Middle Holocene hunter–gatherers of Cis-Baikal, Eastern Siberia: Combined impacts of the boreal forest, bow-and-arrow, and fishing

Spatio-temporal patterns of cemetery use among Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers of Cis-Baikal, Eastern Siberia

“…2: B E). Although some of these offsets are probably a product of sampling biases, some are very likely are historically real (c.f., Weber, 2020).…”

“…The chronometric scale of each graph and map, the ranges of radiocarbon dates for each mortuary tradition, and the period boundaries in HPD estimates (the latter two provided in Table 1) are considered a sufficient temporal frame of reference for this examination, giving the reader an adequate sense of the tempo, duration, and chronological position of the various cultural developments examined in the paper. Weber et al (2020) provides other relevant chronological terms for some of the units of analysis examined here. All terms, however, are generated using trapezium phase Bayesian-models, and thus are not directly comparable to ages from the graphs and maps presented in this paper, which use the KDE model (where possible) to look at changes in tempo of burial acitivity within and between various units of analysis.…”

“…Together, the two studies provide complementary insights about the processes of culture change and variation affecting these HG groups. Yet another paper in this special issue integrates these findings with the rest of the available evidence into a synthetic narrative about the evolution of these HGs (Weber, 2020).…”

“…It has rearranged the Okladnikov sequence of HG mortuary traditions and groups in the region (Table 1), rendering his synthesis effectively invalid (Mamonova and Sulerzhitskii, 1989;Weber, 1995Weber, , 2020; It has identified a millennium-long gap in the development of these traditions, during which Cis-Baikal HGs did not use formal cemeteries at all (contra Kuzmin, 2007); It has led to the discovery of a variable freshwater reservoir effect (FRE) in the Cis-Baikal aquatic ecosystem and, consequently, to the development of methods to correct this effect (Bronk Ramsey et al, 2014;Schulting et al, 2014Schulting et al, , 2021; It has identified a discontinuity in the use of a large Early Neolithic cemetery otherwise invisible based on standard mortuary characteristics, thus hinting that similar discontinuities may exist in other cemeteries; It has demonstrated that at least some Early Neolithic cemeteries were not in use concurrently, suggesting that similar temporal offsets may characterize other cemeteries too;…”

“…Combined with carbon and nitrogen stable isotope measurements associated with each radiocarbon-dated individual, it has provided new knowledge about spatiotemporal variation in dietary patterns in these groups; primary among these findings has been the discovery of a broad range of dietary trends, some involving increasing reliance on fish over time, others showing increasing reliance on game or seal, with other groups exhibiting dietary stability; It has further sharpened the definition of chronological boundaries between relevant culture historical periods and shown previously unknown microregional variation in the start and end of various mortuary traditions (Goriunova et al, 2020a(Goriunova et al, , 2020bWeber et al, 2020); and lastly All this has played an important role in the first attempt, since the Okladnikov synthesis, to develop a new model of the evolution of Cis-Baikal Middle Holocene HG groups (Weber, 2020).…”