Arctic genetics comes in from the cold Despite a well-characterized archaeological record, the genetics of the people who inhabit the Arctic have been unexplored. Raghavan et al. sequenced ancient and modern genomes of individuals from the North American Arctic (see the Perspective by Park). Analyses of these genomes indicate that the Arctic was colonized 6000 years ago by a migration separate from the one that gave rise to other Native American populations. Furthermore, the original paleo-inhabitants of the Arctic appear to have been completely replaced approximately 700 years ago. Science , this issue 10.1126/science.1255832 ; see also p. 1004

Remnants of one Paleoeskimo and several Neoeskimo cultural traditions have been revealed in the coastal regions of Chukotka since the mid-1940s. The Chukotka Paleoeskimo cultural tradition, discovered on Wrangel Island, is comparable with the Paleoeskimo cultures of North America—Old Whaling (Alaska) and Independence (Greenland). It existed from 1700 to 1400 B.C. The Neoeskimo tradition is represented in Chukotka by Old Bering Sea (OBS), Okvik, Birnirk and Punuk cultures, found on Chukotka’s shores from the south part of the Bering Strait to the mouth of Kolyma River. The earliest are dated to the end of the first millennium B.C., the latest to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries A.D. Chukotka archaeological sources point to close bonds between OBS, Birnirk and Punuk peoples. It is highly probable that a syncretic OBS-Birnirk-Punuk cultural community emerged in Chukotka from the end of the first millennium to the beginning of the second millennium A.D.

Due to the marine reservoir effect, radiocarbon dates of marine samples require a correction. Marine reservoir effects, however, may vary among different marine species within a given body of water. Factors such as diet, feeding depth and migratory behaviour all affect the 14C date of a marine organism. Moreover, there is often significant variation within single marine species. Whilst the careful consideration of the Δ R values of a single marine species in a given location is important, so too is the full range of Δ R values within an ecosystem. This paper illustrates this point, using a sample pairing method to estimate the reservoir effects in 17 marine samples, of eight different species, from the archaeological site of Ekven (Eastern Chukotka, Siberia). An OxCal model is used to assess the strength of these estimates. The marine reservoir effects of samples passing the model range from Δ R (Marine20) = 136 ± 41–Δ R = 460 ± 40. Marine reservoir effect estimates of these samples and other published samples are used to explore variability in the wider Bering Strait region. The archaeological implications of this variability are also discussed. The calibrating of 14C dates from human bone collagen, for example, could be improved by applying a dietary relevant marine reservoir effect correction. For humans from the site of Ekven, a Δ R (Marine20) correction of 289 ± 124 years or reservoir age correction of 842 ± 123 years is suggested.

Ethnoarchaeological research, which gained great popularity in the second half of the 20th century, has become a new full-fledged source for a variety of socio-economic reconstructions in archaeology, including when characterizing the features of industrial complexes. Developments that combine experimental traceological analysis of tools and ethnographic data play an important role in modeling ancient technologies, especially when ethnographic artifacts are a direct continuation of archaeological traditions, both in terms of their manufacturing method and specific purpose. In this regard, the study of stone knives from the Ekven burial ground of the 1st millennium AD is of great interest, discovered in Chukotka. These products have retained their specific form from antiquity to the present day. The presence in the archaeological and ethnographic collections of these items in varying degrees of processing and use (from blanks to tools with a completely recycled or redesigned working blade) made it possible not only to describe the chain of basic technological operations of their manufacture from the primary processing of raw materials, shaping, processing of the working and edge parts, mounts in the handle, but also to install the tools involved in this production process. The data obtained were verified using experimental work, which confirmed the invariability of the technology for processing slate raw materials and manufacturing archaeological and ethnographic man’s knives from it.

Аннотация. Жилища древних эскимосов с каркасом из костей кита и плавниково-го дерева во множестве встречаются на побережье Чукотки от Анадырского залива до устья Калымы и с давних времен привлекали внимание путешественников и исследовате-лей. Чукотской археологической экспедицией Государственного музея Востока с 1995 по 2015 г. на поселениях Эквен и Пайпельгак (северо-восток Чукотки). На поселении Эквен полностью изучена конструкция жилища Н-18 с каркасом из костей кита и плавникового дерева, дерновыми стенами и легкой кровлей, а также рабочие площадки за пределами внешних стен. Жилище Н-18 относится к периоду бирнирк -ранний пунук (хронология археологических культур с поправкой на «резервуарный эффект Берингова моря: древне-берингоморская -III/IV-VIII/IX вв.; бирнирк -IX-XI вв.; пунук -XI-XIII вв.).Поселение Пайпельгак -первый жилой, хорошо стратифицированный памятник на Чукотке. Занимающее верхний, самый молодой стратиграфический уровень на поселе-нии жилище бирниркского времени состояло из двух соединенных переходом перекрытых объемов. Коридорный выход был устроен в более крупном помещении.Это жилище перекрывало три жилых структуры (помещения 4-6), относящиеся к древнеберингоморской культуре (период ДБК-II, в пределах первой половины I тыс.) -это были жилища для сезонной охоты, сходные по конструкции: небольшие, площадью около 6 кв. м, с каменными цоколями стен, вертикальными опорами каркаса стен и каменными вымостками полов. Одно из жилищ (№ 6) -двухкамерное.Древнеэскимосские жилища послужили типологической основой для конструкций традиционных яранг поселения Наукан, функционировавшего до середины ХХ в. Легкие кровли яранг Наукана из деревянных жердей и шкур моржа позволили уверенно воссоз-дать подобную конструкцию перекрытий жилищ древнеберингоморского, бирниркского и раннепунукского времени. Форма кровли является самой характерной чертой древнеэски-мосского жилища.Днепровский Кирилл Александрович -кандидат исторических наук, главный научный сотрудник Государственного музея Востока.Дэвлет Екатерина Георгиевна -доктор исторических наук, ученый секретарь Института архе-ологии РАН.Работа подготовлена в рамках проекта РФФИ № 17-01-00395.