People and Seals at Siberia's Lake Baikal

Bibliographic Data

ID19002387
AuthorsTatiana Nomokonova (0000-0002-8086-1403), R J Losey (0000-0003-3615-8160), Vera N Iakunaeva, Юлиана Андреевна Емельянова, Iuliana A Emel'ianova, Ekaterina A Baginova, Mikhail V Pastukhov (0000-0003-1078-7145)
Year2013
Volume33
Issue2
Pages259-280
Publication date2013-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Ethnobiology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0278-0771 • E-ISSN: 2162-4496
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2993/0278-0771-33.2.259
OpenAlexW2081854218
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited11

The seals inhabiting Eastern Siberia's Lake Baikal are involved in a suite of meaningful relationships with local people both in the present and in the distant past. Most people rarely see the seals in their natural habitat, but these animals nonetheless are considered icons of the region, particularly among tourists and the broader general public. Our recent interviews with Baikal seal hunters, most of whom are Buriat, revealed relationships of great depth and intimacy with these animals that involved, in part, knowing the animals based on their sounds, smells, taste, fur quality, appearance, and behavior. The hunters and their families maintain relationships with the animals by acting so as to stay in good standing with local spirits and through proper treatment of the animals' bodies after death. Further, Baikal seals have prominent roles in local cosmologies and legends, including the origin stories of some local groups. The region's archaeological record reveals that meaningful relationships with seals extend far back in time, including among ancient foraging groups, some of whom made representations of seals 7,000-8,000 years ago. Humans' long-standing relationships with seals at Lake Baikal cannot be viewed simply as interactions between predator and prey, or consumer and commodity

Archaeology · Biology · Foraging · Geography · Habitat · Predation · Taste · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Ecology

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