Holocene Fishing in the Big Sea Region of Lake Baikal (Based on Materials from Multilayered Habitation Sites)

Holocene Fishing in the Big Sea Region of Lake Baikal
(Based on Materials from Multilayered Habitation Sites)

DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.4.013-023

T.Y. Nomokonova¹, A.G. Novikov^{2, 3}, R.J. Losey⁴, O.I. Goriunova^{2, 3}, N.A. Saveliev², and A.W. Weber^4
1University of British Columbia, 1147 Research Road, V1V 1V7, Kelowna, Okanagan, BC, Canada
²Irkutsk State University, K. Marksa 1, Irkustk, 664003, Russia
³Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
⁴University of Alberta, 13-15 HM Tory Building, T6G 2H4, Edmonton, AB, Canada

This article offers new data on ancient fishing in the Big Sea region of Lake Baikal. Materials for this research were recovered during fieldwork conducted at multilayered habitation sites Sagan-Zaba II and Buguldeika II by the joint Russian-Canadian expeditions (a project between Irkutsk State University (Russia) and University of Alberta (Canada)). The research presented here is based on the analysis of ichthyofaunal remains and artifacts associated with fishing activities (hooks, harpoons, net sinkers, and fish imagery). For the first time, we are able to reconstruct not only taxa and fishing techniques used but also to trace which species were consumed during different chronological periods. Chronological assessment of analyzed cultural layers at Sagan-Zaba II and Buguldeika II was done through over 90 AMS radiocarbon dates made on ungulate bones in Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. Archaeological periodization of analyzed sites spans from the Mesolithic to the ethnographically contemporary period. Fish species composition at the two sites was compared with that from sites of the Little Sea area of Lake Baikal. These new data added a better understanding of the relative importance and subsistence uses of fish on Lake Baikal during the Holocene period. It has been demonstrated that fishing traditions of Early and Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers were continued by pastoralists, especially in regard to the consumption of deep-water species. It is concluded that ancient populations living on the shores of Lake Baikal exploited a wide range of natural resources, and fishing played a very important part in this.

Keywords: Lake Baikal, Siberia, Holocene, fishing, multilayered habitation sites, radiocarbon dating