Archaeological sites of Baikal region have rich collections of canid remains. By the Iron Age dogs become abundant in some Transbaikalia archaeological sites, especially in Xiongnu complexes. Ivolginsk Fortress is one of Transbaikalia's most important Xiongnu sites, where a dog is the first (in faunal collections of 1955–1974 excavations) and the fourth (in faunal collection of 2017 excavation) numerous among domestic animals. However, the dog remains from the site are not extensively studied. To address parts of this lacuna, this paper describes ten dog skulls from Ivolginsk Fortress. The purpose of study is to determine the morphological type of dogs living in the fortress during the Iron Age. Their skulls are similar in size and shape to those of East Siberian Laikas. For this reason, we made a comparison of skulls from Ivolginsk Fortress to those of East Siberian Laika of the early twentieth century, which showed the general similarity in morphological characteristics of these skulls. Therefore, all dogs from Ivolginsk Fortress were identified as northern (Laika-like) type of dogs. Also, as a result of the morphological description of the Ivolginsk skulls, two size groups of Ivolginsk dogs were identified. However, a comparison of the size of the skulls to body mass made it possible to divide the Ivolginsk dogs into three size groups: small-, medium- and large-sized individuals. The Ivolginsk dog population consisted primarily of medium-sized dogs, small and large dogs were not abundant. Moreover, Ivolginsk dogs differed by some morphological characteristics: relative snout length (dogs with short and medium-length snouts) and relative skull width (dogs with narrow and wide skulls). The comparison of skulls from Ivolginsk Fortress to Holocene skulls from Far East and Baikal regions showed the similarity of Ivolginsk skulls to Early Holocene skulls from Cis- Baikal archaeological sites (Pad Kalashnikova, Ust-Belaia) and Early Medieval skulls from Amur archaeological sites. It could indicate that dogs of northern type were relatively widespread during most of the Holocene in the Baikal and Amur regions.

Sizova Valeria Vitalievna, Laboratory assistant, Laboratory of Mesozoic and Cenozoic geology, Institute of the Earth’s Crust SB RAS; 128, Lermontova st., Irkutsk, 664033, Russian Federation, Trainee Researcher, Scientific Research Center “Baikal Region”, Laboratory of Geoarcheology of Baikal Siberia, Irkutsk State University; 1, K. Marx st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation, e-mail: valeria_29_05@mail.ru

Klementiev Aleksei Mikhailovich, Candidate of Sciences (Geography), Researcher, Institute of the Earth’s Crust SB RAS; 128, Lermontov st., Irkutsk, 664033, Russian Federation, e-mail: klem-al@bk.ru

Sablin Mikhail Valerievich, Candidate of Sciences (Biology), Senior Researcher, Zoological Institute RAS, 1, Universitetskaya nab. Saint Petersburg 199034, Russian Federation, e-mail: msablin@yandex.ru

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