Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (1) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.1.034-040

Annotation:  Personal Ornament Production Technology in the Early Holocene Complexes of Western Central Asia: Ins Hadjoh-2: A Middle Paleolithic Workshop-Camp in Northwestern Caucasus The Late Chalcolithic Ceramics of the Volga Forest-Steppe On the Origin of Natural Bitumen at Yasnoye-8 (Sakhalin Island) Inskoy Dol: A New Early Bronze Age Site in Western Altai Decorated Birch-Bark Artifacts from the Ust-Polui Sanctuary (100 BC to 100 AD) An Old Turkic Statue from Borili, Ulytau Hills, Central Kazakhstan: Issues in Interpretation On Ancient Agriculture in Arid Regions of Central Asia: The Case of the Uvs Nuur Basin Geophysical Studies at the Kushmanskoye (Uchkakar) Fortifi ed Settlement, Kama Basin Pit-Grave (Yamnaya) and Pit-Grave-Maikop Burials at Levoyegorlyksky-3, Stavropol A Periodization of the Timber-Grave Culture in the Western Orenburg Region: Archaeological and Natur The Russian Pioneers’ Winter Camp on Karachinsky Island, the Lower Tobol River, Western Siberia An Experimental Assessment of the Cause of Mummification in the Joseon Period Burials, Republic of K Celestial Bodies on the Ob Ugrian Ritual Artifacts (Based on Archaeological and Ethnographic Sources Craniotomy as a Prehistoric Medical Practice: A Case of Antemortem Cranial Trepanation in Southern Secular and Age-Related Dynamics of Biological Characteristics in the Rural Population of Mongolia:   

On the Origin of Natural Bitumen at Yasnoye-8
(Sakhalin Island)

V.A. Deryugin¹, S.V. Sukhoverkhov², Yoshihiro Ujiie³, and A.D. Pavlov²

¹Far Eastern Federal University, Sukhanova 8, Vladivostok, 690091, Russia

²Institute of Chemistry, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. 100-letiya Vladivostoka 159, Vladivostok, 690022, Russia

³Hirosaki University, Bunkyo-cho 3, Hirosaki, Aomori, 036-8561, Japan

In this study, we analyze samples of a black substance that was used for restoring a Tym-type vessel at Yasnoye-8, Central Sakhalin. On the basis of similar finds from the Japanese archipelago, this was initially assumed to be natural bitumen. However, scientific methods have not previously been used to test this assumption. In addition to identifying natural bitumen, we sought to identify its source. The studies were carried out independently at two laboratories, using geochemical and petrographic methods, so the results may be considered reliable. For the first time in Russia, the method of pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used, along with elemental and petrographic analysis, to identify hydrocarbon from an archaeological site. The results confirm the use of natural bitumen during the Early Iron Age. This can be procured in sufficient amounts on Sakhalin Island. Identification of specific sources is complicated by the virtually complete lack of geological data (bitumen is not mined for industrial purposes). Available materials suggest that the bitumen found at Yasnoye-8 originates from the northern Sakhalin petroleum zone, or from adjacent areas. No relationship to bitumen deposits in northeastern Honshu was found. Nor is it likely that the sample is related to surface hydrocarbons of Hokkaido.

Keywords: Sakhalin, natural bitumen, Early Iron Age, Tym-type ceramics, pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, petrography