North Angara Early Holocene hunter–gatherers: Archaeological evidence of the collector strategy

Abstract

This paper examines Early Holocene hunter–gatherer subsistence–settlement patterns in the North Angara region, located at the northern boundary of Cis-Baikal, Siberia. The archaeological evidence, supported by radiocarbon and stratigraphic data, indicates the presence of hunting and fishing activities, resource diversification, lithic technologies, and settlement organization showing some aspects of the “collector” end of Binford's forager–collector continuum: specialized “logistical” camps and a multi-activity residential base with different patterns of resource procurement and technology. Considering paleoenvironmental conditions, this pattern can be largely explained as an attempt by hunter–gatherers to minimize the risks of seasonal deficits from fishing and game hunting in a boreal zone.