Late Glacial hunter-gatherer pottery in the Russian Far East : Indications of diversity in origins and use
Shoda, Shinya ; Lucquin, Alexandre ; Yanshina, Oksana ; Kuzmin, Yaroslav ; Shewkomud, Igor ; Medvedev, Vitaly ; Derevianko, Evgeniya ; Lapshina, Zoya ; Craig, Oliver and Jordan, Peter LU
(2020)
In Quaternary Science Reviews
229.
- Abstract
- During the Late Glacial, hunter-gatherers began using ceramic cooking containers in three separate geographic regions of East Asia: China, Japan and in the Russian Far East. While recent research has clarified the use of early pottery in Japan, very little is known about what led to the emergence of pottery in the other two areas, including the likely environmental, economic or cultural drivers. In this paper we focus on a series of key sites along the Amur River in the Russian Far East, where early pottery has been recovered from securely-dated contexts that span ca. 16,200 to 10,200 years ago (cal BP). Interpreting how these ceramic vessels were used has been difficult because the region’s acidic soils make palaeo-economic... (More)
- During the Late Glacial, hunter-gatherers began using ceramic cooking containers in three separate geographic regions of East Asia: China, Japan and in the Russian Far East. While recent research has clarified the use of early pottery in Japan, very little is known about what led to the emergence of pottery in the other two areas, including the likely environmental, economic or cultural drivers. In this paper we focus on a series of key sites along the Amur River in the Russian Far East, where early pottery has been recovered from securely-dated contexts that span ca. 16,200 to 10,200 years ago (cal BP). Interpreting how these ceramic vessels were used has been difficult because the region’s acidic soils make palaeo-economic reconstructions challenging. To address this gap in knowledge we undertook lipid residue analysis of 28 pot sherds from the sites of Khummi, Gasya, and Goncharka 1 on the Lower Amur River, and the Gromatukha site on the Middle Amur. Our results indicate that pottery was employed to process aquatic oils at sites on the Lower Amur, a pattern of use that aligns closely with studies conducted in Japan, and suggests that fishing – probably of salmonids and freshwater fish – was becoming increasingly important during this period. In contrast, the results from the Middle Amur show a significant contribution of lipids from ruminant animals, indicating that these vessels were being used in different ways. Interestingly, these regional differences in pottery use also map onto contrasting manufacturing techniques, with vessels from the Middle and from the Lower Amur forming distinct pottery-making traditions. These combined insights appear to indicate a greater degree of variability in the development and use of early pottery in East Asia than has hitherto been indicated. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/9fb3b5b5-ad7e-4adf-888d-300bf12655b7
- author
- Shoda, Shinya
; Lucquin, Alexandre
; Yanshina, Oksana
; Kuzmin, Yaroslav
; Shewkomud, Igor
; Medvedev, Vitaly
; Derevianko, Evgeniya
; Lapshina, Zoya
; Craig, Oliver
and Jordan, Peter
LU
- publishing date
- 2020-02-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Quaternary Science Reviews
- volume
- 229
- article number
- 106124
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85076569684
- ISSN
- 0277-3791
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106124
- project
- POSTGLACIAL: Comparative Perspectives on Cultural Responses to Postglacial Warming in Northern Eurasia
- Maritime Networks and Emergent Identities in the North Pacific Rim
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 9fb3b5b5-ad7e-4adf-888d-300bf12655b7
- date added to LUP
- 2021-08-19 11:53:32
- date last changed
- 2022-05-12 21:25:29
@article{9fb3b5b5-ad7e-4adf-888d-300bf12655b7,
abstract = {{During the Late Glacial, hunter-gatherers began using ceramic cooking containers in three separate geographic regions of East Asia: China, Japan and in the Russian Far East. While recent research has clarified the use of early pottery in Japan, very little is known about what led to the emergence of pottery in the other two areas, including the likely environmental, economic or cultural drivers. In this paper we focus on a series of key sites along the Amur River in the Russian Far East, where early pottery has been recovered from securely-dated contexts that span ca. 16,200 to 10,200 years ago (cal BP). Interpreting how these ceramic vessels were used has been difficult because the region’s acidic soils make palaeo-economic reconstructions challenging. To address this gap in knowledge we undertook lipid residue analysis of 28 pot sherds from the sites of Khummi, Gasya, and Goncharka 1 on the Lower Amur River, and the Gromatukha site on the Middle Amur. Our results indicate that pottery was employed to process aquatic oils at sites on the Lower Amur, a pattern of use that aligns closely with studies conducted in Japan, and suggests that fishing – probably of salmonids and freshwater fish – was becoming increasingly important during this period. In contrast, the results from the Middle Amur show a significant contribution of lipids from ruminant animals, indicating that these vessels were being used in different ways. Interestingly, these regional differences in pottery use also map onto contrasting manufacturing techniques, with vessels from the Middle and from the Lower Amur forming distinct pottery-making traditions. These combined insights appear to indicate a greater degree of variability in the development and use of early pottery in East Asia than has hitherto been indicated.}},
author = {{Shoda, Shinya and Lucquin, Alexandre and Yanshina, Oksana and Kuzmin, Yaroslav and Shewkomud, Igor and Medvedev, Vitaly and Derevianko, Evgeniya and Lapshina, Zoya and Craig, Oliver and Jordan, Peter}},
issn = {{0277-3791}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Quaternary Science Reviews}},
title = {{Late Glacial hunter-gatherer pottery in the Russian Far East : Indications of diversity in origins and use}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106124}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106124}},
volume = {{229}},
year = {{2020}},
}