Problems of Cultural and Chronological Identification
of the Ust-Ilir Burial Ground (Southern Angara Region)

I. M. Berdnikov; N. B. Sokolova

List of issues > «Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series». 2022. Vol 39

Problems of Cultural and Chronological Identification of the Ust-Ilir Burial Ground (Southern Angara Region)

Full text (russian)

Author(s)

I. M. Berdnikov, N. B. Sokolova

Abstract

The search for the Middle Neolithic burial complexes in Baikal-Yenisei Siberia is one of the most important fields of modern regional research. It is directly related to the problem of the so-called hiatus, which is characterized by the absence of dated burials for several hundred years between the Early and Late Neolithic in the range of ~7–5.5 ka cal BP (or ~6.6–6 ka cal BP to updated data). We see the greatest prospects at this stage of research in identifying the burials of hunter-gatherers who owned the technique of making Ust-Belaya pottery, so the connection of this ceramic type with some burials is already quite clear. This article proposes a new view on the cultural and chronological affiliation of the Ust-Ilir burial ground, which was discovered in 1990 at the mouth of the Ilir River, the left tributary of the Iya River (Southern Angara region). It is distinguished by the originality of the mortuary rite and inventory and stands out against the background of the known Neolithic burial complexes in Baikal-Yenisei Siberia. In the grave, partially destroyed by the Bratsk Reservoir, the remains of three people, fire traces and “ocher” spots (powdered red mineral pigment) were found. During the excavation of the burial, along with various tools, bone needle cases with carved ornaments, pendants from deer teeth, and bone pendants that imitate the latter in shape, unique objects of art were found - miniature bone sculptures with images of waterfowl. In addition, on the beach where the burial was discovered, exhibited finds were collected, including stone and bone tools, as well as fragments of ceramics of the Ust-Belaya type, which most likely belong to this complex. As a result of the analysis of the elements of mortuary rite and inventory of the Ust-Ilir burial ground, its similarity to some Neolithic burials of Krasnoyarsk, the Northern and Southern Angara region, whose cultural and chronological affiliation has not yet been clearly defined, has been established. The closest to Ust-Ilir is the burial complex discovered in 1959 in Krasnoyarsk near the Gremyachii Klyuch stream, in the materials of which there are similar artifacts with images of waterfowl and needle cases with an ornament. We recently obtained a radiocarbon date for this complex from a deer bone sample (from the inventory), which shows its age at 5280±25 BP (6182–5943 cal BP). Given the above facts, the Ust-Ilir burial ground can be synchronous with the Gremyachii Klyuch burial. These complexes, as well as burials close to them from other areas of Baikal-Yenisei Siberia, with a high degree of probability could have belonged to hunter-gatherers who own the Ust-Belaya pottery tradition and inhabited the region in the Middle Neolithic.

About the Authors

Berdnikov Ivan Mikhailovich, Candidate of Sciences (History), Senior Researcher, Deputy Director for Science of Scientific Research Center “Baikal Region”, Laboratory of Geoarchaeology of Baikal Siberia, Irkutsk State University; 1, K. Marx st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation, e-mail: yan-maiski@yandex.ru

Sokolova Natalia Borisovna, Junior Researcher, Scientific Research Center “Baikal Region”, Laboratory of Geoarchaeology of Baikal Siberia, Irkutsk State University; 1, K. Marx st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation, e-mail: snb-87@mail.ru

For citation

Berdnikov I. M., Sokolova N. B. Problems of Cultural and Chronological Identification of the Ust-Ilir Burial Ground (Southern Angara Region). Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University. Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series. 2022, Vol. 39, pp. 3–13. https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2022.39.3 (in Russ.)

Keywords

Baikal-Yenisei Siberia, Middle Neolithic, burial traditions, radiocarbon dating.

UDC

903.02(571.1/5)ʺ634ʺ

DOI

https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2022.39.3

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