Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (2) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.2.016-024

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Argillite Artifacts and Final Pleistocene
to Middle Holocene Cultural Links Across the Vitim River Basin
(Baikal Region)

А.V. Tetenkin¹, V.М. Vetrov² , Е.I. Demonterova³, G.V. Pashkova³, and Е.V. Kaneva⁴

¹Irkutsk National Research Technical University, Lermontova 83, Irkutsk, 664074, Russia

²Pedagogical Institute of Irkutsk State University, Nizhnyaya Naberezhnaya 6, Irkutsk, 664011, Russia

³Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Lermontova 128, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia

⁴Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Favorskogo 1А, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia

This paper presents the results of X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction analyses of argillite artifacts from the site of Kovrizhka I on the Lower Vitim River and Ust-Karenga XVI on the Upper Vitim River near Lake Baikal, Russia. The specimens from cultural layer 2 of Kovrizhka I date to ca 6 ka BP and belong to an aceramic culture with associated microblades. Two ritual pits at Ust-Karenga XVI, dating to 7–6 ka BP and associated with the late stage of the Ust-Karenga Neolithic culture, contained clusters of artifacts made of dark brown argillite, including prismatic cores, blades, inserts, and end-scrapers made on blades. At both sites, similar argillite end-scrapers made on large blades were found in different excavation seasons. Chemical analysis of these artifacts suggests that the raw material used in their production was the same, attesting to cultural ties between localities in the past. The distance between the sites along the river is approximately 700 km––the largest geographic range of cultural connections yet known from the prehistoric Baikal area. Previous research demonstrated that an artifact from volcanic pumice, found at Ust-Karenga XVI, had been transported from the Udokan volcanic field, which was also a source of a piece of volcanic pumice found at Kovrizhka III. The same sources of raw material, then, were apparently exploited by various populations over a long time period. We suggest that these patterns are indicative of episodic contacts rather than a single population dispersed across the territory between Ust-Karenga and Kovrizhka.

Keywords: Population mobility, ancient communications, X-ray analysis, Vitim River, Final Pleistocene, Early Holocene, Middle Holocene, Kovrizhka, Ust-Karenga