Prehistoric Fishing on Lake Baikal, Siberia

The Lake Baikal area of Eastern Siberia is rich in§archaeological mortuary and habitation sites,§excavations of which have produced not only large§quantities of artefacts and human osteological§material, but also substantial quantities of faunal§remains. However, zooarchaeology has only recently§begun to develop in this region. This book represents§a pilot zooarchaeological study of Lake Baikal§archaeological materials. The project examines§prehistoric subsistence patterns during the Holocene§(~10,000 550 BP) through the analyses of animal bones§recovered from the Ityrkhei archeological site. The§results of this study indicate that Ityrkhei was a§seasonally occupied camp used as a base from which a§number of resources were procured, particular§littoral fishes such as perch, roach, dace, and§smaller numbers of pike and whitefishes. Seal and§deer were also used by the site occupants, but on a§less extensive and likely opportunistic basis.§Fishing at the site began sometime during the Late§Mesolithic and continued through the Neolithic (8000 4300 BP), and was perhaps accomplished through the§use of mass harvesting technologies such as nets or§traps.