Abstract
Yasinovatka is one of around 30 prehistoric cemetery sites of fisher-hunter-foragers located along the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine. Dating to c. 5540–4930 cal BC, the skeletal remains at Yasinovatka suggest that around sixty-eight individuals were interred at the cemetery, during three broad phases of interment: A-type burials (c. 5540–4930 cal BC), Ƃ1 pit burials (c. 5550–4750 cal BC), and Ƃ2 pit burials (c. 4980–4460 cal BC). The burials are characterized, in part, by the inclusion of a number of Mariupol-type plates of boar tusk, in addition to deer tooth pendants, Unio shells, knife-like flint blades, Cyprinidae teeth, sherds of Neolithic pottery, and significant deposits of ochre in the later burial pits. Here we analyse δ13C and δ15N values for 50 human bone collagen samples from the site. The majority of the isotope results show a fisher-hunter-forager population reliant predominantly on freshwater aquatic proteins, which is in keeping with previous dietary isotope studies in the area. Two individuals however have δ15N values that are clearly depleted when compared with the main population; these reflect dietary protein intakes based on plant and animal terrestrial resources rather than the predominant focus on aquatic resources. Notably, the δ13C values of these anomalous individuals are not enriched compared with the fauna samples analysed from the region; this supports the possibility that they were incomers to the area, potentially from a nearby agrarian population.
Highlights
Phases of burial activity are represented for the Epipalaeolithic (c. 10,200–8000 cal BC), Mesolithic (c. 7300 cal BC), Neolithic (c. 5500–5000 cal BC), and Eneolithic periods (c. 4400 cal BC) (Lillie et al 2009; Telegin et al 2002), but, given the heterogeneity in terms of prehistoric activity in Ukraine
In Ukraine, the onset of the Neolithic period has often been defined by the introduction of pottery ( this occurs in purely Mesolithic contexts, with the Bug-Dniester culture of southwestern Ukraine having ceramics at c. 6200calBC (Anthony 2007:149), and it has its origins to the northeast in
At Yasinovatka the dietary isotope studies demonstrate that the majority of the population had a strong reliance on aquatic protein for the mainstay of their diet; highlighting the continued importance of fishing as a mainstay of subsistence strategies into the Neolithic period in the Dnieper Rapids region of Ukraine
Summary
Introduction and backgroundThe precise chronology of the Dnieper Rapids region has received detailed review (Gokhman 1966, Telegin 1968, 1973, Telegin and Potekhina 1987, Telegin et al 2002, Biagi et al 2007), and periodization in Ukraine has been refined with the integration of recent AMS radiocarbon dates (Lillie et al 2009, 2017; Nikitin et al 2010, 2017). 4400 cal BC) (Lillie et al 2009; Telegin et al 2002), but, given the heterogeneity in terms of prehistoric activity in Ukraine, One of the key factors when studying social developments across the Late-Glacial into the middle part of the current Interglacial period, i.e. the Epipalaeolithic through to the Eneolithic periods in Ukraine, is how the Neolithic period is defined; and this is the case in other areas of Eastern Europe. In Ukraine, the onset of the Neolithic period has often been defined by the introduction of pottery Irrespective of the socio-technical aspects, the characterization of Neolithic sites in Ukraine generally lacks the major socioeconomic transformations of a food economy that transitions from the extraction of resources to the production of resources; a quantifier that plays a distinct role in the identification of Neolithic sites in North-western Europe
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