Chronology of middle Holocene hunteregatherers in the Cis-Baikal region of Siberia: Corrections based on examination of the freshwater reservoir effect
Résumé
A dataset of 256 AMS radiocarbon dates on human skeletal remains from middle Holocene cemeteries in
the Cis-Baikal region, Siberia, and associated carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values are analyzed for
new insights about culture history and processes of culture change. First, based on the typological criteria
all dated human burials are assigned to mortuary traditions and typochronological unitseLate Mesolithic,
Early Neolithic, Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Next, all dates are corrected for the Freshwater
Reservoir Effect (FRE) according to the regression equations developed using paired radiocarbon dates on
human and terrestrial faunal remains from the same graves and examined for chronological trends using
a Bayesian approach. While the entire corrected culture historical sequence is younger by roughly 200
e400 years relative to the previous model the shift of the specific period boundaries is not systematic
due to the varying proportion of aquatic food in the diets of the relevant groups. Examination of the
dataset subdivided into smaller spatio-temporal units provides additional insights. During the Early
Neolithic, in the Angara and Southwest Baikal micro-regions there is a chronological trend toward
increased reliance on aquatic food. During the Early Bronze Age in the Little Sea micro-region, there
appears to be a trend toward increased reliance on the Baikal seal. This shift, however, can also be
interpreted as increasing migration over time of new groups from the Upper Lena. The sample from the
Early Neolithic Shamanka II cemetery in Southwest Baikal shows two non-abutting phases of use each
displaying a trend toward greater consumption of aquatic foods. These findings provide new chronological
framework for the study of other cultural changes affecting middle Holocene hunteregatherers in
the region. The results may also allow better correlation with other sequences, cultural and environmental,
that are not affected by the FRE.