The Stone Age Sannikov Land: human dimensions

Abstract

The New Siberian Islands are one of the most remote and hardly accessible regions of the Russian Arctic. Due to that, their discovery and initial study took about 300 years. For dozens of thousand years during the Late Pleistocene, this area was a part of drained arctic shelf, a part of which still existed around 9000 years ago. In certain sense, it was the Sannikov Land of the Stone Age. In 1914, the Zhokhov Island became the last one to be discovered out of large islands of the archipelago. Fifty years afterwards, archaeological material was found on it. The Zhokhov site, studied in 1989–1990 and 2000–2005, is one of the northernmost archaeological sites in the world. Human activity at the Zhokhov site falls within the interval 8300–7750 14C years ago, with the most intense occupation spanning 8050–7900 14C BP, that is, roughly CA 9000 calendar years ago. Excavations yielded a unique collection that includes lithic material presenting microprismatic technology, polished stone tools, a variety of artefacts made of non-durable materials (diverse osseous material and wood), including hunting equipment, home utensils, basketry and birch bark products, as well as sled parts. Excavations yielded a large number of animal bone remains, almost exclusively belonging to the reindeer and polar bear. It is shown that in the reconstructed annual economic cycle of the Zhokhov dwellers in winter, the most important role was played by polar bear hunting. Mass procurement of this dangerous animal for food is a unique hunting specialization, while mass accumulation of his bone remains can not be taken as an evidence for the bear cult. It is shown, that the Zhokhov hunters widely used dog sleds and thus the land transportation system was the most important innovation of the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary. The Zhokhov site environments of 9000 years ago were quite comfortable for the Arctic regions. Open landscapes were the most important feature of their habitat providing unlimited opportunities for traveling across the region, especially in winter and spring and thus provided conditions for effective movement of people goods, and genes including long-distance transport.