The Wolf of Baikal: the Lokomotiv early Neolithic cemetery in Siberia (Russia) (Le loup du lac BaÏkal : le cimetière Lokomitiv du Néolithique ancien en Sibérie (Russie).

Résumé

The authors present a synopsis of research on the remarkable early Neolithic cemetery near Lake Baikal known as The Lokomotiv which was first discovered by the constructors of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the 1880s. A current campaign of research is beginning to understand the great variety of the burial rites and their contexts. The rites include communal burials, burial in pairs head to toe and decapitation before burial, the position of the skull being sometimes taken by a carved object. Among the earliest graves was one containing a Tundra wolf.The second most abundant category of goods are the incisors of the marmot (Marmota sibirica Radde), which may have been used for decorating clothing and ...The territory around Lake Baikal features mountains, lowlands and plateaux, and includes the Watersheds of the Angara, Lena, Selenga, Barguzin, Vitim and other rivers. A favourable climate and a wealth of fauna and flora have attracted people since early times, creating a rich archaeological record, particularly for the period of the Holocene climatic optimum (8000-4500 years ago). Over the vast region of Northern Asia, Baikal Siberia is the only area in which several hundreds of burial complexes relating to the later Mesolithic into the Neolithic...