The Bioarchaeology of Habitual Activity and Dietary Change in the Siberian Middle Holocene

Lower limb biomechanics and habitual mobility among mid-Holocene populations of the Cis-Baikal

“…Despite these broad similarities in behaviour and ecology between the Kitoi and ISG, detailed comparisons of skeletal biology and stable isotopes between the periods provide some evidence for differences in habitual behaviour. Evidence from musculo-skeletal stress markers suggests that watercraft use was an important component of mobility throughout both periods, and was undertaken by most community members (Lieverse et al, 2011). This interpretation is supported by evidence from long-bone cross-sectional geometry.…”

“…A comparison of humeral 35% total subperiosteal area (TA) relative to femoral midshaft TA provides an indicator of upper limb relative to lower limb strength, and by extension, an indicator of the relative importance of watercraft. In this context, Kitoi (Early Neolithic) humeri are particularly robust relative to femora among both women and men suggesting that watercraft use was an important component of Kitoi logistical mobility (Lieverse et al, 2011). This morphological pattern remained among ISG males, suggesting a continued importance of watercraft use after the hiatus.…”

“…Both pre and post-hiatus populations practiced a hunting and gathering subsistence strategy with the exploitation of a mixture of terrestrial and aquatic resources (Lieverse et al, 2011). While there was a general warming trend throughout the Holocene (Prokopenko et al, 2007;White et al, 2008) which led to a northward expansion of coniferous forests, the Holocene climate was more stable than the preceding Pleistocene.…”

Hunter–gatherer foraging ranges, migrations, and travel in the middle Holocene Baikal region of Siberia: Insights from carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures

“…Ice fishing could have been used everywhere too although this technique is not very efficient. Simple watercraft technology may have been employed as suggested by the indirect evidence from human bone morphology (Stock et al, 2010) and musculoskeletal stress markers (Lieverse et al, 2009(Lieverse et al, , 2011. But a more intensive use of boats currently lacks support in other kinds of cultural traits one would expect to appear in the archaeological record (e.g., storage, larger camps with more durable housing) had watercraft technology reached a critical point at which its economic impact would have been significant (Ames, 2002).…”

The quest for the soldier’s rest: combining anthropological and archaeochemical approaches to study social and occupational diversity in the medieval graveyard of San Andrés de Arroyo (Palencia, Spain)

“…Their skeleton location and degree of development give an indication of habitual activities involving specific muscles or groups of muscles (Godde and Taylor, 2011). EC have been used to glean cultural behaviour (Molnar, 2006;Lieverse et al, 2011;Molnar et al, 2011;Weiss, 2014;Foster et al, 2015), to infer differences related to labour and professions (Kennedy, 1983;Dutour, 1986;Hawkey and Merbs, 1995;Al-Oumaoui et al, 2004;Molnar, 2006;Mariotti et al, 2007;Villotte et al, 2010a;Havelková et al, 2011;Palmer et al, 2014;Santana-Cabrera et al, 2015) and to define changes in muscular activity along the evolutionary history of the human lineage (Drapeau, 2008;Milella, 2014). This paper presents the results of novel research combining, for the first time, both approaches (strontium isotope ratios and EC).…”