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Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29 (2010) 491–506 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Anthropological Archaeology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaa Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers of Cis-Baikal, Siberia: An overview for the new century ⇑ Andrzej W. Weber a, , Robert Bettinger b a Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Canada T6G 2H4 b Department of Anthropology, University of California—Davis, CA, USA article info abstract Article history: The paper examines Middle Holocene hunter-gatherer adaptive strategies in the Baikal region of Received 11 February 2010 Siberia based on diverse data (radiocarbon, mortuary, geochemical, genetic, human osteological, and Revision received 26 July 2010 zooarchaeological) accumulated over the last 10–15 years. The new model emphasizes the cyclical Available online 16 September 2010 nature of the long-term changes and recognizes similarities between the Early Neolithic and Late Neo- lithic–Early Bronze Age cultures. The overall impression seems to be that change in the region was Keywords: rapid rather than gradual. A number of interesting correlations between various cultural and environ- Middle Holocene mental variables have been identified. During the Early Neolithic and Late Neolithic–Bronze Age, the Neolithic spatial distributions of mortuary sites, open landscape, and good fisheries are all correlated and both Early Bronze Age Lake Baikal intervals are coeval with periods of environmental stability. For the Early Neolithic two additional sets Hunter-gatherers of correlated variables have been identified: (1) the uneven distribution of fish resources, uneven dis- Culture change tribution of the human population, and cultural heterogeneity; and (2) poorer overall community Adaptive strategies health, more extensive male travel and heavier workloads, and higher reliance on fishing. For the Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age, the sets of correlated variables are somewhat different: (1) more even distribution of terrestrial game resources (herbivores), more even distribution of the human popula- tion, and cultural homogeneity; and (2) better overall community health, less travel and lighter workloads, more equitable distribution of labor between males and females, and higher reliance on game hunting. Viewed together, these patterns emphasize the much more dynamic pattern of hun- ter-gatherer cultural variability, temporally and spatially, compared to what was known before. Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Inc. Introduction dle Holocene hunter-gatherers of the Baikal region conducted since the mid-1990s by the scholars associated with the Baikal Hunter-gatherer studies have played an important role in the Archaeology Project (BAP). The essays in the recently published original formulation in the 1980s and subsequent growth of the book titled Prehistoric hunter-gatherers of the Baikal region, Siberia: modern evolutionary approaches both in anthropology and in Bioarchaeological studies of past life ways (Weber et al., 2010a) archaeology (e.g., Shennan, 2008; Winterhalder and Smith, 2000). provide comprehensive summaries of this work while numerous The evolutionary school of thought continues to form theoretical research papers referenced therein and herewith contain more foundations of numerous specific and generalizing studies specific details. This paper is concerned with the second element providing in both cases many fresh insights on hunter-gatherer of the evolutionary approach, i.e., pattern recognition, leaving the past. In most general terms research conducted from the evolu- final one for a different occasion. tionary perspective involves the following three elements: documentation of behavioral (cultural) and environmental vari- ability in space and time, identification of patterns within the Review of most relevant research findings documented variability, and employment of evolutionary mecha- nisms to explain both the variability and the existing patterns. The review follows a traditional progression beginning with an Explicit emphasis on documentation of spatio-temporal account of culture history, it proceeds next to the discussion of the variability has been an important element of the research on Mid- natural environment and current views on its role in the process of culture change in the region, followed by the presentation of mor- ⇑ Corresponding author. Fax: +1 780 492 5273. tuary behavior, population distribution, and genetic characteristics E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A.W. Weber), [email protected] to finish with assessment of additional cultural variables, including (R. Bettinger). subsistence and mobility. 0278-4165/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2010.08.002 Author's personal copy 492 A.W. Weber, R. Bettinger / Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29 (2010) 491–506 Culture history cemetery, all other things being equal, stands a much better chance of being archaeologically visible then the informal one, particularly The hallmarks of Siberian hunter-gatherer culture history are when hunter-gatherers are concerned. technological innovations. Thus, it is the bow and arrow, ground stone tools, and ceramics that identify the Neolithic (animal and Geography plant domesticates have been introduced into the region only during the Iron Age and historical times, respectively), objects of Cis-Baikal, an area immediately north and west of Lake Baikal, copper and bronze the Early Bronze Age (EBA). However, the value features a markedly continental climate dominated by middle of these is less as time or culture markers than as indicators of and southern taiga forests (Fig. 1). While average temperatures technological changes that profoundly affected the behavior of are regionally homogenous with effective temperatures (ET) hunter-gatherers in the Cis-Baikal. As elsewhere around the world, consistently around 11 (Bailey, 1960), topography, geology, ceramics, the bow and arrow, and ground stone either precipitate hydrography, precipitation, vegetation, and terrestrial and aquatic or accompany major changes in hunter-gatherer behavior, as dis- fauna are all highly variable across Cis-Baikal resulting in a sub- cussed below. For the moment, however, culture history is the stantial mosaic of the environmental conditions. Only the most main concern. important elements of this biogeographic context are summarized The tumult attending the introduction of radiocarbon dating to here (McKenzie, 2006; Weber, 2003; White, 2006 and references Middle Holocene Cis-Baikal culture history, and the current state of therein) emphasizing the situation in four main micro-regions: knowledge on these subjects, are discussed by Weber et al. (2010b) (1) the Angara River Valley from its headwaters at Lake Baikal to and elsewhere (McKenzie, 2006; Weber, 1995; Weber et al., 2005). the confluence with the Ilim River c. 990 km to the north; (2) the The culture history shown in Table 1 differs in only minor ways, upper Lena River Valley to the mouth of the Kirenga river; 3) the mostly in terminology, from earlier versions developed on the ba- Little Sea (or Ol’khon) area along the middle section of the Baikal’s sis of roughly 120 radiocarbon dates soon after they were produced northwestern coast; (4) South Baikal from the delta of the Selenga in Russian laboratories in the 1980s (Mamonova and Sulerzhitskii, River to the western end of Lake Baikal (Fig. 1). The first three are 1989; Weber, 1995; Weber et al., 2002). This recent version is un- archaeologically well known. The last is not, systematic research likely to change in fundamentals although the duration and bound- having just begun there. aries of individual periods likely will (Weber et al., 2005, 2010b). More specifically, the Middle Neolithic (MN) period perhaps is still No. Cemetery No. Cemetery No. Cemetery somewhat longer, and each of the three mortuary traditions defin- name name name ing the Early Neolithic (EN), Late Neolithic (LN), and EBA are some- 1 Shchukino 52 Verkhneseredkino 103 Ust’-Tutra what shorter than is indicated here (Weber et al., 2010b). The 2 Bol’shaia 53 Nizhneseredkino 104 Zhigalovo nature of the LN–EBA transition also remains somewhat unclear. Mezhovka The revisions required by radiocarbon dating have also gener- 3 Ershi 54 Zaimka 105 Tikhoe Pleso ated interpretations that exceed available evidence. For instance, 4 Kuz’mikha 55 Ust’-Osa 106 Ust’-Ilga Khin’, the component at the beginning of Okladnikov’s mortuary 5 Malaia 56 Ostrov Osinskii 107 Niashenskii sequence (1950), is now frequently placed in the Mesolithic period, Razvodnaia Perekat under this or other names such as Final or Late Mesolithic (e.g., 6 Lesikha 57 Shivera 108 Turuka Bazaliiskii, 2005, 2006, 2010; Weber et al., 2002). In fact, however, 7 Glazkovo 58