Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 45 (4) 2017   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.4.013-023

Annotation:  New Data on the Chronology of the Initial Neolithic Gromatukha Culture, Western Amur Region Holocene Fishing in the Big Sea Region of Lake Baikal (Based on Materials from Multilayered Habitati Comparative Characteristics of Stone Tools from the Neolithic Sites on the Upper and Middle Kama On the History of Asian Bosporus in the Early Byzantine Times: Excavations at Verkhnegostagayevskoye The Jomon Megalithic Tradition in Japan: Origins, Features, and Distribution A Morphological Analysis of Malyshevo Middle Neolithic Pottery from the Lower Amur New Absolute Dates for the Trans-Uralian and Western Siberian Neolithic Anthropomorphic Bronze Masks from the Timiryazevo-1 Burial Ground A Multidisciplinary Study of Burial Mounds and a Reconstruction of the Climate of the Turan-Uyuk De Classifi cation of 9th–13th Century Arrowheads Found in Azerbaijan Chinese Lacquerware from the Pazyryk Burial Ground Chineta II, Altai A Late 16th to Early 17th Century Mongolian Ceremonial Helmet from the Moscow Kremlin Armoury Dendrochronological Methods in the Architectural and Ethnographic Study of Russian Towns in Siberia Kinship Analysis of Human Remains from the Sargat Mounds, Baraba Forest-Steppe, Western Siberia Intragroup Variation of the Facial Skeleton in 16th–19th Century Rural Russian Populations in the W   

Holocene Fishing in the Big Sea Region of Lake Baikal
(Based on Materials from Multilayered Habitation Sites)

T.Y. Nomokonova¹, A.G. Novikov^{2, 3}, R.J. Losey⁴, O.I. Goriunova^{2, 3}, N.A. Saveliev², and A.W. Weber⁴

¹University of British Columbia, 1147 Research Road, V1V 1V7, Kelowna, Okanagan, BC, Canada

²Irkutsk State University, K. Marksa 1, Irkustk, 664003, Russia

³Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

⁴University of Alberta, 13-15 HM Tory Building, T6G 2H4, Edmonton, AB, Canada

This article offers new data on ancient fishing in the Big Sea region of Lake Baikal. Materials for this research were recovered during fieldwork conducted at multilayered habitation sites Sagan-Zaba II and Buguldeika II by the joint Russian-Canadian expeditions (a project between Irkutsk State University (Russia) and University of Alberta (Canada)). The research presented here is based on the analysis of ichthyofaunal remains and artifacts associated with fishing activities (hooks, harpoons, net sinkers, and fish imagery). For the first time, we are able to reconstruct not only taxa and fishing techniques used but also to trace which species were consumed during different chronological periods. Chronological assessment of analyzed cultural layers at Sagan-Zaba II and Buguldeika II was done through over 90 AMS radiocarbon dates made on ungulate bones in Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. Archaeological periodization of analyzed sites spans from the Mesolithic to the ethnographically contemporary period. Fish species composition at the two sites was compared with that from sites of the Little Sea area of Lake Baikal. These new data added a better understanding of the relative importance and subsistence uses of fish on Lake Baikal during the Holocene period. It has been demonstrated that fishing traditions of Early and Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers were continued by pastoralists, especially in regard to the consumption of deep-water species. It is concluded that ancient populations living on the shores of Lake Baikal exploited a wide range of natural resources, and fishing played a very important part in this.

Keywords: Lake Baikal, Siberia, Holocene, fishing, multilayered habitation sites, radiocarbon dating