The Wolf of Baikal: the “Lokomotiv” Early Neolithic Cemetery in Siberia (Russia)

• Published in: Antiquity
• Main Authors: Bazaliiskiy, V. I., Savelyev, N. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2003
• Subjects: General Arts and Humanities; Archeology; Tundra; Siberia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00061317; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0003598X00061317

The authors present a synopsis of research on the remarkable early Neolithic cemetery near Lake Baikal known as “The Lokomotiv” which was first discovered by the constructors of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the 1880s. A current campaign of research is beginning to understand the great variety of the burial rites and their contexts. The rites include communal burials, burial in pairs head to toe and decapitation before burial, the position of the skull being sometimes taken by a carved object. Among the earliest graves was one containing a Tundra wolf.