Pottery of the Lakhtin Culture in the North-Western Bering Sea Region

Purpose . The Lakhtin (Old Kerek) culture existed in the far northeast of Asia, on the Bering Sea coast from Cape Gek in the north to Cape Olyutorsky in the south. According to the latest periodization, its existence falls within the range of the 6th century BC to the 13th century AD. A technical and technological analysis of the Lakhtin culture pottery from three settlements in the North-Western Bering Sea region has been carried out: Geka I (16 vessels), Opukha I (11 vessels) and Nataliya II (2 vessels). According to radiocarbon dates and accompanying assemblages, the studied contexts span a considerable chronological interval – from the turn of the era (Opukha I, dwelling 2; Nataliya II, dwelling 3) and the mid-1st millennium AD (Opukha I, dwelling 3) to the early 2nd millennium AD (Opukha I, dwelling 1, cultural layer 1) and a later stage (Geka I, dwelling 3). Results . Ferruginous clays, predominantly with low natural sand content, were selected for pottery making. At Opukha I and Nataliya II the predominant paste recipe is clay + animal hair, whereas Geka I displays a fundamentally different composition – clay + sand; individual vessels were produced using mixed recipes with the addition of organic solution. Vessels were constructed by patch modelling on a mould-base or by hollowing out a single lump of paste, and external surfaces were shaped by paddling. Most vessels were fired in an oxidising atmosphere at temperatures exceeding the clay sintering point. The use of hair as an artificial temper at Opukha I and Nataliya II can be traced for more than a millennium, indicating the stability of this tradition. A different picture is shown by the pottery of Geka I, located on the northern boundary of the area: here, vessels with Punuk-related morphological features are present, and the differences in paste composition may reflect both a chronological gap and external influence from the Punuk culture. Conclusion . Comparison with the pottery of Neo-Eskimo cultures (the Chini burial ground, the site near the Kozhevnikov Cliff, Cape Vankarem) reveals similarity at the level of substrate skills alongside marked differences in adaptive skills. The dominance of a single paste recipe at each settlement and its temporal stability may reflect the relative autonomy of the studied pottery-producing communities. Other technological characteristics recorded at the settlement of Geka I, combined with ceramic forms associated with the influence of the Punuk culture, reflect a more complex situation at the northern border of the range.

ceramic technology · paddling · Archaeological and Geological Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis

• Pottery traditions of the Old Bering Sea Culture of the Chukchi Peninsula (based on materials from the Chini cemetery)

  Open Access•D V Selin, A I Lebedintsev et al.•Vestnik arheologii, antropologii…•2024

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