UDC 903

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF THE YANKOVSKY ARCHAEOLOGICAL CULTURE CARRIERS IN PRIMORYE IN THE LIGHT OF OSTEOLOGICAL DATA*

The article discusses new data on hunting and animal husbandry of the Yankovsky archaeological culture of the Iron Age in Primorye (VIII-III centuries BC). The balanced collections of mammalian bone remains from simultaneous settlements (Peschany-1 and Zaisanovka-2) located in different ecosystems are compared. The unique stratigraphy of the settlements allowed us to identify annual deposits that reflect the life support system of the population. It is proposed to reconstruct the seasonality and settlement regime of these settlements, as well as the ratio of hunting and animal husbandry in life support systems.

Keywords: East Asia, Primorye, Iron Age, Yankovo culture, life support system, hunting, animal husbandry.

Introduction

The study sheds light on a little-known aspect of the economic activity of the Yankovsky archaeological culture of the Early Iron Age in Primorye, dating back to the VTII-III centuries. In this way, it brings us closer to understanding the processes that took place in the prehistoric period in East Asia. The bone remains of animals found at the settlements of this culture, Peschany-1 and Zaisanovka-2, located on the western coast of Peter the Great Bay on the land area between the mouths of the Razdolnaya and Tumannaya rivers in Southern Primorye, were studied (Fig. 1). The monuments are located at a distance of approximately 90 km from each other, and differ quite significantly between the two countries. by their landscape location. Sandy-1 occupies part of a steep peninsula, strongly protruding into the sea and connecting with the mainland land only by a narrow isthmus. Zaisanovka-2 lies in a lowland between the Expedition Bay and a shallow lagoon at the mouth of the Gladkaya River. Sandy-1 is a settlement with stationary dwellings, of which 14 were excavated in the 1950s by A. P. Okladnikov [1963]. A brief report on the bone remains of animals from this monument was published (Ermolova, 1963). Another dwelling with an area of approx. 50 m 2 filled with stratified shell deposits was studied using flotation and washing of layers through a sieve (2 mm in diameter) by Yu. E. Vostretsov in 1988-1990. The effectiveness of this technique is evidenced by the fact that such an amount of bone material was extracted from one dwelling, which was obtained during all previous excavations at this monument. Zaisanovka-2 is actually a large shell pile (3.2 m thick) on the edge of a hill, where a settlement with the same long-term dwellings as on Peschanoe-1 was located. The materials originate from a 1 m 2 pit, which contains 25 layers of shell deposits (Vostretsov and Rakov, 2000). Spezi-

* The work was carried out within the framework of the program of fundamental research of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Adaptation of peoples and cultures to changes in the natural environment, social and technological transformations" (P-21, state contract 10104-37 / II-21/238-398/120707_046).

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Fig. 1. Location of monuments Sandy-1, Zaisanovka-2, Sopkhohan.

the feature of the presented eco-products is that they are collected according to a single method, which allows you to get balanced collections.

Complex of faunal finds

2,090 and 729 bone remains were taxonomically identified at the Sandy-1 and Zaisanovka-2 sites, respectively. These figures do not include huge fish bone complexes, as they are beyond the scope of this study. Relatively few bird bone remains that have not yet been identified are taken into account. On both sites, the bones were heavily fragmented, presumably as a result of the activity of domestic dogs.

2. The ratio of animal species (excluding fish) in the settlements of Sandy-1 (a) and Zaisanovka-2 (b) based on the calculation of the minimum number of individuals.

The Yankovites cultivated barley and millet (Andreeva, Zhushchikhovskaya, and Kononenko, 1986). There is information about animal husbandry, which was mainly limited to breeding domestic pigs and dogs for food (Ermolova, 1963). Among the faunal remains from the settlement of Sandy-1, N. M. Ermolova identified the bones of a cow, although she was not completely sure of the reliability of her identification. Cattle breeding was noted by Zh. V. Andreeva et al. [1986]. One of the main objectives of this study is to clarify these provisions.

Materials of Gr-1 confirm the predominance of the pig (Sus scrofa) in the settlement, followed by the dog (Canis familiaris). Bones of red deer (Cervus elaphus) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) are less common (Fig. 2). The collection from the settlement of Zaisanovka-2 has significant differences. There are more roe deer bones than pigs, followed by red deer and dog bones by a very small margin. Other species are represented by a small number of bones, mostly small predators. Birds are not typical for both monuments. Bone remains of cattle were not found on any of them; thus, the presence of cattle breeding among the Yankovites could not be confirmed by these materials. A certain number of bones can be attributed to marine mammals with some degree of doubt, but none of these finds allowed us to achieve a complete and satisfactory identification. Surprisingly, the bone remains of marine mammals are extremely rare or absent altogether. At the nearby Sophohan Monument in North Korea at the mouth of the Tumannaya River (see Fig. 1) quite a lot of them have been found [Nelson, 1993, p. 88, 98]. However, these materials date back to the Atlantic period, when as a result of transgression, the coastline was more rugged and there were many sandbanks in the estuaries of rivers. During the Yankovsky culture, they disappeared and pinnipeds became a less accessible resource.

The significant fragmentation of the bones did not allow us to make quite a lot of postcranial measurements. Nevertheless, some measurements were made, which strengthened the grounds for concluding that in addition to the bone remains of red deer and roe deer, a small number of bones of another deer species may be present in the Zaisanovka-2 materials. The measurement results were compared with the corresponding bone sizes from the Late Mesolithic Ringkloster monument and the Early Mesolithic Svjardborg I monument in Denmark (Figure 3).

In prehistoric times, red deer in Primorye were very large. Individual from Zaisanovka-2 are much larger than those from Ringmaster (Fig. 3). However, two distal meta-

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3. Measurements of reindeer astragali and distal metacarpals from Zaisanovka-2 in comparison with those from the settlements of Ringkloster (Rowley-Conwy, 1998) and Svjardborg I (unpublished data from P. Rowley-Conwy). The measurements were made according to the method of A. E. Driesch [Driesch, 1976].

- a Zaisanovka-2; b -Ringkloster (red deer); c-Svjardborg I (roe deer).

carp from the Zaisanovka collection do not reach the size typical of the Ring-Kloster red deer (Fig. 3). Obviously, they belonged to an individual much smaller than the others presented in the materials of Zaisanovka-2. Since the Coastal red deer is characterized by a large size, it is unlikely that these bone remains belong to this species. And for roe deer, they are too large: the distal metacarps of two indisputably identified roe deer in Zaisanovka-2 are much smaller and comparable to those on the Svjardborg I monument. Therefore, the intermediate-sized deer bones may belong to a third species of deer, probably the mainland sika deer (Cervus nippori). But they are very few in Zaisanovka-2, and in Peschanoe-1 they are completely absent.

Pigs: wild or domesticated?

Wild and domestic pigs are so similar that it is often difficult to distinguish their bone remains in archaeological complexes. However, recently there have been works showing how this can be done. Payne and Bull (1988) measured the bones of a modern wild boar in Turkey. For each series of measurements, they calculated the arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation (standard deviation as a percentage of the arithmetic mean). These calculations determine the parameters of a specific pig population. If the coefficient of variation calculated from bone remains in the archaeological complex is similar to that of the modern population,then, in all likelihood, there was only one genetic line. If it is significantly larger, it may mean that there are two populations of pigs of different sizes. Thus, it is possible to show that two populations are represented in an archaeological complex, even if the distribution is not bimodal. They must be genetically separated, and there should be no or insignificant interbreeding. This means that one line is domesticated and the other is wild. This situation is common in the European Neolithic (Rowley-Conwy, 2003), but it is not known how it was in other places.

The described method can be applied to Sand-1 materials. The size of the upper first molars (Ml) of pigs from this site forms a dense group in the diagram, with the exception of three much larger specimens (Figure 4). After calculating the coefficient of variation, the value of WP is 8.4, WA-7.1 (in the modern wild boar, according to calculations by S. Payney and J. Smith). Bull, respectively 4 and 3), which indicates the existence of two separate populations, since the coefficients of variation are too large for a single one. This conclusion is supported by the nature of the natural statistical distribution. The three large instances differ significantly from the main group. P. Rowley-Conwy measured the teeth of nine skulls of modern wild boars in the Zoological Museum of Far Eastern State University. Large molars from Sandy-1 coincide in size with the corresponding teeth from this collection (Fig. 4), which is evidence of their belonging to wild animals. Thus, most of the pigs in the settlement were domestic, and a few were wild. Interbreeding is almost impossible, otherwise they would become indistinguishable. Domestic pigs, therefore, were under constant control, and their free movement was not allowed.

There was a well-established opinion that the Yankovo population mainly consisted of domestic pigs, and the presence of wild pigs was limited to individual specimens - this was the conclusion of N. M. Ermolova [1963], made at an early stage of excavations of the monument.-

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4. The size of pig teeth from the settlements of Sandy-1 (a), Zaisanovka-2 (b) and modern wild boars from Primorye (c). The measurements were made according to the method of S. Payne and J. Bull (Payne and Bull, 1988).

advanced-1. Our study confirms the prevailing view. It should be noted that the pattern known from the example of the European Neolithic is also observed in Primorye. It remains to be seen where else it will be the same.

The collection from the settlement of Zaisanovka-2 contained a much smaller number of bone remains of pigs, however, we can talk about a larger proportion of wild animals of this species than in Sandy-1. Let's show this with the example of the lower (dp4) posterior baby teeth. In the diagram (Fig. 4), the Sand-1 specimens form a single set, and, as we have already established, most of the pigs here were domestic. Two lower dp4s from Zaisanovka-2 fall into it, therefore, we can assume that they belong to domestic animals; the other three are much larger, so it is more likely that these are the teeth of wild individuals.

Settlement: seasonal or year-round?

The season or seasons when the settlement functioned is a question that animal bone remains can clarify to some extent. Analysis of pig teeth is one of the techniques [Rowley-Conwy, 2001] that has proven quite well in Europe [Rowley-Conwy, 1998].

In pigs, teeth change frequently until the age of 27 months, when the third protuberance of the third molar (M3) begins to wear out. The age limits for when different teeth erupt or wear out are relatively well understood. We adhere to the scheme proposed by S. Higham (1967). It consists in the fact that an animal in which, for example, M1 is in the stage of primary eruption, has an age of 4-5 months, in which P2-41 is in the stage of secondary eruption-14-15 months, etc. Now we have to make two assumptions: 1) these age limits do not depend too much on nutrition or the time of year, and there are certain grounds for such an assumption [Rowley-Conwy, 2001]; 2) animals were born during a period limited to a few weeks in early April. This postulate is not so obvious. In a temperate and cool climate, wild boar is quite likely to match it, and the climate of Primorye should have forced livestock breeders of the early Iron Age to also obey approximately this regime of changing seasons. However, we cannot say with certainty, so we will have to remember in the future that if any of our assumptions turn out to be erroneous, the conclusions will be revised.

Using 68 lower and upper jaws from Sandy-1, it was possible to determine the age of young pigs (Fig. 5). Each line in Fig. 5 corresponds to the lower or upper jaw. By dating birth to the beginning of April, we can distribute the moments of death of all individuals on a calendar month scale. The animal was killed somewhere in the time interval covered by the line , but this does not mean that the location was necessarily inhabited for all the months that fall within this interval.

Pigs whose age could be determined on Peschanoe-1 are divided into two groups. Most, though not all, could have been killed during the six months from October to March (darkened area in Figure 5). Most of those not included in this group are individuals aged 25 - 27 months, i.e. almost adults by the criterion of tooth maturity. There is reason to believe that their age is less accurately determined than that of the rest [Ibid]. Thus, there is a picture of winter slaughter of the majority of pig stock in the settlement of Sandy-1. Does this mean that it was inhabited only in winter? You don't have to-

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Figure 5. Death season of young pigs (and several roe deer) on the settlements of Peschany-1 and Zaisanovka-2 (for explanations, see the text).

absolutely! The population subordinated certain types of their activities to the specifics of a particular time of year. Thus, it is known that cultivated cereals (millet), fish, shellfish met most of the food needs in the warm season. If so, then Sandy-1 was a year-round settlement.

As noted above, there are significantly fewer pig bones at the Zaisanovka-2 monument, which means that there is also less information available. Only three lower jaws were used to determine the age and months in which the animals might have been killed (Figure 5). Roe deer also provide a fairly reliable way to determine the time of year (Legge and Rowley-Conwy, 1988) (Figure 5). The material is minimal, so only one can be made at the moment conclusion: there is no reason to claim that the settlement of Zaisanovka-2 was settled at a different time of year compared to Sandy-1. This is confirmed by data on the species diversity of fish that were caught by its inhabitants during all seasons. At the same time, there is no evidence of agricultural activity.

Discussion and conclusions

The Sandy-1 and Zaisanovka-2 monuments are almost simultaneous (about 2,500 years ago) and are located close to each other, but, nevertheless, there are a number of significant differences between them. This gives greater breadth to our understanding of the economic activity in Primorye in the Early Iron Age, and also makes us more cautious - we cannot hastily extrapolate data from one monument to the entire area of the Yankovsky archaeological culture.

Red deer and roe deer bones predominate in Zaisanovka-2 settlement, while in Peschanoe-1 they make up less than 30 % of all faunal remains (Fig. 6). Judging by the identified pig bones, the proportion of wild animals of this species is higher in the first monument than in the second. Dogs are less typical for Zaisanovka-2. Ultimately, only approx. 20% of the bone remains on this settlement belong to domestic animals, while on Sandy-1-more than 70 % (Fig. 6). However, it should be remembered that numerous fish bones were not taken into account.

There are several plausible explanations for why settlements are so different. One of them is the geographical features of the Primorye coast. The lagoon landscape in the area of Zaisanovka-2 is very conducive to hunting, fishing and gathering, which may have determined the corresponding ha-

6. Ratio of wild and domesticated animals (excluding fish) in the settlements of Peschany-1 and Zaisanovka-2.

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resource exploitation type. The settlement of Sand-1, although it was the same base camp, but the economic use zone included an open sea coast, inferior in diversity and productivity to lagoon ecosystems. Therefore, a more balanced system of life support with elements of both appropriating and producing farms has probably been formed here. All these questions will be clarified by further research.

In this paper, we wanted to show that faunal remains are a fruitful source of information about human activity. The main conclusion is that animal husbandry in the Southern Primorye region in the early Iron Age was more diverse than is often imagined. We have tried to show this based on the work of our predecessors and with the full knowledge that further research will make adjustments to the results presented here.

Acknowledgements

We thank I. E. Volvenko, an employee of the Zoological Museum of the Far Eastern State University, for allowing us to take measurements of wild boar skulls from the museum's collection. We are grateful to the Royal Society and the University of Dyram, who paid for P. Rowley-Conwy's trip to Vladivostok in 1997. P. Rowley-Conwy expresses his deep gratitude to the staff of the Laboratory of Human Paleoecology of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences for their great help and hospitality.

List of literature

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Ermolova N. M. Remains of mammals from shell heaps of the Sandy Peninsula / / MIA. - 1963. - N 112. - pp. 344-348.

Okladnikov A. P. Drevneye poselenie na peninsulov Peschanom u Vladivostok [An ancient settlement on the Peschanom Peninsula near Vladivostok].

Driesch A. E., von den. A Guide to the Measurement of Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites. - Cambridge, Massachussets: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 1976. - 137 p. - (Peabody Museum Bull.; N 1).

Higham C. F. W. Stock rearing as a cultural factor in prehistoric Europe // Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. - 1967. - Vol. 33. - P. 84 - 106.

Legge A. J., Rowley-Conwy P. A. Star Carr Revisited: A Re-Analysis of the Large Mammals. - L.: University of London, Centre for Extra-Mural Studies, 1988. - 145 p.

Nelson S. M. The Archaeology of Korea. - Cambridge: University Press, 1993. - 328 p. - (Cambridge World Archaeology).

Payne S., Bull G. Components of variation in measurements of pig bones and teeth, and the use of measurements to distinguish wild from domestic pig remains // ArchasoZoo-logia. - 1988. - Vol. 2. - P. 27 - 65.

Rowley-Conwy P. Meat, furs and skins: esolithic animal bones from Ringkloster, a seasonal hunting camp in Jutland // J. of Danish Archaeology. - 1998. - Vol. 12 (for 1994/95). - P. 87 - 98.

Rowley-Conwy P. Determination of season of death in European wild boar (Sus scrofa ferus): a preliminary study // Archaeological Sciences 1997: Proceedings of the Conference held at the University of Durham, 2 - 4 September 1997 / ed. by A. R. Millard. - Oxford: Archaeopress, 2001. - P. 133 - 139. - (BAR, Intern. Sen; N 939).

Rowley-Conwy P. Early domestic animals in Europe: imported or locally domesticated? // The Widening Harvest. The Neolithic Transition in Europe: Looking Forward, Looking Back: (Colloquia and Conference Papers 6) / eds. A. Ammerman, P. Biagi. - Boston: Archaeological Institute of America, 2003. - P. 99 - 117.

The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 16.06.08.

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