Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the Baikal Region, Siberia: Bioarchaeological Studies of Past Life Ways

The Baikal Archaeology Project consists of an international and multidisciplinary team studying Middle Holocene (about 9000 to 3000 BP) hunter-gatherers of Siberia's Lake Baikal region. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the project includes scholars in archaeology, physical anthropology, ethnography, molecular biology, geophysics, geochemistry, and paleoenvironmental studies. This volume presents the current team's research findings on questions about long-term patterns of hunter-gatherer adaptive strategies. Grounded in interdisciplinary approaches to primary research questions of cultural change and continuity over 6,000 years, the project utilizes advanced research methods and integrates diverse lines of evidence in making fundamental and lasting contributions to hunter-gatherer archaeology. Baikal is an archaeologically unique and emerging area of hunter-gatherer research, offering insights on the complexity, variability, and dynamics of long-term culture change. The exceptional quality of archaeological materials facilitates interdisciplinary studies whose relevance extends far beyond the region. This project is one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted in the history of Subarctic archaeology.

Andrzej Weber is Professor of Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology, University of Alberta, Edmonton. M. Anne Katzenberg, F.R.S.C., is University Professor, University of Calgary. Theodore G. Schurr is Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.