Social consequences of increased reliance on fishing in middle Holocene Cis-Baikal: Relating fishing gear, axes, and social status at the Shamanka II cemetery, Lake Baikal, Siberia

• Published in: Quaternary international 2016-10, Vol.419, p.99-132
• Main Authors: Scharlotta, Ian, Bazaliiskii, Vladimir Ivanovich, Weber, Andrzej Witold
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cemetery chronology; Cis-Baikal, Siberia; Dietary variation; Fishing; Grave goods; Middle Holocene hunter–gatherers
• ISSN: 1040-6182; 1873-4553
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2016.02.055

Dietary isotopic research, coupled with zooarchaeological and bioarchaeological analyses have indicated that fishing was an important element of Early Neolithic subsistence, contributing more to the diet through time, and may have contributed to social differentiation. In order to assess the relative cultural importance of fishing to Neolithic populations, multiple classes of grave goods and radiocarbon dates from the Shamanka II cemetery are analyzed for principal components. Specific relationships between prestige goods, fishing gear, and functional axes are hypothesized to exist if fishing are an important socioeconomic activity. Results suggest that there was no intensification of fishing by the Shamanka II population during two phases of use in the Early Neolithic, and indicate a lack of correlation between fishing gear, axes, and some prestige goods. There appears to be a relationship between the frequency of fishing and hunting gear and radiocarbon dates, and modest relationships between dietary isotopes, radiocarbon dates, and prestige goods. This suggests that while fishing specialists are present in Early Neolithic society and evidence suggests increasing importance of fishing during two separate phases of cemetery use, their role in providing important food resources did not translate to apparent prestige or wealth in certain grave goods during all periods of use at Shamanka II. During two phases of use, fishing, hunting, and non-wearable prestige goods became markedly more important towards the end of the first phase and dominant during a second phase of cemetery use. The role of Shamanka II as a cemetery indicate a biased cultural system if reflective of a community population, and appears to have shifted to a special use cemetery with specific demographic and spatial patterning after a hiatus of a century or more during the Early Neolithic.