Matrilineal affinities and prehistoric Siberian mortuary practices: a case study from Neolithic Lake Baikal

Mooder, K.P.; Weber, Andrzej; Bamforth, Fiona; Lieverse, Angela R.; Schurr, Theodore G.; Bazaliiski, V.I.; Savel’ev, Nikolai A.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2004.12.002

Cited by 34 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Within these 71 graves were the remains of at least 124 individuals (Bazaliiskiy and Savelyev, 2003). Details on chronology, mortuary practices, human osteology, stable isotopes, and genetics already have been published in English and Russian (Link, 1999;Katzenberg and Weber, 1999;Weber et al, 2002;Bazaliiskii, 2003;Bazaliiskiy and Savelyev, 2003;Bazaliiskii and Savel'ev, 2008;Mooder et al, 2005Mooder et al, , 2006Weber et al, 2006;Weber et al, 2010;Lieverse et al, 2007aLieverse et al, ,b, 2009 and are very briefly reviewed here.…”

Section: Lokomotivmentioning

confidence: 97%

Canids as persons: Early Neolithic dog and wolf burials, Cis-Baikal, Siberia

Losey

Bazaliiskii

Garvie‐Lok

et al. 2011

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

146

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a b s t r a c tInterpretations of dog burials made by ancient foraging groups have tended to be based upon our own relationships with such animals and modern western cosmological and ontological concepts. Osteological studies of early dogs often focus only on issues of taxonomy, and as a result very little is known about these animals' life histories. Eastern Siberia has produced many Holocene dog burials, but these are typically not well described and the explanatory frameworks provided for them are very underdeveloped. Here we examine in detail two Cis-Baikal canid burials, one of a wolf and the other a dog, both in large Middle Holocene hunter-gatherer cemeteries. We link the mortuary treatment of these animals to other cultural practices, particularly the treatment of the human dead, and broader patterns in Northern human-animal relationships. This interpretive model is combined with detailed osteobiographies for the canids and contextual information for these and other dogs and wolves from Middle Holocene CisBaikal. It is argued that canids here were understood and treated in a variety of ways. We suggest that some animals with unique histories were known as distinct persons with 'souls' and because of this at death required mortuary rites similar to those of their human counterparts.

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Section: Lokomotivmentioning

confidence: 97%

Canids as persons: Early Neolithic dog and wolf burials, Cis-Baikal, Siberia

Losey

Bazaliiskii

Garvie‐Lok

et al. 2011

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

146

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In Cis-Baikal, research on mtDNA, which documents matrilineal connections exclusively, was initiated by Russian scholars (Naumova et al, 1997;Naumova and Rychkov, 1998) and continued by the BAP (Mooder et al, 2003;Mooder et al, 2005Mooder et al, , 2007Mooder et al, , 2010Nasab et al, 2008;Schurr et al, 2010;Thomson, 2006). To date, four skeletal collections have been examined: two EN Kitoi cemeteries (Lokomotiv and Shamanka II) and the LN (Isakovo) and EBA (Glazkovo) components of the Ust'-Ida I cemetery (Fig.…”

Section: Genetic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers of Cis-Baikal, Siberia: An overview for the new century

Weber

Bettinger

2010

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

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“…aDNA can help elucidate the genetic relationships between prehistoric individuals, past population movements or interactions, and changes in genetic diversity over time (e.g., O'Rourke et al, 2000a;Kaestle and Horsburgh, 2002;Kemp et al, 2007;Shook and Smith, 2008;Keyser et al, 2009;Rasmussen et al, 2010). Genetic data from ancient remains can also be used to reconstruct the kinship systems, mating patterns, social structure, and burial practices of ancient populations (e.g., Keyser-Tracqui et al, 2003;Mooder et al, 2005;Bolnick and Smith, 2007; Haak et al, 2008).While numerous methods have been developed for extracting aDNA from skeletal remains, virtually all protocols require the destruction of some portion of the specimen, usually by powdering part of a tooth or bone (O'Rourke et al, 2000b;Kaestle and Horsburgh, 2002). Because this destructive analysis permanently removes skeletal material and may make other analyses more difficult or impossible (i.e., if skeletal material is damaged or exhausted in attempts to isolate DNA), museums may be unwilling to permit aDNA analysis of the unique human remains in their collections.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nondestructive sampling of human skeletal remains yields ancient nuclear and mitochondrial DNA

Bolnick

Bonine

Mata‐Míguez

et al. 2011

American J Phys Anthropol

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Museum curators and living communities are sometimes reluctant to permit ancient DNA (aDNA) studies of human skeletal remains because the extraction of aDNA usually requires the destruction of at least some skeletal material. Whether these views stem from a desire to conserve precious materials or an objection to destroying ancestral remains, they limit the potential of aDNA research. To help address concerns about destructive analysis and to minimize damage to valuable specimens, we describe a nondestructive method for extracting DNA from ancient human remains. This method can be used with both teeth and bone, but it preserves the structural integrity of teeth much more effectively than that of bone. Using this method, we demonstrate that it is possible to extract both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from human remains dating between 300 BC and 1600 AD. Importantly, the method does not expose the remains to hazardous chemicals, allowing them to be safely returned to curators, custodians, and/or owners of the samples. We successfully amplified mitochondrial DNA from 90% of the individuals tested, and we were able to analyze 1-9 nuclear loci in 70% of individuals. We also show that repeated nondestructive extractions from the same tooth can yield amplifiable mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. The high success rate of this method and its ability to yield DNA from samples spanning a wide geographic and temporal range without destroying the structural integrity of the sampled material may make possible the genetic study of skeletal collections that are not available for destructive analysis.

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Matrilineal affinities and prehistoric Siberian mortuary practices: a case study from Neolithic Lake Baikal

Cited by 34 publications

References 48 publications

Canids as persons: Early Neolithic dog and wolf burials, Cis-Baikal, Siberia

Canids as persons: Early Neolithic dog and wolf burials, Cis-Baikal, Siberia

Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers of Cis-Baikal, Siberia: An overview for the new century

Nondestructive sampling of human skeletal remains yields ancient nuclear and mitochondrial DNA

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