Early Mesolithic Hunting and Fishing Activities in Central Russia: A Review of the Faunal and Artefactual Evidence from Wetland Sites

Abstract

Fifteen peat bog settlements have been excavated in the area between the Volga and Oka Rivers in Central Russia over the last few decades. These wetland sites contained cultural layers with well-preserved organic materials from the beginning to the end of the Mesolithic. Faunal assemblages, hunting and fishing tools from the main early Mesolithic sites of the region are described in this article. The data from wetland sites indicates that the economic and cultural model of hunters-fishers-gatherers characteristic of the boreal forests zone was applicable in the Volga-Oka area by the very beginning of the Holocene, or probably earlier. The Mesolithic boreal-culture was perfectly adapted to the forest and lake environment and had gradually developed in the region during early Mesolithic and then over several millennia. This subsistence strategy proved to be flexible and sustainable. It is noted, however, that the natural environmental factors, which caused the emergence of this cultural and economic model in the Upper Volga area at the beginning of the Mesolithic, did not induce significant effects on its subsequent development.