First dendro-archaeological evidence of a completely excavated medieval settlement in the extreme north of Western Siberia

Текст статьи не публикуется в открытом доступе в соответствии с политикой журнала.The Buchta Nakhodka settlement is the only archaeological site in the northern part of Western Siberia that has been fully excavated. This well-preserved settlement on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula around 67° N and 72° E, however, has not yet been calendar dated, and the cultural identity of its inhabitants still remains unknown. Here we apply, for the first time, dendrochronological techniques to absolutely date 13 of the most important archaeological timbers from the Buchta Nakhodka settlement. Statistical robust cross-dating results place the construction into the second quarter of the 13th century. The Buchta Nakhodka settlement reveals no obvious connection with the modern, nomadic population of Yamal, the Nenets. Together with a careful literature review, this study indicates that the closest construction techniques and subsequent settlement forms can be found on Iceland and across northern Fennoscandia, where Sami people are building their houses in a similar way. Our combined archaeological, dendrochronological, ethnographical and (archaeo)zoological evidence suggests that the ancient inhabitants of Buchta Nakhodka were closely related to the Sihirtya people that were often mentioned in ancient Nenets folklore as legendary people who inhabited the Yamal Peninsula previously. In providing unique insights into the medieval settlement history of the northern part of Western Siberia, we hope to encourage further interdisciplinary research projects to be launched at Eurasia’s high-northern latitudes

First dendro-archaeological evidence of a completely excavated medieval settlement in the extreme north of Western Siberia

Текст статьи не публикуется в открытом доступе в соответствии с политикой журнала.The Buchta Nakhodka settlement is the only archaeological site in the northern part of Western Siberia that has been fully excavated. This well-preserved settlement on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula around 67° N and 72° E, however, has not yet been calendar dated, and the cultural identity of its inhabitants still remains unknown. Here we apply, for the first time, dendrochronological techniques to absolutely date 13 of the most important archaeological timbers from the Buchta Nakhodka settlement. Statistical robust cross-dating results place the construction into the second quarter of the 13th century. The Buchta Nakhodka settlement reveals no obvious connection with the modern, nomadic population of Yamal, the Nenets. Together with a careful literature review, this study indicates that the closest construction techniques and subsequent settlement forms can be found on Iceland and across northern Fennoscandia, where Sami people are building their houses in a similar way. Our combined archaeological, dendrochronological, ethnographical and (archaeo)zoological evidence suggests that the ancient inhabitants of Buchta Nakhodka were closely related to the Sihirtya people that were often mentioned in ancient Nenets folklore as legendary people who inhabited the Yamal Peninsula previously. In providing unique insights into the medieval settlement history of the northern part of Western Siberia, we hope to encourage further interdisciplinary research projects to be launched at Eurasia’s high-northern latitudes

Periods of Construction (Reconstruction) of Nadymsky Gorodok: Dendrochronological Aspect

This work is devoted to the application of dendrochronological methods to establish the time of construction and reconstruction of the archaeological monument named Nadymsky gorodok where located 60 km to the north-north-west from the town of Nadym, Yamal-Nenets autonomous area, Tyumen region. We discussed aspects related to the building of tree-ring chronologies of different tree species and their cross-dating and relation with calendar periods. The next periods of construction (reconstruction) of Nadymsky gorodok were distinguished: the third decade of the XV century, middle of seventh – beginning of eighth decade of the XV century, end of XV – beginning of XVI century, the third or fourth decade of the XVI century, the first quarter of the XVII century. Generalized tree-ring chronology of Nadymsky gorodok was built and covered the period from 1010 to 1616 ADСтатья посвящена вопросам применения дендрохронологического метода для установления времени сооружения и перестройки археологического памятника – Надымского городка. Рассмотрены методические аспекты, связанные с построением древесно-кольцевых хронологий по разным древесным породам, их перекрестной датировке и календарной привязке. Полученные результаты позволили установить периоды сооружения (перестройки) анализируемого памятника: второе–третье десятилетия XV в., середина седьмого – начало восьмого десятилетия XV в., конец XV – начало XVI столетия, третье-четвертое десятилетия XVI в., первая четверть XVII в. – и построить обобщенную древесно-кольцевую хронологию «надым», отражающую многолетнюю изменчивость годичного прироста древесной растительности в среднем и нижнем течении р. Нады

Periods of Construction (Reconstruction) of Nadymsky Gorodok: Dendrochronological Aspect

This work is devoted to the application of dendrochronological methods to establish the time of construction and reconstruction of the archaeological monument named Nadymsky gorodok where located 60 km to the north-north-west from the town of Nadym, Yamal-Nenets autonomous area, Tyumen region. We discussed aspects related to the building of tree-ring chronologies of different tree species and their cross-dating and relation with calendar periods. The next periods of construction (reconstruction) of Nadymsky gorodok were distinguished: the third decade of the XV century, middle of seventh – beginning of eighth decade of the XV century, end of XV – beginning of XVI century, the third or fourth decade of the XVI century, the first quarter of the XVII century. Generalized tree-ring chronology of Nadymsky gorodok was built and covered the period from 1010 to 1616 ADСтатья посвящена вопросам применения дендрохронологического метода для установления времени сооружения и перестройки археологического памятника – Надымского городка. Рассмотрены методические аспекты, связанные с построением древесно-кольцевых хронологий по разным древесным породам, их перекрестной датировке и календарной привязке. Полученные результаты позволили установить периоды сооружения (перестройки) анализируемого памятника: второе–третье десятилетия XV в., середина седьмого – начало восьмого десятилетия XV в., конец XV – начало XVI столетия, третье-четвертое десятилетия XVI в., первая четверть XVII в. – и построить обобщенную древесно-кольцевую хронологию «надым», отражающую многолетнюю изменчивость годичного прироста древесной растительности в среднем и нижнем течении р. Нады

Climate Change Increases Drought Stress of Juniper Trees in the Mountains of Central Asia

Assessments of climate change impacts on forests and their vitality are essential for semi-arid environments such as Central Asia, where the mountain regions belong to the globally important biodiversity hotspots. Alterations in species distribution or drought-induced tree mortality might not only result in a loss of biodiversity but also in a loss of other ecosystem services. Here, we evaluate spatial trends and patterns of the growth-climate relationship in a tree-ring network comprising 33 juniper sites from the northern Pamir-Alay and Tien Shan mountain ranges in eastern Uzbekistan and across Kyrgyzstan for the common period 1935-2011. Junipers growing at lower elevations are sensitive to summer drought, which has increased in intensity during the studied period. At higher elevations, juniper growth, previously favored by warm summer temperatures, has in the recent few decades become negatively affected by increasing summer aridity. Moreover, response shifts are observed during all seasons. Rising temperatures and alterations in precipitation patterns during the past eight decades can account for the observed increase in drought stress of junipers at all altitudes. The implications of our findings are vital for the application of adequate long-term measures of ecosystem conservation, but also for paleo-climatic approaches and coupled climate-vegetation model simulations for Central Asia

Climate Change Increases Drought Stress of Juniper Trees in the Mountains of Central Asia - Fig 4

<p><b>Changes in juniper growth from the 1935–1964 to 1982–2011 period a) spatially interpolated from the 33 sites (black dots) and b) shown as a function of altitude.</b> Red dots denote the sites closest CRU grid point.</p

Changes in climate from the 1935–1964 to 1982–2011 period spatially interpolated from the climate data (CRU grid point, red dots) closest to the tree-ring sites (black dots) for a) winter (previous year December to current year February, pDJF) and b) summer (June–August; JJA) temperature and c) winter and d) summer precipitation.

<p>Changes in climate from the 1935–1964 to 1982–2011 period spatially interpolated from the climate data (CRU grid point, red dots) closest to the tree-ring sites (black dots) for a) winter (previous year December to current year February, pDJF) and b) summer (June–August; JJA) temperature and c) winter and d) summer precipitation.</p

Juniper sampling sites (black dots) and closest CRU grid point data (red dots) in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

<p>Westerly winds (A; orange arrow in inset) dominate the study area causing continental climatic conditions at the sites. Climate charts show absolute annual (numbers) and monthly temperature means (red shades) and precipitation sums (blue shades) for all CRU grid points for each region over the period 1961–1990. Monsoonal influences (blue arrows) are depicted for the Indian Summer Monsoon (B) and East Asian Summer Monsoon (C), respectively, while ITCZ stands for Intertropical Convergence Zone (purple line; after Lutgens and Tarbuck, 2001 [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0153888#pone.0153888.ref031" target="_blank">31</a>]). Topographic features are indicated by digital elevation model data in grey colors.</p

Changes in climate response for the June–August (JJA) season of all 33 sites (black dots) with its closest CRU grid point dataset (red dots) from the 1935–1964 to 1982–2011 period.

<p>Differences in <b>a)</b> temperature and <b>c)</b> precipitation response were spatially interpolated. TRW sites with significant correlations for one of the periods are shown as a function of elevation for <b>b)</b> temperature (15 sites) and <b>d)</b> precipitation (22 sites) with the unfiltered and filtered (see legend and numbers in brackets) data.</p