Archaeozoological analysis of the osteological material from the Neolithic pile dwellings in the Dvina–Lovat area: economy and ecology

Abstract

The faunistic material from several Neolithic sites in the Dvina–Lovat Area (Serteya II, VIII, X, XI, RudnyaSerteya, Dubokrai V, VII, Naumovo [layers A and B], and Usvyaty IV [layers A, B and α]) was studied. As shown by the animal remains, the subsistence of the early Neolithic settlements of North-Western Russia was based on hunting supplemented by fishing. Large ungulates constituted the preferred hunting prey, followed by fur animals. During the Middle and Late Neolithic the climate became cooler and drier, and the coniferous forests gradually replaced the mixed broad-leaved ones. The appearance of domesticates, the horse and cattle, was the most important feature in the sites of the mid-third millennium BC. The analysis of the osteological material leaves one in no doubt that the Neolithic pile dwellings were inhabited perennially. The occurrence of animal remains procured in the winter and summer proves that these were sedentary and not seasonal settlements.