1. Andrzej Weber Department of Anthropology University of Alberta Seals, meals and deals: mid-Holocene feasting on Lake Baikal University of California Davis, 8 Feb., 2006 Baikal Archaeology Project

2. Acknowledgements Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Irkutsk State University, Russia University of Alberta, Canada

3. Location Shamanskii Mys Lake Baikal

4. Project scope and rationale

5. Fieldwork location KUR K14 LOK UID SHA BUR BAS

6. Analyses Archaeological Osteological Laboratory tests

7. Teeth: Sr 87 /Sr 86 C 13 O 18 Bone: Sr87/Sr86 C 13 N 15 O 18 C 14 Vertebrae: DNA

8. Summary of our knowledge to date Genetic and cultural discontinuity Very good health and demographic structure Variable subsistence and dietary patterns Unique level of social and political differentiation Mortuary variability Variable climatic conditions: periods of stability and instability

9. Main unsolved questions What are the processes behind the genetic and cultural discontinuity during the 7 th millennium BP? Why did the local hunter-gatherers go through such a cycle of social complexity? What is the role of the environment in these processes?

10. Enigma of Shamanskii Mys Spectacular location 11 graves excavated between 1972 and 1975 Mostly adult people Unusual grave goods Dog interments Seal remains and complete interments

11. Examination of seal skeletal remains Mammalian tooth anatomy Tooth thin sections

12. Mammalian tooth anatomy. C D2 E C D1 E D C D E PC C/E Tr C/E Tr CANINE MOLAR INCISOR CP E-enamel D-dentine C-cementum PC – pulp cavity CP – cementum pad C/E Tr – cementum enamel trnasition

13. Tooth thin sections 40 – 50 microns

14. Dentine formation in the seal of Lake Baikal

15. Pup of the year and 1 year old Pre-natal dentine Neonatal line Opaque Translucent Opaque

16. Adolescents 2 years old 3 years old

17. Adults More than 10 years old6 years old

18. Archaeological sites examined Camps Cemetery

19. Season of death

20. Age structure: Shamanskii Mys

21. Age structure: Shamanskii Mys and modern sample

22. Archaeological sites examined Camp Cemetery

23. Age structure: more comparison

24. Age structure: more analysis

25. Role of ice in seal behaviour and ecology December 1989January 1989

26. Distribution of seal population No female dens within the first 10 km east of the island Maximum density of dens of pregnant females is 1.5/km 2 WESTEAST Females Males and adolescents April 2003

27. The story of age profiles

28. Subsistence and diet of the Shamanskii Mys people

29. Lecture 12: Subsistence and diet. Baikal case study.

30. Diet of groups contemporary with Shamanskii Mys Other groups Shamanskii Mys

31. Post-hiatus diets Baikal Angara and Lena

32. Location of contemporary cemeteries Kurma Kuzhir-Nuge Uliarba

33. Summary: Unusual status of Shamanskii Mys Special topographic location Special group of people Special grave goods Special sacrifices Special food What is the meaning of all of this?

34. Feasting at Shamanskii Mys What is feasting? What is the role or function of feasting? What is the range of feasting among hunter- gatherers? What does feasting tell us about the Baikal hunter-gatherers? How does this fit with the rest of our knowledge about the Baikal hunter-gatherers?

35. Thank you Dziękuję