Late Glacial hunter-gatherer pottery in the Russian Far East : Indications of diversity in origins and use

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

Феномен искусства череповидных личин петроглифов Нижнего Амура

In the Lower Amur basin, there are numerous monuments of rock art. They are characterized by the predominance of skull masks. The semantic content of these artifacts allows to identify them as the main attributes of the rituals of the secret male unions. At the end of the Stone Age and the early Metal Age, the power of men and patrilineal kinship begin to prevail. The ancient model of the world was changed. The importance of the underground world and inevitability of death was dominating in the minds of the people. Authority was claimed through rituals with human sacrifices and cannibalism. The leader of the ritual was wearing a skull-type radiant mask. It was also drawn on the stones as the accumulation of power of the spirit-man-eater and called the “pile of cannibal”. These facts are also observed in the rituals, folklore and petroglyphs of the Indians in Canada and North America. The theme of cannibalism is also present in the myths of the Amur indigenous peoples. The article describes the concept of the ideogram the “pile of cannibal” in the Lower Amur petroglyphs. The ideogram is presented as a three-part model of the world. The paper discusses the ideogram the “pile of cannibal” of Sikachi-Alyan and Sheremetyevo. This ideology and rituals could have been brought to America by the migrants from the Amur River basinВ бассейне Нижнего Амура расположены памятники наскального искусства. Основной их при- знак – череповидные личины. Семантическое содержание артефактов позволяет расценивать их как атрибуты ритуалов тайных мужских союзов. На рубеже каменного века и ранних ме- таллов в социумах утверждалась власть мужчин и патрилинейное родство; была изменена древняя модель мира; в сознании закреплялась значимость нижней сферы и неизбежность смерти. Власть утверждалась ритуалами с человеческими жертвоприношениями с канни- бализмом. На руководителе мистерий была маска-череп в лучах, её наносили на камни как средоточие силы духа-людоеда и называли «столбом людоеда». Это прослежено в обрядах, фольклоре и петроглифах индейцев Канады и Северной Америки. Тема людоедства содержит- ся и в мифах аборигенов Амура. В статье изложена концепция идеограммы «столб людоеда» в петроглифах Нижнего Амура. Она трактована как модель мира. В Америку эти традиции могли занести мигранты из района Амур

Феномен искусства череповидных личин петроглифов Нижнего Амура

In the Lower Amur basin, there are numerous monuments of rock art. They are characterized by the predominance of skull masks. The semantic content of these artifacts allows to identify them as the main attributes of the rituals of the secret male unions. At the end of the Stone Age and the early Metal Age, the power of men and patrilineal kinship begin to prevail. The ancient model of the world was changed. The importance of the underground world and inevitability of death was dominating in the minds of the people. Authority was claimed through rituals with human sacrifices and cannibalism. The leader of the ritual was wearing a skull-type radiant mask. It was also drawn on the stones as the accumulation of power of the spirit-man-eater and called the “pile of cannibal”. These facts are also observed in the rituals, folklore and petroglyphs of the Indians in Canada and North America. The theme of cannibalism is also present in the myths of the Amur indigenous peoples. The article describes the concept of the ideogram the “pile of cannibal” in the Lower Amur petroglyphs. The ideogram is presented as a three-part model of the world. The paper discusses the ideogram the “pile of cannibal” of Sikachi-Alyan and Sheremetyevo. This ideology and rituals could have been brought to America by the migrants from the Amur River basinВ бассейне Нижнего Амура расположены памятники наскального искусства. Основной их при- знак – череповидные личины. Семантическое содержание артефактов позволяет расценивать их как атрибуты ритуалов тайных мужских союзов. На рубеже каменного века и ранних ме- таллов в социумах утверждалась власть мужчин и патрилинейное родство; была изменена древняя модель мира; в сознании закреплялась значимость нижней сферы и неизбежность смерти. Власть утверждалась ритуалами с человеческими жертвоприношениями с канни- бализмом. На руководителе мистерий была маска-череп в лучах, её наносили на камни как средоточие силы духа-людоеда и называли «столбом людоеда». Это прослежено в обрядах, фольклоре и петроглифах индейцев Канады и Северной Америки. Тема людоедства содержит- ся и в мифах аборигенов Амура. В статье изложена концепция идеограммы «столб людоеда» в петроглифах Нижнего Амура. Она трактована как модель мира. В Америку эти традиции могли занести мигранты из района Амур