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Seals, meals and deals: mid-Holocene feasting on Lake Baikal

Baikal Archaeology Project. Seals, meals and deals: mid-Holocene feasting on Lake Baikal. University of California Davis, 8 Feb., 2006. Andrzej Weber Department of Anthropology University of Alberta. Acknowledgements. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

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Seals, meals and deals: mid-Holocene feasting on Lake Baikal

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  1. Baikal Archaeology Project Seals, meals and deals: mid-Holocene feasting on Lake Baikal University of California Davis, 8 Feb., 2006 Andrzej Weber Department of Anthropology University of Alberta

  2. Acknowledgements • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada • Irkutsk State University, Russia • University of Alberta, Canada

  3. Location Lake Baikal Shamanskii Mys

  4. Project scope and rationale

  5. Fieldwork location BAS KUR K14 UID BUR LOK SHA

  6. Analyses • Archaeological • Osteological • Laboratory tests

  7. Teeth: Sr87/Sr86 C13 O18 Bone: Sr87/Sr86 C13 N15 O18 C14 Vertebrae: DNA

  8. Summary of our knowledge to date • Genetic and cultural discontinuity • Very good health and demographic structure • Variable subsistence and dietary patterns • Unique level of social and political differentiation • Mortuary variability • Variable climatic conditions: periods of stability and instability

  9. Main unsolved questions • What are the processes behind the genetic and cultural discontinuity during the 7th millennium BP? • Why did the local hunter-gatherers go through such a cycle of social complexity? • What is the role of the environment in these processes?

  10. Enigma of Shamanskii Mys • Spectacular location • 11 graves excavated between 1972 and 1975 • Mostly adult people • Unusual grave goods • Dog interments • Seal remains and complete interments

  11. Examination of seal skeletal remains • Mammalian tooth anatomy • Tooth thin sections

  12. Mammalian tooth anatomy. CANINE INCISOR MOLAR E E E D1 D D D2 PC C/E Tr C/ETr PC C C C CP PC E-enamel D-dentine C-cementum PC – pulp cavity CP – cementum pad C/E Tr – cementum enamel trnasition

  13. Tooth thin sections 40 – 50 microns

  14. Dentine formation in the sealof Lake Baikal

  15. Pup of the year and 1 year old Pre-natal dentine Opaque Translucent Opaque Neonatal line

  16. Adolescents 2 years old 3 years old

  17. Adults 6 years old More than 10 years old

  18. Archaeological sites examined Cemetery Camps

  19. Season of death

  20. Age structure: Shamanskii Mys

  21. Age structure:Shamanskii Mys and modern sample

  22. Archaeological sites examined Cemetery Camp

  23. Age structure: more comparison

  24. Age structure: more analysis

  25. Role of ice in seal behaviour and ecology December 1989 January 1989

  26. Distribution of seal population April 2003 • No female dens within the first 10 km east of the island • Maximum density of dens of pregnant females is 1.5/km2 WEST EAST Females Males and adolescents

  27. The story of age profiles

  28. Subsistence and diet of the Shamanskii Mys people

  29. Lecture 12: Subsistence and diet.Baikal case study.

  30. Diet of groups contemporary with Shamanskii Mys Other groups Shamanskii Mys

  31. Post-hiatus diets Baikal Angara and Lena

  32. Location of contemporary cemeteries Kuzhir-Nuge Kurma Uliarba

  33. Summary: Unusual status of Shamanskii Mys • Special topographic location • Special group of people • Special grave goods • Special sacrifices • Special food • What is the meaning of all of this?

  34. Feasting at Shamanskii Mys • What is feasting? • What is the role or function of feasting? • What is the range of feasting among hunter-gatherers? • What does feasting tell us about the Baikal hunter-gatherers? • How does this fit with the rest of our knowledge about the Baikal hunter-gatherers?

  35. Thank youDziękuję

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