Introduction: - PowerPoint Presentation

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Introduction:

Markers of Reindeer HusbandryMethodological Seminar

David G. Anderson Univ. of Aberdeen

NordForsk Researcher Network “Rangifer Domus” site.uit.no/rangiferdomus Slide2

Nordforsk Researcher NetworkTo develop new methodsTo broaden collaboration across the Nordic world and internationally

To assist in gathering samples – sharing laboratory facilities

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Opening seminar, Tromsø Museum, Nov 2011Slide3

Scandinavian and Russian conversations on pollen analysisPollen analysis as an aid to geological researchPollen analysis describing climate change

Trees – Grasses – Cereals – Plants & AnimalsReindeer Husbandry in the pastMilking corralsHabitation sitesReindeer Husbandry TodayMilking corrals

Habitation sites

3Ust’-Nechera, Bodaibo districtSlide4

Methods and ProblemsSamplingPeat myres

vs humified peat and calcified soilsUnbroken columns vs. samples from selected strataSmall slivers of soil (1 cc) vs large blocks

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Methods and ProblemsDescriptions and RepresentationsSoil categories: colour and texture vs

Troels-SmithTiliaModern plant communities

vs palynological communities

5Novyi Kilgol, S-B districtSlide6

Methods and ProblemsNew ThemesLandscape ethnoecology

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Methods and ProblemsNew ThemesFungal spore analysis

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Preface: Evocative Landscapes9Slide10

Лайда - Laida

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TheQuestion of Agency in SpaceIan Hodder - The Domestication of Europe

A symbolic opposition of Domus and Agrios11

Domus as Centre

Agrios as CentreAgrios as peripheryDomus as periphery

Fig 4.6 The shift in the relative importance of the domus and agrios through time. p. 96Slide12

Domus as viewed by both Homo Sapiens and RangiferBotanical Conversations: What plants speak to us of.Laboratory conversations: Searching for and representing ‘hard’ data that gives voice to landscape forms

Ethnographic Conversations: Tracking the Yearly Round of People, Moose, and ReindeerTopogenesis: the mutual interest of rangifer and other species in similar places

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The ‘paradox’ of swampy dry places13Slide14

Botanical Conversations14Slide15

Laboratory

Conversations

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Tilia chart by Edward Schofield, Univ of Aberdeen

‘Paradoxical’ rises in both dry and damp tolerant plants – a possible ecological marker of reindeer grazingSlide16

16Climate Agency: The ‘Natural’ Alternation of Dark and Damp with Dry

Analysis by Elena BezrukovaSlide17

Ethnographic Conversations: The Yearly Round

Winter in the uplands – shallow snow

Early spring migration to grass meadows

Summer smoke fires (smudges) and shadeSpring and autumn coralling17A mixed economy- porterage, moose hunting, milking, forestrySlide18

Landscape Ethnoecology

Local landscape terminology often does not easily translate into botanical categories.Often these terms mix qualities of agency, biophysical qualities, function, and climate.

Examples: Moss as a type of earth; ‘Good’ placesEthnoecologies help to identify problems in how formal science classifies the world

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Topogenesis

Aian -

Perevoz

Kever – Bazarnaia reka

Poliana – Ostrov –

Lake Tolondo

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ConclusionsHuman-Rangifer relationships are an ‘emplaced’ relationship.

This creates complex interstitial categories which complicate geophysical analysis or often appear as ‘static’ or ‘error’.In adjudicating the debate between climate created space, and anthropogenesis, it seems that both work together to create ‘good’ placesRangifer are neither wild nor tame. Homo Sapiens is part of the Rangifer

Domus20Slide21

With thanks to:21

Ed Schofield, University of AberdeenElena Bezrukova, СО РАНNatal’ia

Kulagina, СО РАНMika Lavento, University of HelsinkiPeter Jordan, University of Aberdeen

The Research Council of NorwayThe National Science Foundation, USAThe Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of CanadaNordForsk Slide22

The North Baikal Region

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4 Sites: Ozernyi, Ust’-Nichera, Kilgoi, Lake Tolondo

strong continental climate mediated by Lake Baikal relatively late end to glaciation high tundra plateaus interspersed with steppe-like refugesCentrally involved in the fur trade from 18th century and gold mining from the mid-19th centurySlide23

North Baikal Evenki-Iakuts

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Zone 1:Vasinium

uliginosumFestuca ovina

Poa pratanesisChamaenerion

angustifoliumErigeron acrisTanasetum vulgare24Phyto-botanical zonesOzernyiSlide25

Zone 2:Carex

cespitosaComarum palustre

Rubus arcticusGeranium sp.

Poa pratanesisTrolliuis kytmanoviiSwertia obtusa25Phyto-botanical zones

OzernyiSlide26

Zone 3:Vassinium

uliginosumVassinium vitis-idea

Lonicera pallisi

Festuca rubraChameenerion angustifoliumCalamagrostis epigeois26Phyto-botanical zonesNovyi KilgolSlide27

Conclusions - There is no single marker of either human habitation or reindeer trampling. -

However, the concept of a sinantropic (companion) plant community captures the visual feel of a reindeer herding area- This concept overlaps with ethnoecological terminology

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Phyto-botanical zonesSlide28

Spore and Pollen AnalysisAttempt to trace plant-family communities into the pastAn attempt to identify bio-indicators of reindeer husbandry

Esp. plant communities distinguished by ordersCoprophilious fungusHigh resolution 0.5cm resolution (different than standard practice in Russian archaeology)Use of Lycopodium markers to measure pollen accumulation rates

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Lake Tolondo, Zhuia river

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Lake Tolondo Zhuia River

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Tilia

chart by Edward Schofield, Univ of AberdeenSlide31

Lake Tolondo Zhuia River

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Tilia

chart by Edward Schofield, Univ of Aberdeen

A unique interrupted hydrological event, and marked by fire at the topSlide32

Lake Tolondo Zhuia River

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A classic rise in meadow species

Tilia

chart by Edward Schofield, Univ of AberdeenSlide33

Lake Tolondo Zhuia River

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A classic rise in meadow species, with a decline in light shrubs

Tilia

chart by Edward Schofield, Univ of AberdeenSlide34

Lake Tolondo Zhuia River

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Sharp rises in

coprophillious

fungus associated with domestic animals

Tilia

chart by Edward Schofield, Univ of AberdeenSlide35

Conclusions – Pollen AnalysisNo clear plant marker of reindeer husbandryCoprophillious fungus provides the best indicator

Model of plant communities provides a second marker – esp ‘paradoxical’ co presence of dry and wet typesPossible occupancy dated to 10th Century by plant communities, 17th

Century by fungal markers

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Conclusions – Pollen AnalysisPotentially interesting interaction with climate caused changeReindeer herding camps are placed on special ‘

interzonal’ places between alpine tundra and taiga, often on an ancient, gravelly moraineThese interzonal places provide ‘affordances’ for a ‘good place’ to live.Interzonal places if not used by people with deer might well be colonized by migratory wild deer, who in turn attract people

A ‘hearth’ of domestication?

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Conclusions – Reflections on Methods and ColloborationOur group also worked in an international collaborative setting supported by a reindeer herding community.

The project served as meeting point of different methods in archaeology, ethnography and palynology, enskilling the practitioners Emphasis on fine resolution records

Attention directed to new plant and pollen typesIncreased attention to vernacular models of landscape

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Conclusions – Reflections on Methods and ColloborationHowever, we encountered a severe problem with permafrost requiring the use of ‘dried’

myres – which produces patchy or noisy results.We continue to debate with colleagues about the impact of large scale climate change on the production of these meadows which afford a place for life.

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A Model

A sudden drying of a glacial moraine after a significant hydrological event

Meadow grasses exploited by migratory wild reindeer, spring and autumnDomestic reindeer kept on the same meadows4) In the Russian imperial and early Soviet period, new forms of agriculture including garden plots, haying, pasturing of horses with reindeer5) In the middle Soviet period, intensive haying and seeding of cereals

6) Extensive industrial impacts, burning, in the late Soviet period

7) A period of decline in the post-Soviet periodSlide41

41Phosphate Activity Areas

Chart and analysis by Mika LaventoSlide42

Lake Tolondo Zhuia River

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