Investigating the Hunter-Gatherers of Lake Baikal and Hokkaido: Integrating Individual Life Histories and High-Resolution Chronologies

DOCUMENT Citation Only Peter De Barros Damgaard. Jeremy Choin. Andrzej Weber. Martin Sikora. Eske Willerslev.

Genome-wide data from hunter-gatherer populations of the Upper Paleolithic to Neolithic has provided unprecedented insight into the human evolutionary and demographic trajectory. However such datasets have hitherto been largely confined to Western Eurasia. The sole representative of Inner Asian past populations post-dating the split between paleolithic Europeans and Asians, as well as paleolithic Siberians and East Asians, are the Mal'ta and Afontova Gora individuals, the Ancient North East...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Rick J. Schulting. J. Alyssa White. Andrzej Weber.

Lake Baikal is unique in continental northern Eurasia for the size of its large hunter-gatherer cemeteries with good preservation of human bone. Many hundreds of stable carbon and nitrogen measurements are available on human bone collagen, made over the last two decades. The isotope ecology of Lake Baikal is very complex and highly variable, showing one of the largest ranges of δ13C values in the world. Thus, it is not surprising that the human results show considerable variation. This...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Takumi Tsutaya. Taichi Hattori. Tomonari Takahashi. Hirofumi Kato. Andrzej Weber.

Hamanaka-2 site in the Rebun Island, Hokkaido, Japan provides a good faunal assemblage made by Epi-Jomon and Okhotsk hunter-gatherer-fishers. In this study, we reconstruct feeding ecology of the Okhotsk hunter-gatherer-fishers by applying the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to faunal and human remains from the Hamanaka-2 site. As a result of the analysis, Okhotsk humans were at the highest trophic level among the mammals, domesticated dogs indicated the similar but slightly lower...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ben A. Shepard. Vladimir Bazaliiskii. Olga Goriunova. Michael Richards. Andrzej Weber.

We present the results of a large-scale comparative study of individual life histories among hunter-gatherer groups inhabiting the western coast of Lake Baikal (Russian Federation) during the Late Neolithic (5700-4900 cal BP) and Early Bronze Age (4900-3700 cal BP). More specifically, we employ data on stable strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) values from tooth enamel collected from human molars (M1-M3), along with associated data on variation in isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) to...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ian Scharlotta.

Using a high-resolution chronological framework developed for Early Neolithic Cis-Baikal, Siberia, grave goods and stable isotope data are analyzed for specific relationships between functional items, prestige goods, and diet. Evidence suggests increasing importance of fishing during two separate phases of cemetery use at Shamanka II. Dietary changes and interlinked social structures may have contributed to differentiation in the cemetery. Fishing specialists are identifiable in grave...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Yu Hirasawa. Ren Iwanami. Masaki Naganuma. Andrzej Weber. Hirofumi Kato.

Since 2011, BHAP and JSPS Core to Core program have been conducted the joint archaeological investigation at Hamanaka 2 site on Rebun Island, Northern Japan. This site has been recognized as important sand dune site that provided well-preserved archaeological materials date back to middle Jomon period (ca. 5,500 - 4,500 cal BP). Interdisciplinary studies conducted by participating scholars produced significant outcomes in archaeology, physical anthropology, molecular biology, paleobotany and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Victoria M. Van Der Haas. Vladimir Bazaliiskii. Andrzej Weber.

This paper presents a contemporary method for investigating the dietary history of past peoples using micro-sampling dentine of molars from middle Holocene (~8300–3500 cal BP) hunter-gatherers in the Cis-Baikal region, Siberia. The dentine has been sampled into 1mm strips and each is analyzed for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. Each dentine strip represents roughly nine months of developmental life while bones samples typically average over the course of ~10–20 years. Previous...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Andrzej Weber.

Over the last 20 years, the Baikal Archaeology Project has invested much effort and many resources into research on Middle Holocene hunter–gatherers of the Cis-Baikal region in Siberia (~8300–3500 cal BP). Examination of new materials excavated by the project and analysis of previously accumulated archaeological collections produced many new insights on just about every aspect of Baikal’s hunter–gatherers. We now have a very good record of spatial and temporal variation in diet, subsistence,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Angela Lieverse. Samantha Purchase-Manchester. Andrzej Weber. Vladimir Ivanovich Bazaliiskii.

This research uses novel methods to investigate infection—specifically sinusitis, otitis, and mastoiditis—and better understand physiological stress and life ways among middle Holocene hunter-fisher-gatherers fro Siberia’s Cis-Baikal region. Two hundred and fifty individuals from three cemeteries are examined, together representing two distinct biocultural periods (Early Neolithic [EN], 8000–7000/6800 BP, and Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age [LN–EBA], 6000/5800–3400 BP) and two micro-regions...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Christopher Bronk Ramsey. Rick J. Schulting. Andrzej Weber.

Radiocarbon is one of the most widely used chronological tools in archaeology but resolving patterns in large datasets is still difficult to achieve. This is partly due to the calibration process which itself generates patterns reflecting the changes in the radiocarbon levels within the environment. In addition, in many cases, the difficulty in obtaining sufficient numbers of measurements to draw definitive conclusions can be an issue and there is always the danger of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only J. Alyssa White. Rick J. Schulting. Peter Hommel. Vyacheslav Moiseyev. Valeriy I. Khartanovich.

The diet of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in the Lake Baikal Region has been extensively studied using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses. This paper extends this work, reporting new carbon and nitrogen stable isotope and AMS radiocarbon dating results from the cemeteries of Verkholensk (n=45) in the Upper Lena micro-region; Ulan-Khada II–V (n=19) in the Little Sea micro-region; and Fofanovo (n=22) in the Selenga micro-region. The latter analyses represent the first stable isotopic data...