V. I. Bazaliiskiy and N. A. Savelyev
shanks, a fragment of a beaver canine, three bone needles, three prismatic blades, a fragment
of a flint blade, and a point made on a prismatic blade.
There were at least two burials here. The lower jaw and the above-mentioned bones
represented the remains of a Mesolithic burial, whose uncalibrated age was 7750 ± 70 B. P.
(
TO–6482). The grave goods are likely to belong to that burial. Judging by radiocarbon
estimates the burial of the wolf was carried out 500 years later, i.e. 7230 ± 40 BP (GIN–
84a). The skull was found in full anatomical order in a small pit specially dug for it under
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the wolf’s skeleton. Its jaws were pressed together, with atlas and axis under the ribs of wolf’s
skeleton, which suggests the human head was buried with the wolf. A radiocarbon date has
yet to be received for this skull, but the colour of both the skull and the wolf’s bones is
identical. However, the skull’s craniometric parameters differ from those of the general
population of the cemetery.
It remains a mystery how this cold-climate animal found itself thousands of miles away
from its natural habitat, in the south of Baikal area of Siberia, given that this was the period
of climatic optimum, with high humidity and a warm climate. Its species is absent from the
paleontological collections that have been put together in this territory. It seems likely that
its appearance is owed to human agency. One can guess this wolf played a very important
role in the life of ancient society, because it is very unusual for this animal to be buried in a
specially created grave. There is abundant archaeological evidence for buried dogs in Late
Mesolithic and Early Neolithic cemeteries: for example, the joint burial of a man and two
dogs was found on the island of Olkhon (Lake Baikal) (Konopatskiy 1982: 44) and numerous
burials of dogs were also recorded at the site of Skateholm I (Larsson 1988). This is
understandable with dogs being man’s helper in everyday life – but there is no previous
evidence for an individually buried wolf.
Date and context of the cemetery
In terms of its rites and grave goods the “Lokomotiv” cemetery belongs to the Kitoy culture
of the Neolithic age in the Baikal region. The first burial complexes of this culture were
excavated by N. I. Vitkovskiy in 1880–1881 in the cemetery on the left bank of the Angara
at the mouth of the Kitoy. Up to the present, 27 locations with cemeteries and separate
burials belonging to the Kitoy culture have been discovered. They correspond to the
chronological period of 7200–6000 BP.
The uncalibrated age of the burial complexes described above is between 7–6000 BP with
the wolf initiating the sequence. The analysis of human bones in the laboratory of L. D.
Sulerzhitskiy (GIN, Moscow) has yielded 19 radiocarbon dates which suggest that the cemetery
functioned for a period of ca. 800 years (Table 4). The given series of radiocarbon data testify
that in the north-Asian context the burials of the cemetery are younger than the Fofanovo
and Molodov cemeteries and are contemporary with the cemeteries and separate burials of
the Baikal Siberia. In the north-European context the “Lokomotiv” cemetery is contemporary
with Skateholm II and Vedbaek, older than the Skateholm I and younger than Olenii Ostrov
(Larsson, L. 1988, p. 368; Alberthsen, Petersen, 1976, p. 4; Mamonova, Sulerzshyzkiy, 1989).
Similarity with these sites may be observed in some elements of the funeral ritual – absence
of constructions over the graves, covering with ochre, inhumation in supine position, prevailing
eastern and northern directions in the orientation of the deceased and a great number of
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