle” from the Medieval Bayanovsky Burial Ground in the Perm Territory Alloy Composition in the Prestigious Silver Ware of the Old Turkic Period of Southern Siberia Concerning the History of Russian Archaeology in the Studies of A.D. Pryakhin (For the 75th Annivers Elements of the Inau Cult in Ethnic and Cultural Contacts of the Southern Far East The Mount of Yzykh Tagh with Relation to the Sacred Space and Ritual of the Khakas (Late 19th–20th C Native Populations of the Northern Altai: Demographic Processes of the Late 19th–Early 21st Century Bilateral Asymmetry of Long Bones in Bronze and Early Iron Age Pastoralists of the Altai   

Holocene Seal Imagery in the Lake Baikal Region of Eastern Siberia

T.Y. Nomokonova, R.J. Losey, O.I. Goriunova, and V.I. Bazaliiskii.

For over 9000 years, seals were a major food source for many groups of foragers living in the Lake Baikal region of Eastern Siberia, as evidenced by the frequency of seal bones in the Holocene sites of that area. This article introduces new representations of seals and summarizes previously known seal depictions. Seal images were rather common in rock art and portable sculpture. Also, Neolithic and Bronze Age foragers used seal bones in manufacturing implements and ornaments and placed parts of seal carcasses in burials. From the Iron Age on, seals featured in pastoralist sacrifi cial rites, along with other animals.

Keywords: Lake Baikal, Eastern Siberia, seal, animal images, perception, Holocene.