Neolithic burial of a dog on Olkhon Island (lake Baikal)

Dmitry E. Kichigin; Кичигин Д. Е.; Alexey M. Klementyev; Клементьев А. М.

doi:10.31857/S0869606324010098

Neolithic burial of a dog on Olkhon Island (lake Baikal)

Authors: Kichigin D.E.¹, Klementyev A.M.²
Affiliations:
1. Irkutsk National Research Technical University
2. Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Siberian Branch RAS
Issue: No 1 (2024)
Pages: 139-151
Section: ПУБЛИКАЦИИ
URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/0869-6063/article/view/258231
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0869606324010098
EDN: https://elibrary.ru/ZVXLEM
ID: 258231

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access
Restricted Access

Access granted
Restricted Access

Subscription Access

Abstract
Full Text
About the authors
References
Supplementary files
Statistics

Abstract

In 2022, archaeological activities were conducted to clarify the boundaries of the multilayer Unkhrug 1 site located on Olkhon Island (Lake Baikal). In the lowest layer of one of the test pits, a burial of an ancient dog in an artificial pit was found with the remains of a red deer. This find is very rare for the Neolithic of the Baikal region. A morphometric study of bone remains, a comparative analysis with other skeletal materials, and radiocarbon and isotope analyzes were conducted. The data obtained made it possible to establish the individual characteristics of the buried dog and its possible diet. An individual burial with a ritual meat part of a red deer carcass inside indicates the special significance of this individual for the Neolithic inhabitants of Olkhon Island.

Keywords

Baikal region, Olkhon Island, the Neolithic, site, burial, dog, red deer

Full Text

About the authors

Dmitry E. Kichigin

Irkutsk National Research Technical University

Author for correspondence.
Email: kichkok@rambler.ru
Russian Federation, Irkutsk

Alexey M. Klementyev

Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Siberian Branch RAS

Email: klem-al@bk.ru
Russian Federation, Irkutsk

References

Ambrose S.H., 1993. Isotopic analysis of paleodiets: methodological and interpretative considerations. Investigations of ancient human tissue, chemical analyses in Anthropology. M.K. Sandford, ed. Langhorne: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, pp. 59–130.
Bazaliyskiy V.I., 2012. Burial complexes of the late Mesolithic – Neolithic of Baikal Siberia: burial traditions, absolute age. Izvestiya Laboratorii drevnikh tekhnologiy [News of the Laboratory of Ancient Technologies], 9, pp. 43–101. (In Russ.)
Berdnikova N.E., 2001. The geoarchaeological site of Ust-Belaya. Cultural complexes. Kamennyy vek Yuzhnogo Priangar’ya [The Stone Age of the Southern Angara River region], 2. Bel’skiy geoarkheologicheskiy rayon [Belsky geoarchaeological district]. Irkutsk: Izdatel’stvo Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, pp. 113–146. (In Russ.)
Bocherens H., Drucker D., 2003. Trophic level isotopic enrichment of carbon and nitrogen in bone collagen: Case studies from recent and ancient terrestrial ecosystems. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, vol. 13, iss. 1–2, pp. 46–53.
Bronk Ramsey C., 2021. OxCal 4.4.4: program is intended to provide radiocarbon calibration and analysis of archaeological and environmental chronological information (Electronic resource). URL: https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal.html.
Goryunova O.I., Novikov A.G., 2018. Radiocarbon dating of pottery complexes from Neolithic settlements on the Baikal coast. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya [Bulletin of Tomsk State University. History], 51, pp. 98–107. (In Russ.)
Ivashina L.G., 1979. Neolit i eneolit lesostepnoy zony Buryatii [The Neolithic and Eneolithic of the forest-steppe area of Buryatia]. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 160 p.
Kharinskiy A.V., 2005. Western coast of Lake Baikal in the 1st millennium BC – 1st millennium AD. Izvestiya Laboratorii drevnikh tekhnologiy [News of the Laboratory of Ancient Technologies], 3, pp. 198–215. (In Russ.)
Kharinskiy A.V., Emel’yanova Yu.A., Kichigin D.E., 2015. Archaeological sites of the northwestern coast of Lake Baikal: based on materials from the 1996, 1998 and 2015 surveys. Izvestiya Laboratorii drevnikh tekhnologiy [News of the Laboratory of Ancient Technologies], 4 (17), pp. 15–51. (In Russ.)
Kichigin D.E., 2010. The Krasny Yar II site on the northwestern coast of Lake Baikal: results and prospects. Izvestiya Laboratorii drevnikh tekhnologiy [News of the Laboratory of Ancient Technologies], 8, pp. 154–192. (In Russ.)
Konopatskiy A.K., 1982. Drevnie kul’tury Baykala (o. Ol’khon) [Ancient cultures of Baikal (Olkhon Island)]. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 176 p.
Kuznetsov A.M., Khubanova A.M., Rogovskoy E.O., Klement’ev A.M., Khubanov V.B., Posokhov V.F., 2019. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone remains of mammals from the early and middle Holocene site of Listvenichny Island (Location 2). Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Geoarkheologiya. Etnologiya. Antropologiya [Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series], 27, pp. 27–35. (In Russ.)
Losey R., Garvie-Lok S., Leonard J.A., Katzenberg M.A., Germonpré M., Nomokonova T., Sablin M.V., Goriunova O.I., Berdnikova N.E., Savel’ev N.A., 2013. Burying dogs in ancient Cis-Baikal, Siberia: temporal trends and relationships with human diet and subsistence practices. PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 5, e63740.
Losey R.J., Bazaliiskii V.I., Garvie-Lok S., Germonpre M., Leonard J.A., Allen A.L., Katzenberg M.A., Sablin M.V., 2011. Canids as persons: Early Neolithic dog and wolf burials, Cis-Baikal, Siberia. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, vol. 30, iss. 2, pp. 174–189.
Losey R.J., Jessup E., Nomokonova T., Sablin M., 2014. Craniomandibular Trauma and Tooth Loss in Northern Dogs and Wolves: Implications for the Archaeological Study of Dog Husbandry and Domestication. PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 1–16.
Losey R.J., Nomokonova T., Guiry E., Fleming L.S., Garvie-Lok S.J., Waters-Rist A.L., Bieraugle M., Szpak P., Bachura O.P., Bazaliiskii V.I., Berdnikova N.E., Diatchina N.G., Frolov I.V., Gorbunov V.V., Goriunova O.I., Grushin S.P., Gusev A.V., Iaroslavtseva L.G., Ivanov G.L., Kharinskii A.V., Konstantinov M.V., Kosintsev P.A., Kovychev E.V., Lazin B., Nikitin I.G., Papin D.V., Popov A.N., Sablin M.V., Savel’ev N.A., Savinetsky A.B., Tishkin A.A., 2022. The evolution of dog diet and foraging: Insights from archaeological canids in Siberia. Science Advances, 8, eabo6493.
Losey R.J., Osipov B., Sivakumaran R., Nomokonova T., Kovychev E.V., Diatchina N.G., 2015. Estimating body mass in Dogs and wolves using cranial and mandibular dimensions: Application to Siberian canids. International Journal of Osteoarchaeologe, vol. 25, iss. 6, pp. 946–959.
Reimer P., Austin W., Bard E., Bayliss A., Blackwell P., Bronk Ramsey C., Butzin M., Cheng H., Edwards R., Friedrich M., Grootes P., Guilderson T., Hajdas I., Heaton T., Hogg A., Hughen K., Kromer B., Manning S., Muscheler R., Palmer J., Pearson C., van der Plicht J., Reimer R., Richards D., Scott E., Southon J., Turney C., Wacker L., Adolphi F., Büntgen U., Capano M., Fahrni S., Fogtmann-Schulz A., Friedrich R., Köhler P., Kudsk S., Miyake F., Olsen J., Reinig F., Sakamoto M., Sookdeo A., Talamo S., 2020. The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon, vol. 62, iss. 4, pp. 725–757.
Savel’ev N.A., Teten’kin A.V., Igumnova E.S., Abdulov T.A., Ineshin E.M., Osadchiy S.S., Vetrov V.M., Klement’ev A.M., Mamontov M.P., Orlova L.A., Shibanova I.V., 2001. The multilayer geoarchaeological site of Ust-Khayta – preliminary data. Sovremennye problemy Evraziyskogo paleolitovedeniya [Modern issues of Eurasian palaeolithic studies]. Novosibirsk: Izdatel’stvo Instituta arkheologii i etnografii Sibirskogo otdeleniya Rossiyskoy akademii nauk, pp. 338–352. (In Russ.)
Schulting R.J., Bronk Ramsey C., Scharlotta I., Richards M., Weber A.W., 2022. Freshwater reservoir effects in Cis-Baikal: An overview. Archaeological Research in Asia, 29, 100324.
Sekerskaya E.P., 2010. Features of the palaeoeconomic strategy of the Lower Danube population in the Late Eneolithic – Early Bronze Age. Terracognoscibilis: Kul’turnoe prostranstva mezhdu Balkanami i Velikoy Step’yu v epokhu kamnya – bronzy [Terracognoscibilis: Cultural space between the Balkans and the Great Steppe in the Stone – Bronze Age]. Odessa: Smil, pp. 136–157. (Materialy po arkheologii Severnogo Prichernomor’ya, 11). (In Russ.)