Andrzej WeberDepartment of Anthropology
University of Alberta
Seals, meals and deals: mid-Holocene feasting on Lake Baikal
University of California Davis, 8 Feb., 2006
Baikal Archaeology Project
Acknowledgements
Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada
Irkutsk State University, Russia
University of Alberta, Canada
Location
Shamanskii Mys Lake Baikal
Project scope and rationale
Fieldwork location
KUR
K14
LOK
UID
SHA
BUR
BAS
Analyses
Archaeological Osteological Laboratory tests
Teeth: Sr87/Sr86
C13
O18
Bone: Sr87/Sr86 C13
N15
O18 C14
Vertebrae: DNA
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
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?
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
Examination of seal skeletal remains
Mammalian tooth anatomy
Tooth thin sections
Mammalian tooth anatomy.
C
D2
E
C
D1
E
D
C
D
E
PC
PC
PC
C/ETr
C/ETr
CANINEMOLAR
INCISOR
CP
E-enamelD-dentineC-cementum
PC – pulp cavityCP – cementum padC/E Tr – cementum enamel trnasition
Tooth thin sections
40 – 50 microns
Dentine formation in the sealof Lake Baikal
Pup of the year and 1 year old
Pre-natal dentine
Neonatal line
Opaque
TranslucentOpaque
Adolescents
2 years old
3 years old
Adults
More than 10 years old6 years old
Archaeological sites examined
Camps
Cemetery
Season of death
Age structure: Shamanskii Mys
Age structure:Shamanskii Mys and modern sample
Archaeological sites examined
Camp
Cemetery
Age structure: more comparison
Age structure: more analysis
Role of ice in seal behaviour and ecology
December 1989 January 1989
Distribution of seal population
No female dens within the first 10 km east of the island
Maximum density of dens of pregnant females is 1.5/km2
WEST EASTFemales
Males and adolescents
April 2003
The story of age profiles
Subsistence and diet of the Shamanskii Mys people
Lecture 12: Subsistence and diet.Baikal case study.
Diet of groups contemporary with Shamanskii Mys
Other groups
Shamanskii Mys
Post-hiatus diets
Baikal
Angara and Lena
Location of contemporary cemeteries
Kurma
Kuzhir-Nuge
Uliarba
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?
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?
Thank youDziękuję