Social consequences of increased reliance on fishing in middle Holocene Cis-Baikal: Relating fishing gear, axes, and social status at the Shamanka II cemetery, Lake Baikal, Siberia
Résumé
Dietary isotopic research, coupled with zooarchaeological and bioarchaeological analyses have indicated
that fishing was an important element of Early Neolithic subsistence, contributing more to the diet
through time, and may have contributed to social differentiation. In order to assess the relative cultural
importance of fishing to Neolithic populations, multiple classes of grave goods and radiocarbon dates
from the Shamanka II cemetery are analyzed for principal components. Specific relationships between
prestige goods, fishing gear, and functional axes are hypothesized to exist if fishing are an important
socioeconomic activity. Results suggest that there was no intensification of fishing by the Shamanka II
population during two phases of use in the Early Neolithic, and indicate a lack of correlation between
fishing gear, axes, and some prestige goods. There appears to be a relationship between the frequency of
fishing and hunting gear and radiocarbon dates, and modest relationships between dietary isotopes,
radiocarbon dates, and prestige goods. This suggests that while fishing specialists are present in Early
Neolithic society and evidence suggests increasing importance of fishing during two separate phases of
cemetery use, their role in providing important food resources did not translate to apparent prestige or
wealth in certain grave goods during all periods of use at Shamanka II. During two phases of use, fishing,
hunting, and non-wearable prestige goods became markedly more important towards the end of the first
phase and dominant during a second phase of cemetery use. The role of Shamanka II as a cemetery
indicate a biased cultural system if reflective of a community population, and appears to have shifted to a
special use cemetery with specific demographic and spatial patterning after a hiatus of a century or more
during the Early Neolithic.
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