Quaternary International 231 (2011) 50e54

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Quaternary International

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Upper paleolithic fauna of the Baikal region, east (new data)

Fedora Khenzykhenova a,*, Takao Sato b, Ekaterina Lipnina c, German Medvedev c, Hirofumi Kato d, Sergei Kogai c, Ksenya Maximenko c, Valentina Novosel’zeva c a Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology, Geological Institute, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 6a sakhjanovoi str., Ulan-Ude, b Department of Archaeology and Ethnology, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan c Department of Archaeology and Ethnology, Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russia d Department of Archaeology, Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan article info abstract

Article history: A representative mammal fauna attributable to the Karginian Interstadial (MIS 3, 36 000e23 000 BP) has Available online 13 July 2010 been found for the first time in the Fore-Baikalian region. The faunal remains were recovered from Gerasimov’s and Bol’shoi Naryn Paleolithic sites in 2003e2008. Zooarchaeological investigations revealed 51 mammal in the region, dominated by horse Equus sp., lagurus, narrow-sculled gregalis and North-Siberian vole M. cf. hyperboreus. The early humans appear to have inhabited a forest-steppe, with local patches of tundra-like landscapes. The Karginian climate was warmer and more humid than during the subsequent Sartan glacial epoch (MIS 2). Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 2. New Paleolithic sites of the Fore-Baikal sub-region

The greatest freshwater lake of the planet, Lake Baikal, is located 2.1. Bol’shoi Naryn in the center of the Asian continent, between 55460 and 51290 N. The Baikal region belongs to two natural zones: the periglacial This site (53 330 16.9900 N, 103 340 7.8800 E) is located in the hills Siberian zone (Fore-Baikalian sub-region, or Fore-Baikalia) and the facing Osa Bay (Bratsk Reservoir). The hills along the left bank of the extraglacial arid zone of Central Asia (Transbaikalia). Similarly, it Osa R. have been subjected to severe wave erosion due to water belongs to two paleozoogeographic sub-regions, the European- level fluctuations in the Bratsk reservoir. In the vicinity of the site, eSiberian and Central-Asian. Different environments of the the undercut hill slopes form a cliff 2e10 m high and several kilo- Fore-Baikalian region and Transbaikalia have controlled to meters long. Numerous stone implements and fossil remains have a considerable degree the species composition of both areas since been washed out of sediment, transported down the slopes and the Middle Pleistocene (Khenzykhenova, 2008). scattered along the shore of the reservoir. The site has been studied Mammal remains recovered from archeological sites provide since 2003 by a JapaneseeRussian joint research team, and some valuable information on the living environment of early humans. In results have been published (Sato et al., 2008). During the first year Transbaikalia, mammal fauna of the Karginian Interstadial have more than 4000 artifacts and fossil faunal remains were collected, been already studied at several Paleolithic sites (Khenzykhenova, including Equus sp., Mammuthus sp., Coelodonta antiquitatis, Bovi- 2005). In the Fore-Baikal region, however, the first representative nae gen. indet., and Bison priscus. The fossils have been 14C dated at mammal fauna was discovered in 2003e2005 at the Bol’shoi Naryn the University of Tokyo between 25 000 and 45 000 BP (Kunikita site (Sato et al., 2008). Another fauna of that type was discovered in et al., 2006). Most of the artifacts are stone tools and flakes, 2007e2008, at the multilayered Gerasimov’s site (Kogai et al., mostly of quartz, including blade cores, discoidal cores, points, and 2007)(Fig. 1). hand axes. Further excavations were performed at two localities considered to be promising: Locality 1 and Locality 2. Cultural remains have been discovered directly in paleosols at both localities, at * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ7 3012433955; fax: þ7 3012433024. 406e407 m a.s.l. The stratigraphic setting was much the same in E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (F. Khenzykhenova), both cases. A paleosol up to 1 m thick, dated to the Karginian sato@flet.keio.ac.jp (T. Sato), [email protected] (E. Lipnina), [email protected] (G. Medvedev), [email protected] (H. Kato), [email protected] (S. Kogai), Interstadial, lies over a layer of sand and is overlain by a mantle of [email protected] (K. Maximenko), [email protected] (V. Novosel’zeva). loess-like sandy loam 1e2 m thick accumulated during the Sartan

1040-6182/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.06.032 F. Khenzykhenova et al. / Quaternary International 231 (2011) 50e54 51

Fig. 1. Upper Palaeolithic sites of Karginian interstadial in the Baikalian region: 1 e Gerasimov’s site; 2 e Bol’shoi Naryn site; 3 e Zangisan; 4 e Podzvonkaya; 5 e Kamenka; 6 e Khotyk-3; 7 e Arta-2; 8 e Sukhotino-2; 9 e Tolbaga.

glacial epoch (MIS 2). The modern soil (up to 0.2 m thick) occurs at soils differing in colour, and it has been heavily distorted by cryo- the top of the sequence. Eleven charcoal samples taken from the genesis (Fig. 2). Three parts are distinguishable within the bed. paleosol at Locality 1 determined the age of its upper part as The base of the bed contains lenses of sand, and its lower boundary 25 000e26 000 BP and that of the lower part between 26 000 and often forms tongue-like wedges penetrating into the underlying 32 000 BP. Twelve charcoal samples from the paleosol at Locality sediments. The middle part shows a complicated multilayered 2 yielded dates between 25 000 and 29 000 BP (Kunikita et al., structure, with lens-like stratification, distorted and locally broken. 2006). In the course of excavations, 208 artifacts were recovered The upper part forms the top of the bed, with sandy lenses. from the cultural layer at Locality 1, and 129 at Locality 2. Stone More than 7000 artifacts and bone remains were excavated. tools excavated at the two survey areas were mostly quartz blades, Among the artifacts are side-scrapers, end scrapers, flat-faced scrapers, and cores. More than 600 identifiable remains cores, columnar cores with closed front for blades (made of large- were found altogether, including some small terrestrial snails. size monoliths), choppers, and pièces écailles of hard rocks, such as quartzite, quartz, and extrusive lithologies. There are also five 2.2. Gerasimov’s Paleolithic site unique pieces of Paleolithic art: 1) a blank for a bone bead; 2) a fragment of agalmatolite “bracelet”; 3) a fragment of ornamented This site was found at the right bank of the Irkut R., 2.6 km reindeer antler; 4) a blank for a flat pendant of agalmatolite; and 5) upstream from its confluence with the Angara R., within the limits a large massive flat pendant, pear-shaped, with a hole (Larichev of the city of Irkutsk (52 170 29.4100 N, 104 140 55.2400 E). It was et al., 2009). discovered in the process of construction work, in a pit cut into the A series of radiocarbon dates obtained on large mammal bones surface of a gentle slope at 455e457 m a.s.l. Salvage excavations at in the laboratory of the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Sibe- the newly found site were performed over an area of 950 m2 under rian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, dates the top of bed the supervision of Professor GI Medvedev and Assistant Professor 7 in the range from 22 345 290 BP (COAH-7536) to EA Lipnina (Irkutsk State University). Stratigraphically, the cultural 17 950 140 BP (COAH-6871). The middle part of the bed is dated layer corresponds to geological bed 7, varying in thickness from from 29 940 440 BP (COAH-7330) to 26 985 345 BP (COAH- 0.2e0.5 m to 2.0 m. Bed 7 comprises loams, sandy loams, sands and 7221), and the lower part from 35 890 420 BP (COAH-7541) to 52 F. Khenzykhenova et al. / Quaternary International 231 (2011) 50e54

Fig. 2. Gerasimov’s site section. 1. Disturbed layer. 2. Fine sand, sandy loam, grey, greyebrown, yellowish-brown, partially carbonized. 3. Sandy loam, light-grey, whitish-grey, loessial, dense, locally carbonized. 4. Loam, light, yellowish-brown dark and light, finely stratified, locally undulatory, interstratified with sandy loams. 5. Sandy loam, yellow-brown, dense, finely stratified, interstratified with thin loam. 6. Strata of layered sandy loam, loam, and sand; Horizontal bedding. 7. Loam, sandy loam, sand and soil differing in colour; heavily distorted by cryogenesis. ▲ - levels of archeological material.

33610 370 BP (COAH-7540) (uncalibrated dates). In addition, two antiquitatis, Cervus elaphus L., R. tarandus, Bos sp., and B. priscus, AMS dates have been obtained in South Korea (laboratory of the horse remains being prevalent. Small mammal fauna dated to the Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources): R-1 36 750 380 Karginian Interstadial comprised 22 species, including 3 lago- (uncalibrated); 41 780 330 (calibrated) OBn080001, and R-2 morphs and 17 species. Microtheriofauna from the lower 32 110 260 (uncalibrated); 36 390 730 (calibrated) OBn080002. part of geological bed 7 were dominated by narrow-sculled vole The dated objects were recovered from the cluster of artifacts in the M. gregalis Pall. (23%). Prevalent in this fauna were steppe lower part of the bed, where some objects of art were also present. (37%); taiga (27%) and tundra species (15%) were less abundant (Table 1). 3. Survey method Investigations of cultural layers discovered at the Gerasimov’s and Bolshoi Naryn sites determined for the first time the species It is customary to perform multi-disciplinary studies on composition of attributed to the Karginian Interstadial archeological sites. The excavation strategy consisted in a thorough (MIS 3) in the Fore-Baikal sub-region. The mammal fauna layer-by-layer removal of geological deposits. Every object and comprised no less than 27 species of large mammals and 24 species large bone remain was carefully cleansed (while intact), photo- of small mammals. The small mammal fauna has no present-day graphed and plotted on the plan with coordinate grid and absolute analogue. It was ecologically mixed and disharmonious, typical of altitudes (a.s.l.), some fragments of excavation walls being left the Late Pleistocene cold epochs. intact for control. The paleo-microtopography of the cultural layer was reconstructed by thorough cleaning its surface, and recorded 5. Comparison of MIS 3 fauna of Fore-Baikal Paleolithic sites using large-scale topographic survey, photo and video cameras. with contemporaneous Transbaikalian fauna To recover small mammal remains and molluscs invisible to the eye, the enclosing sediment was washed through 1e2 mm sieves. Large mammal inhabitants of the Baikalian region during the In the laboratory, the mammal remains were carefully cleansed of Karginian Interstadial were typical of the Upper Paleolithic faunal soil particles and impregnated with adhesive solution. Teeth were assemblage (Gromov, 1948), with Mammuthus widely occurring in fixed on flat plates and determined to species level. the Fore-Baikal sub-region and Coelodonta in Transbaikalia. The principal distinction between the Transbaikalian and Fore- 4. Fauna Baikalian fauna is the presence of Central Asian species in the former, such as Spirocerus kiakhtensis M. Pavl. and Procapra gut- 4.1. Bol’shoi Naryn turosa Pall. In Transbaikalia, small mammals mostly belong to steppe and forest species, except for Microtus fortis Büchn. that Bone remains of megafauna found on the shore included preferred near-water biotopes. Dry of intermountain Mammuthus sp., Equus sp., C. antiquitatis Blum., Cervidae gen. depressions were inhabited by Brandt’s vole brandti indet., and B. priscus Boj. (dominant form). Among species found in Radde (dominant species) together with Daurian pika Ochotona situ were Alopex lagopus L., Mammuthus sp., Equus sp., Cervus sp., daurica Pall., marmot-tarbagan Marmota sibirica Radde, Meriones, Rangifer tarandus L., and B. priscus. Horse, deer, bison and their Allactaga, and narrow-sculled vole M. gregalis Pall. relatives were predominant forms. Small mammal fauna of Bol’shoi Fore-Baikalian faunas of the same age included steppe species Naryn site dated to the Karginian Interstadial comprised 15 species, (predominant forms), along with those typical of forest, tundra, including 1 species of insectivore, 1 species of Chiroptera (bats), alpine environments and intrazonal taxa. L. lagu- 3 lagomorphs, and 10 rodent species (see Table 1). Steppe (41%), rus, narrow-sculled vole M. gregalis, steppe pika Ochotona cf. pusilla forest (25%) and tundra (25%) taxa, as well as intrazonal forms Pall., coexisted with tundra animals, such as collared Dicrostonyx found in Loc. 2, North-Siberian vole Microtus cf. hyperboreus Vinogr. guilielmi Sanford and Siberian Lemmus sibiricus Kerr lemming, (18.5%), steppe lemming Lagurus lagurus Pall. (14.8%), and narrow- North-Siberian vole Microtus hyperboreus Vinogr., and Mid- sculled vole Microtus gregalis Pall. (14.8%), were predominant forms dendorf’s vole M. middendorfi Poljak. The mammal faunas recov- in this fauna. ered from the Bolshoi Naryn and Gerasimov’s sites were ecologically mixed and exceedingly diversifi ed. Modern ranges of 4.2. Gerasimov’s site the species found in those sites are located in different natural zones and are separated. Large mammals recovered from the cultural layer of this site In Transbaikalia, mammals of the Karginian age have been recov- included A. lagopus, Martes zibellina L., Equus sp., Mammuthus sp., C. ered from several Paleolithic sites (Fig. 1): Arta-2 e 37 360 2000 BP F. Khenzykhenova et al. / Quaternary International 231 (2011) 50e54 53

Table 1 Species composition of small mammal fauna of Baikal region during OIS 3.

Species name Bol’shoi Naryn site Gerasimov’s site Transbaikalia

Loc. 1 Loc. 2 MP* LP** Insectivora 1. Sorex sp. 1/1 Chiroptera 1. Chiroptera gen. indet. 1/1 Lagomorpha 1. Lepus timidus L. þ 2. L. tolai Pall. þ 3. Lepus sp. 1/1 4. Ochotona hyperborea Pall. 12/1 4/2 5. Ochotona daurica Pall. þ 6. O. cf. pusilla Pall. 1/1 8/3 7. Ochotona sp. 2/1 4/1 Rodentia 1. Eutamias sibiricus Laxm. 1/1 2. Marmota sibirica Pall. þ 3. Marmota sp. 1/1 4. Spermophilus undulatus Pall. 28/3 þ 5. Spermophilus sp. 1/1 6. Cricetulus barabensis Pall. 1/1 þ 7. Clethrionomys rutilus Pall. 2/1 1/1 7/4 8. Clethrionomys rufocanus Sundevall. 2/1 2/1 18/4 9. Lemmus amurensis Vinogradov 13/3 11/5 10. Myopus schisticolor Lill. 5/2 11. Lemmini gen. indet. 2/1 3/2 16/4 12. Dicrostonyx cf. guilielmi Sanford 1/1 13. Dicrostonyx sp. 2/1 14/2 14. sp. 1/1 15. Lagurus lagurus Pall. 9/2 32/4 3/3 16. Lasiopodomys brandti Radde þ 17. M. gregalis Pall. 8/3 4/3 4/3 30/17 þ 18. M. cf. arvalis Pall. 1/1 19. M. cf. middendorffii 6/2 20. M. ex gr. middendorffii-hyperboreus 2/2 21. M. cf. hyperboreus Vinogradov 10/4 8/5 11/5 22. M. fortis Buchn. þ 23. Microtus oeconomus Pall. 1/1 4/2 16/8 24. Microtus sp. 18/1 1/1 41/5 25. Microtinae gen. indet. 1/1

MP* e middle part, LP** e lower part of geological bed 7. 1/1 e Number of individuals/number of identified specimens.

(LOIA LE-2967); Arta-4; Podzvonkaya e 38 900 3300 BP (AA-26741), As follows from the comparative analysis of the mammal fauna >36800 BP (AA-26742); Kamenka e 35 845 695 BP (SOAN-2903), dated to MIS 3, the Baikalian region was dominated by species 31 060 530 BP (SOAN-3133); Sukhotino-4, Sukhotino-2, Zangisan, inhabiting open landscapes. In the Fore-Baikal sub-region narrow- Tolbaga e 34 860 2100 BP (SOAN-1522), 27210 300 BP (SOAN- sculled vole M. gregalis prevailed at the Gerasimov’s site, North- 1523); Varvarina Gora e 34 900 780 BP (SOAN-1524), Siberian vole Microtus cf. hyperboreus and steppe lemming 30 600 500 BP (SOAN-850); Khotyk-3 (e.g. Kasparov,1986; Ovodov, L. lagurus at the Bolshoi Naryn site, while Brandt’s vole L. brandti 1987; Kirillov and Kasparov, 1990; Konstantinov, 1994; Germonpre was dominant in intermountain basins of Transbaikalia. Among and Lbova, 1996; Tashak, 1999; Kalmykov, 2001;). The distinctive large mammals, horses predominated in the Baikal region. feature is co-habitation of different mammals e typical dwellers of forests, forest-steppes, and of arid mountain steppes. Small mammal 6. Conclusion fauna of the Kamenka and Podzvonkaya sites consisted mostly of dry steppe elements dominated by Brandt’s vole Lasiopodomys brandti. The species composition of the fauna recovered from the MegafaunaattributedtoMIS3wasrepresentedbythefollowing Paleolithic sites in the Fore-Baikalian sub-region is indicative of mammal species: Canis lupus L., Vulpes vulpes L., V. corsac L., Ursus wide distribution of forest-steppes in MIS 3 time, under conditions arctos L., Lynx lynx L., Panthera leo L., Crocuta crocuta spelea Gold., of cold-temperate humid climate, with areas of tundra type land- Mammuthus primigenius Blum., Equus caballus L., E. hemionus Pall., scapes occurring locally. The species composition from the Paleo- C. antiquitatis, Camelus sp., Megaloceros giganteus Blum., Capreolus lithic sites in Transbaikalia suggests highly diversified (mosaic) pygargus Pall., C. elaphus L., Alces alces L., R. tarandus L., P. gutturosa Pall., landscapes with predominance of open spaces, and essentially arid S. kiakhtensis M. Pavl., Saiga cf. tatarica L., Capra sibirica Pall., Ovis climate. Dwellers of meadows and forests, forest-steppes and ammon L., B. priscus Boj., and Poephagus baikalensis N. Ver. Nine species meadow-steppes were widely distributed in the intermountain of small mammals were identified, including 3 lagomorphs and valleys. Taiga forests covered the mountain slopes. 6 . Species composition of the Transbaikalian fauna suggests a complicated mosaic structure of landscapes, with open landscapes Acknowledgments prevalent in intermountain basins and forest-steppes on mountain slopes and in river valleys. Dry steppes were widely distributed over The study of mammal fauna has been supported by the project the southern part of the region (Khenzykhenova, 2005). with support of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and 54 F. Khenzykhenova et al. / Quaternary International 231 (2011) 50e54

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