scholarly journals Results and Prospects of the Study of Neolithic Sites on the Lake Baikal Coast

Author(s):  
A. G. Novikov ◽  
◽  
O. I. Goriunova ◽  

The article aims to generalize the information on the Neolithic sites of the Baikal coast identified for all period of the research, to evaluate their significance and prospects for further study. It is based on literary, archival materials and the results of our own field work. A list of objects (93 sites) was determined, their mapping was done, preliminary dating was clarified, data on radiocarbon dates ware collected (48 dates for 12 sites). Among the Neolithic objects, microlayered sites containing pure complexes of this time are the most important. 34 such objects have been recorded along the entire coast of Lake Baikal. Excavations were carried out on 17 of them, the rest of the sites were revealed by small excavation works. Approximately a third of objects (29 sites) are identified based on the collection of exposed material. A significant group is represented by macrolayered objects (30 sites), where the Neolithic materials are in a situation of compression with the complexes of other chronological periods. The unevenness of the archaeological study of the Baikal shore is noted. The Cis-Olkhon region has the greatest scientific potential. 10 microlayered sites (out of 22) were comprehensively excavated on this territory. Enough reliable stratigraphy, geological and geomorphological characteristics, qualitative, informative archaeological material, and the series of radiocarbon dates were obtained. The southwestern Baikal shore sites (3 out of 7 microlayered objects have been excavated) and Chivyrkui Bay (1 out of 3 objects) represented a promising material. These archaeological sites are a reliable source base and pivotal in the study of the regional Neolithic. At present, the largest number of sites with complexes of the Early (16 sites) and Late (13 sites) Neolithic have been identified on the Baikal coast. Complexes of the Middle Neolithic in microlayered position are noted at 6 sites. The complexes of the Cis-Olkhon region and the southwestern Baikal coast are provided with radiocarbon dates. For the Late Neolithic there are 25 reliable dates, for the Early Neolithic – 19 dates, for the Middle Neolithic – 4 dates. According to them, the complexes of the Early Neolithic are dated in the range of 7214–6123 BP (8160–6910 cal BP), Middle Neolithic – 5874–5597 BP (6750–6310 cal BP), Late Neolithic – 4967–4217 BP (5840–4630 cal BP). In general, the Neolithic sites of the Baikal coast have great scientific potential and prospects for future research.

Author(s):  
Torben Ballin ◽  
Ian Suddaby ◽  
M Cressey ◽  
M Hastie ◽  
A Jackson ◽  
...  

Prehistoric remains were recorded by CFA Archaeology Ltd (CFA) in 2002-03 during a programme of fieldwork at the landfill site within the boundaries of Stoneyhill Farm, which lies 7km to the southwest of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. These included a clearance cairn with a Late Bronze Age lithic assemblage and a burial cairn, with Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age lithics and Beaker ceramics. Other lithic scatters of similar date had no certain associations, although pits containing near-contemporary Impressed Wares were nearby. Additional lithic assemblages included material dated to the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic. What may be proto-Unstan Wares in an isolated pit were associated with radiocarbon dates (barley) of the first half of the fourth millennium bc. These findings represent a substantial addition to the local area's archaeological record and form an important contribution to the understanding of lithic technology and ceramics in earlier prehistoric Scotland.This paper is dedicated to the memory of Ian Shepherd, whose site visits enlightened this and other projects undertaken by one of the authors (IS).


2013 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 137-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Leary ◽  
Matthew Canti ◽  
David Field ◽  
Peter Fowler ◽  
Peter Marshall ◽  
...  

Recent radiocarbon dates obtained from two soil cores taken through the Marlborough Castle mound, Wiltshire, show the main body of it to be a contemporaneous monument to Silbury Hill, dating to the second half of the 3rd millennium cal bc. In light of these dates, this paper considers the sequence identified within the cores, which includes two possible flood events early in the construction of the mound. It also describes four cores taken through the surrounding ditch, as well as small-scale work to the north-east of the mound. The topographic location of the mound in a low-lying area and close to rivers and springs is discussed, and the potential for Late Neolithic sites nearby is set out, with the land to the south of the mound identified as an area for future research. The paper ends with the prospect that other apparent mottes in Wiltshire and beyond may well also have prehistoric origins


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 176-189
Author(s):  
Andrey Mikhailovich Skorobogatov

The paper introduces materials of Cherkasskaya-5 site, located on the Middle Don River in the Pavlovsky district of the Voronezh Region. Under the two-meter thickness of the lake-alluvial layers, more than a thousand pieces of finds have been ceramics, stone, bone products and osteology. While analyzing the materials of the monument a ceramic and flint complex of the Early Neolithic appearance have been distinguished (7-6 thousand BC). The received radiocarbon dates, the data of technical and technological analysis and the features of ornamentation, ceramics, the typology of stone and bone inventory, help to find one of the possible ways of Neolithization of the Middle Don, in which the leading role belongs to the steppe component. Paleozoological analysis showed that the osteological collection is dominated by the bones of birds (64,4% of all bones), there are mammals (21,8%), fish (9,7%), turtle marsh (4,1%). Among domestic mammals domestic species (dog, horse, pig, sheep) are identified. However, the presence of late Neolithic and Eneolithic (srednedonskaya, dnepro-donetskaya, nizhnedonskaya, and srednestogovskaya cultures) in the ceramics layer leaves open the question of the domestic animal species belonging to the early Neolithic. The material of the site makes it possible to characterize this place as a series of seasonal short-term specialized sites intended for conducting network fishing, hunting for waterfowl, catching turtles and collecting shellfish as well as for processing the products of fishing and hunting in the Neolithic age.


Viking ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Svein Vatsvåg Nielsen

From the 1800’s and onwards, pottery sherds have been found at a number of Neolithic occupation sites in Rogaland County, Southwestern Norway. In this paper, pottery assemblages from nine contexts are analyzed in order to produce an interpretative chronology. Typological analysis is combined with correspondence analysis and Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates. The result is a coherent chronological model that accounts for variations in pottery decoration styles between the late Early Neolithic and the Late Neolithic. There is a development in decorative styles from cord and cord-stamp ornamented vessels followed by a period of pots decorated with cord-stamp, small imprints and incisions, and finally a phase with added lines, comb, and cord-stamp. However, the multi-phased nature of the sites suggests that there are still many unanswered questions. New excavations and re-analyses of older sites are necessary for a better understanding of the developments in Neolithic pottery styles. 


Author(s):  
A. G. Novikov ◽  
◽  
O. I. Goriunova ◽  
D. G. Malikov ◽  
A. M. Mamontov ◽  
...  

The article discusses the results of fauna materials' analysis from the complexes of the Shrakshura 3 site, situated on the northwestern coast of Mukhor Bay (Little Sea of Lake Baikal). The analysis of 5862 animals’ bones and teeth obtained from three cultural layers of this site was carried out. The methodology is based on the taxonomic diversity study among identifiable animal species, the number of species and their quantitative indicators. Most of the fauna remains (5137 pieces) is recorded in the cultural layer 2, dating back to the early Neolithic in the chronological range of 7420–7290 cal BP. The fauna remains of the Early Neolithic cultural layer 1 (7170–6970 cal BP) are similar in species composition to the fauna from the layer 2. Judging by both the faunal remains and a set of tools (sinkers for fishing nets made of flat pebbles, composite fish hooks, fragments of bait fish and a horn tool for knitting nets), the Early Neolithic population of the e site was mainly engaged in fishing. The fish is represented by coastal species: perch, pike, roach, crucian carp. Fishing gear made it possible to reconstruct the methods of fish catching: with a net (as better productive method) and with the help of individual use tools (fishing rods). Hunting was a secondary activity. The objects of hunting were ungulates, carnivorous mammals, and birds. In general, the population led a complex appropriating economy, combining fishing (as the main activity) and hunting. The absence of traces of dwellings, long-term fireplaces and production area in the layers characterizes these complexes as short-term seasonal campsites. The large number of fish bones suggests a specialized (aimed at catching fish) nature of the campsites. In the complex of cultural layer 0 of the Shrakshura 3 site, dated back to the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, the bones of domestic animals were recorded. In general, the clear stratigraphic situation of the Shrakshura 3 site and the presence of radiocarbon dates helps to identify and characterize the Early Neolithic fauna remains in the range of the 7420–6970 cal BP, as well as to reconstruct the economic activities of the ancient population of this chronological period, living on the coast of Little Sea of Lake Baikal. Previously, all reconstructions were based only on materials of Ityrkhei site, where layers of the Early Neolithic were recorded.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-204
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Ivanovich Yudin ◽  
Aleksandr Alekseevich Vybornov

The issue of early Neolithic isolation in various territories is one of the most difficult to study. The early Neolithic steppe Volga Region was unknown for a long time. This is due to the small number of Neolithic monuments in the region of interest. The situation changed after the study of the Varfolomeevskaya site. The lower layer of this reference monument of the Orel culture belonged to the Middle Neolithic, layers 2B and 2A - to the late Neolithic. This version was based on a limited source base and a few radiocarbon dates, some of which were of a debatable nature. New field surveys in 2014-2017 on three excavations in Oroshaemoe Settlement and significant series of radiocarbon dates for various organic materials obtained in various laboratories (including AMS) allowed us to revise the periodization of both the Varfolomeevskaya site and the Oryol culture on the whole. This allows you to make a typological analysis of materials, as well as technical and technological analysis of ceramic implements. Thus, the earliest ceramics are made from silt with a natural admixture of shells of mollusks. The lower layer of the monument is now defined as Early Neolithic, layer 2B - the Middle Neolithic, layer 2A - late Neolithic.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Chris Fowler ◽  
Rachel J. Crellin ◽  
Michelle Gamble

While the Early Neolithic chambered tombs of the Isle of Man are well known and the Late Neolithic has been clearly defined with reference to a distinctive suite of artefacts, little is known about the Middle Neolithic. This article reports on 17 new Neolithic radiocarbon dates from cremated human remains from the Isle of Man. These identify five burials in cists as Middle Neolithic and indicate new sequences of activity at cemeteries starting in the Middle Neolithic. Each of these sites is examined in detail. The dates also spur a reconsideration of the development of Ronaldsway pottery and the integration of Grooved Ware pottery and motifs into early 3rd millennium practice on the island. The paper ends with a consideration of the changing effects of mortuary practices throughout the Neolithic on the Isle of Man and a discussion of connections with Middle and Late Neolithic activity in Ireland and Britain.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
David MacInnes

The nature of social organization during the Orcadian Neolithic has been the subject of discussion for several decades with much of the debate focused on answering an insightful question posed by Colin Renfrew in 1979. He asked, how was society organised to construct the larger, innovative monuments of the Orcadian Late Neolithic that were centralised in the western Mainland? There are many possible answers to the question but little evidence pointing to a probable solution, so the discussion has continued for many years. This paper takes a new approach by asking a different question: what can be learned about Orcadian Neolithic social organization from the quantitative and qualitative evidence accumulating from excavated domestic structures and settlements?In an attempt to answer this question, quantitative and qualitative data about domestic structures and about settlements was collected from published reports on 15 Orcadian Neolithic excavated sites. The published data is less extensive than hoped but is sufficient to support a provisional answer: a social hierarchy probably did not develop in the Early Neolithic but almost certainly did in the Late Neolithic, for which the data is more comprehensive.While this is only one approach of several possible ways to consider the question, it is by exploring different methods of analysis and comparing them that an understanding of the Orcadian Neolithic can move forward.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Dinnis ◽  
A. Bessudnov ◽  
N. Reynolds ◽  
T. Devièse ◽  
A. Dudin ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Streletskian is central to understanding the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic on the East European Plain. Early Streletskian assemblages are frequently seen as marking the Neanderthal-anatomically modern human (AMH) anthropological transition, as well as the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic archaeological transition. The age of key Streletskian assemblages, however, remains unclear, and there are outstanding questions over how they relate to Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic facies. The three oldest Streletskian layers—Kostenki 1 Layer V, Kostenki 6 and Kostenki 12 Layer III—were excavated by A. N. Rogachev in the mid-20th century. Here, we re-examine these layers in light of problems noted during Rogachev’s campaigns and later excavations. Layer V in the northern part of Kostenki 1 is the most likely assemblage to be unmixed. A new radiocarbon date of 35,100 ± 500 BP (OxA- X-2717-21) for this assemblage agrees with Rogachev’s stratigraphic interpretation and contradicts later claims of a younger age. More ancient radiocarbon dates for Kostenki 1 Layer V are from areas lacking diagnostic Streletskian points. The Kostenki 6 assemblage’s stratigraphic context is extremely poor, but new radiocarbon dates are consistent with Rogachev’s view that the archaeological material was deposited prior to the CI tephra (i.e. >34.3 ka BP). Multiple lines of evidence indicate that Kostenki 12 Layer III contains material of different ages. Despite some uncertainty over the precise relationship between the dated sample and diagnostic lithic material, Kostenki 1 Layer V (North) therefore currently provides the best age estimate for an early Streletskian context. This age is younger than fully Upper Palaeolithic assemblages elsewhere at Kostenki. Other “Streletskian” assemblages and Streletskian points from younger contexts at Kostenki are briefly reviewed, with possible explanations for their chronostratigraphic distribution considered. We caution that the cultural taxon Streletskian should not be applied to assemblages based simply on the presence of bifacially worked artefacts.


Sports ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Brittany S. Hollerbach ◽  
Sarah J. Cosgrove ◽  
Justin A. DeBlauw ◽  
Nattinee Jitnarin ◽  
Walker S. C. Poston ◽  
...  

Physical activity (PA) classes help college students add weekly PA, which can help improve health and maintain body weight. Traditional weight training (TWT) can improve strength and aerobic capacity. High-intensity functional training such as CrossFit® (CF) provides time-efficient workouts with both muscle strengthening and aerobic exercises. Limited research has compared these classes for college students. We examined changes in muscular strength, power, and endurance as well as body composition. Participants were 85 healthy college students enrolled in TWT (n = 36, age 22.6 ± 4.1 years, 72.2% male) or CF (n = 49, age 21.8 ± 3.2 years, 55.1% male) classes meeting twice/wk for 8 weeks between October 2017 and May 2018. Baseline and posttest measurements included a vertical jump, grip strength, a 2 min push-up test, a 1 min squat test, height, weight, and a bioelectrical impedance analysis. Although no significant group × time interactions were found, there was a significant main effect of time for push-ups and squats (both p < 0.001). Participants enjoyed the classes and most planned to continue. Both classes improved muscular endurance although no significant differences were found between them. Activity classes provide college students with an option for increasing their weekly PA and help maintain body composition. Future research should examine the benefits from longer or more frequent classes.


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