THE EARLY HORIZON OF THE KUSHMANSKOE (UCHKAKAR) FORTIFIED SETTLEMENT, IX-XII CENTURIES

The article considers the early chronological horizon of one of the key archaeological sites of the Chepetskaya archaeological culture - the Kushmanskoe (Uchkakar) fortified settlement. The paper highlights the issues of the features of the occupation layer of the early settlement, its dating, the characteristics of the identified structures and the material culture are given. The early medieval settlement on the territory of the Kushmanskoe (Uchkakar) fortified settlement was limited by defensive structures consisting of a wood-earth bank and a ditch. They defended a settlement with an area of 6-10 thousand sq. m. The occupation layer of the early settlement had a small thickness of 0.2 m. Several structures were identified in it and investigated by excavation, two of which are the remains of ground buildings, another is a stone laying of an unclear purpose. The material culture of the early horizon allows us to determine the time of the existence of an early settlement within the IX-X centuries. It ceased to exist after the destruction of defensive structures, the ruins of which partially blocked the occupation layer of the early settlement. The cultural layer of the late chronological horizon on this site of the settlement was formed already on the surface of the ruins of defensive structures of the early period. A small area of the early settlement, defensive structures, features of its occupation layer allow us to hypothesize: it was a refuge for people of another nearby fortified settlement - Kushmanskoe III settlement.

Herded and hunted goat genomes from the dawn of domestication in the Zagros Mountains

The Aceramic Neolithic (∼9600 to 7000 cal BC) period in the Zagros Mountains, western Iran, provides some of the earliest archaeological evidence of goat (Capra hircus) management and husbandry by circa 8200 cal BC, with detectable morphological change appearing ∼1,000 y later. To examine the genomic imprint of initial management and its implications for the goat domestication process, we analyzed 14 novel nuclear genomes (mean coverage 1.13X) and 32 mitochondrial (mtDNA) genomes (mean coverage 143X) from two such sites, Ganj Dareh and Tepe Abdul Hosein. These genomes show two distinct clusters: those with domestic affinity and a minority group with stronger wild affinity, indicating that managed goats were genetically distinct from wild goats at this early horizon. This genetic duality, the presence of long runs of homozygosity, shared ancestry with later Neolithic populations, a sex bias in archaeozoological remains, and demographic profiles from across all layers of Ganj Dareh support management of genetically domestic goat by circa 8200 cal BC, and represent the oldest to-this-date reported livestock genomes. In these sites a combination of high autosomal and mtDNA diversity, contrasting limited Y chromosomal lineage diversity, an absence of reported selection signatures for pigmentation, and the wild morphology of bone remains illustrates domestication as an extended process lacking a strong initial bottleneck, beginning with spatial control, demographic manipulation via biased male culling, captive breeding, and subsequently phenotypic and genomic selection.

Singa Transitional: Rock-art Saywas Marking Boundaries of Identity and Socializing Landscape in Huánuco, Peru

This paper introduces a new art style, Singa Transitional, found painted onto a mountainside near the modern town of Singa in the north of Huánuco, Peru. This style was discovered during a recent regional survey of rock art in the Huánuco region that resulted in the documentation of paintings at more than 20 sites, the identification of their chronological contexts and an analysis of the resulting data for trends in changing social practices over nine millennia. I explore how the style emerged from both regional artistic trends in the medium and broader patterns evident in Andean material culture from multiple media at the time of its creation. I argue that the presence of Singa Transitional demonstrates that local peoples were engaged in broader social trends unfolding during the transition between the Early Horizon (800–200 bc) and the Early Intermediate Period (ad 0–800) in Peru. I propose that rock art placed in prominent places was considered saywa, a type of landscape feature that marked boundaries in and movement through landscapes. Singa Transitional saywas served to advertise the connection between local Andean people and their land and was a medium through which social changes were contested in the Andes.

The Hunchback, the Contortionist, the Man with the Stolen Identity, and the One Who Will Be Born in the Afterlife

During the 2010 and 2012 excavation seasons, a Polish-Peruvian team excavated a small elevated mound—the remains of a platform—located in the northern sector of Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site, unearthing relics of stone architecture and a number of burials dated to the latter part of the Early Horizon (ca. 800–100 BC). Although the entire cemetery has not been excavated, the burial pattern that emerges from burials known to date is fairly clear and seems to be consistent with that of other Early Horizon sites from the north coast of Peru. Within the group of burials from Huarmey, four are rather atypical; they differ from the overall burial pattern in terms of body arrangement, as well as the presence of possible pre-and post-depositional alterations to the remains. Two skeletons of adult individuals were deposited in a completely different manner from the others, and two children were also buried in a rather unusual way. This chapter presents these four deviant burials, describes their context, and offers possible interpretations regarding the reasons for these atypical depositions using iconographic and archaeological analogies.

The Supply and Consumption of Marine Resources at the Inland Center of Caylán, Coastal Ancash

Chapter 7 reviews results of zooarchaeological research at Caylán, a large Early Horizon center located 15 km inland in the Nepeña valley on the Peruvian north coast. This dense, urban site was occupied in the Nepeña Phase (800–450 cal BC) the Samanco Phase (450–150 cal BC). Much of the plant and animal food was supplied by external producers or foragers. Marine resources were always important at the site but over time the inhabitants increasingly relied on domestic animals. The authors see little evidence for top-down control of the subsistence economy; animal products moved through multiple networks structured by kinship and other exchange mechanisms.