Buried, eaten, sacrificed: Archaeological dog remains from Trans-Baikal, Siberia

Robert J Losey; Tatiana Nomokonova; Lacey S Fleming; Artur Kharinskii; Evgenii V Kovychev; Mikhail V. Konstantinov; Natal'ia G. Diatchina; Mikhail V Sablin; Larisa G. Iaroslavtseva

doi:10.1016/j.ara.2018.02.005

Buried, eaten, sacrificed: Archaeological dog remains from Trans-Baikal, Siberia

Robert J Losey^* (Corresponding Author), Tatiana Nomokonova, Lacey S Fleming, Artur Kharinskii, Evgenii V Kovychev, Mikhail V. Konstantinov, Natal'ia G. Diatchina, Mikhail V Sablin, Larisa G. Iaroslavtseva

^*Corresponding author for this work

Arctic Domus Research Group

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Trans-Baikal, the interior region just to the east of Siberia's Lake Baikal, has a fairly extensive but largely unstudied archaeological record of human interaction with domestic dogs. This region's archaeological dog remains are documented for the first time in this paper. New radiocarbon dates indicate that dogs first appear in this region by at least 7900 years ago during the Siberian Early Neolithic period. These dogs lived with the region's foragers, particularly in the southern portions of Trans-Baikal, and were sometimes buried, indicating their unique status in these communities. Dogs during this period were likely involved in hunting and burden carrying, but there is no evidence they were eaten. For much of the Middle Holocene, dog remains appear to be absent in Trans-Baikal, a pattern similar to that seen in the Cis-Baikal region to the west. During the Iron Age, dogs become food sources in Trans-Baikal, being abundant in some sites occupied by pastoral and agricultural groups. This same period also witnesses some dog sacrifice. Overall, dogs were clearly widespread in Trans- and Cis-Baikal by ~8000 years ago, and in all likelihood were present in much of Siberia in smaller numbers far earlier than this.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	58-65
Number of pages	8
Journal	Archaeological Research in Asia
Volume	16
Early online date	8 Mar 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2018.02.005
Publication status	Published - 31 Dec 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding for this research was provided by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant (#SSHRC IG 435-2014-0075) and a European Research Council Grant to D. Anderson (#295458). The participation of ZIN RAS (state assignment № АААА-А17-117022810195-3) to this research is acknowledged. We wish to acknowledge the following institutions for facilitating access to the materials analyzed for this study: Trans-Baikal State University, National Museum of the Buriat Republic, Irkutsk National Research Technical University, and the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg). E.V. Kovychev's research at Proezzhaia I was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, # 14.W03.31.0016. Robert Gustas is thanked for creating the map used in Fig. 1.

Keywords

dogs
domestication
Siberia
sacrifice
dog burial
Xiongnu
pastoralism

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title = "Buried, eaten, sacrificed: Archaeological dog remains from Trans-Baikal, Siberia",

abstract = "Trans-Baikal, the interior region just to the east of Siberia's Lake Baikal, has a fairly extensive but largely unstudied archaeological record of human interaction with domestic dogs. This region's archaeological dog remains are documented for the first time in this paper. New radiocarbon dates indicate that dogs first appear in this region by at least 7900 years ago during the Siberian Early Neolithic period. These dogs lived with the region's foragers, particularly in the southern portions of Trans-Baikal, and were sometimes buried, indicating their unique status in these communities. Dogs during this period were likely involved in hunting and burden carrying, but there is no evidence they were eaten. For much of the Middle Holocene, dog remains appear to be absent in Trans-Baikal, a pattern similar to that seen in the Cis-Baikal region to the west. During the Iron Age, dogs become food sources in Trans-Baikal, being abundant in some sites occupied by pastoral and agricultural groups. This same period also witnesses some dog sacrifice. Overall, dogs were clearly widespread in Trans- and Cis-Baikal by ~8000 years ago, and in all likelihood were present in much of Siberia in smaller numbers far earlier than this.",

keywords = "dogs, domestication, Siberia, sacrifice, dog burial, Xiongnu, pastoralism",

author = "Losey, {Robert J} and Tatiana Nomokonova and Fleming, {Lacey S} and Artur Kharinskii and Kovychev, {Evgenii V} and Konstantinov, {Mikhail V.} and Diatchina, {Natal'ia G.} and Sablin, {Mikhail V} and Iaroslavtseva, {Larisa G.}",

note = "Funding for this research was provided by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant (#SSHRC IG 435-2014-0075) and a European Research Council Grant to D. Anderson (#295458). The participation of ZIN RAS (state assignment № АААА-А17-117022810195-3) to this research is acknowledged. We wish to acknowledge the following institutions for facilitating access to the materials analyzed for this study: Trans-Baikal State University, National Museum of the Buriat Republic, Irkutsk National Research Technical University, and the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg). E.V. Kovychev's research at Proezzhaia I was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, # 14.W03.31.0016. Robert Gustas is thanked for creating the map used in Fig. 1.",

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day = "31",

doi = "10.1016/j.ara.2018.02.005",

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T2 - Archaeological dog remains from Trans-Baikal, Siberia

AU - Losey, Robert J

AU - Nomokonova, Tatiana

AU - Fleming, Lacey S

AU - Kharinskii, Artur

AU - Kovychev, Evgenii V

AU - Konstantinov, Mikhail V.

AU - Diatchina, Natal'ia G.

AU - Sablin, Mikhail V

AU - Iaroslavtseva, Larisa G.

N1 - Funding for this research was provided by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant (#SSHRC IG 435-2014-0075) and a European Research Council Grant to D. Anderson (#295458). The participation of ZIN RAS (state assignment № АААА-А17-117022810195-3) to this research is acknowledged. We wish to acknowledge the following institutions for facilitating access to the materials analyzed for this study: Trans-Baikal State University, National Museum of the Buriat Republic, Irkutsk National Research Technical University, and the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg). E.V. Kovychev's research at Proezzhaia I was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, # 14.W03.31.0016. Robert Gustas is thanked for creating the map used in Fig. 1.

PY - 2018/12/31

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N2 - Trans-Baikal, the interior region just to the east of Siberia's Lake Baikal, has a fairly extensive but largely unstudied archaeological record of human interaction with domestic dogs. This region's archaeological dog remains are documented for the first time in this paper. New radiocarbon dates indicate that dogs first appear in this region by at least 7900 years ago during the Siberian Early Neolithic period. These dogs lived with the region's foragers, particularly in the southern portions of Trans-Baikal, and were sometimes buried, indicating their unique status in these communities. Dogs during this period were likely involved in hunting and burden carrying, but there is no evidence they were eaten. For much of the Middle Holocene, dog remains appear to be absent in Trans-Baikal, a pattern similar to that seen in the Cis-Baikal region to the west. During the Iron Age, dogs become food sources in Trans-Baikal, being abundant in some sites occupied by pastoral and agricultural groups. This same period also witnesses some dog sacrifice. Overall, dogs were clearly widespread in Trans- and Cis-Baikal by ~8000 years ago, and in all likelihood were present in much of Siberia in smaller numbers far earlier than this.

AB - Trans-Baikal, the interior region just to the east of Siberia's Lake Baikal, has a fairly extensive but largely unstudied archaeological record of human interaction with domestic dogs. This region's archaeological dog remains are documented for the first time in this paper. New radiocarbon dates indicate that dogs first appear in this region by at least 7900 years ago during the Siberian Early Neolithic period. These dogs lived with the region's foragers, particularly in the southern portions of Trans-Baikal, and were sometimes buried, indicating their unique status in these communities. Dogs during this period were likely involved in hunting and burden carrying, but there is no evidence they were eaten. For much of the Middle Holocene, dog remains appear to be absent in Trans-Baikal, a pattern similar to that seen in the Cis-Baikal region to the west. During the Iron Age, dogs become food sources in Trans-Baikal, being abundant in some sites occupied by pastoral and agricultural groups. This same period also witnesses some dog sacrifice. Overall, dogs were clearly widespread in Trans- and Cis-Baikal by ~8000 years ago, and in all likelihood were present in much of Siberia in smaller numbers far earlier than this.

KW - dogs

KW - domestication

KW - Siberia

KW - sacrifice

KW - dog burial

KW - Xiongnu

KW - pastoralism

U2 - 10.1016/j.ara.2018.02.005

DO - 10.1016/j.ara.2018.02.005

M3 - Article

SN - 2352-2267

VL - 16

SP - 58

EP - 65

JO - Archaeological Research in Asia

JF - Archaeological Research in Asia

ER -

Buried, eaten, sacrificed: Archaeological dog remains from Trans-Baikal, Siberia

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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