First Radiocarbon Data for the Middle Neolithic Burials from the Southern Angara Region (Report)

In the Neolithic studies of the Cis-Baikal, the problem of hiatus (break in mortuary traditions) remains topical. According to the latest data, adjusted for the freshwater reservoir effect, it manifests itself over a period of about 600 years (6660–6060 cal BP). During the implementation of the project “Missing Link: The Problem of Identification of Middle Neolithic Burials on the Territory of Baikal-Yenisei Siberia”, carried out under the guidance of one of the authors, it was proposed to associate with the Middle Neolithic complexes of campsites where Ust-Belaya and Posolskaya ceramics are recorded. In parallel, a search was carried out for burials that could be correlated with this stage. More recently, we have received the first radiocarbon data on two burials from the Southern Angara region. One of them (Ust-Ilir burial ground) was included in the database already at the first stage of the study. The second (from Shumilikha burial ground) was not initially considered as a potential object for dating and was analyzed as an addition to other materials. As a result of radiocarbon dating, two determinations were obtained from fauna samples (fragments of bone tools). It has been established that the age of the Ust-Ilir burial complex with bone pendants with waterfowl images, unique for the Angara region, is within the range of 6275–6012 cal BP (6182±70 mean HPD cal BP). A similar burial (Gremyachii Klyuch) was excavated in 1959 in Krasnoyarsk. Burial No. 44 from Shumilikha is somewhat older and is dated in the range of 6622–6410 cal BP (6508±43 mean HPD cal BP). Thus, the age of this burial complexes falls within the interval of the Middle Neolithic hiatus. Moreover, these data do not require any correction, since they were obtained from samples from the bones of herbivorous mammals. Both burials could have been left by huntergatherers who made Ust-Belaya ceramics, as evidenced by the finds of fragments of this type in the collection of exposed materials from the Ust-Ilir burial ground, as well as the synchronism and territorial proximity of burial No. 44 of the Shumilikha burial ground and complexes of cultural layer 3 of the Ust-Belaya site with fragments of similar vessels. This is the first reliable data on hiatus, the problem of which is likely to lose its relevance in the near future

Accelerator mass spectrometry · Archaeology · Biology · Fauna · Geography · Radiocarbon dating · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology · Geology

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