Faunistic Remains from Medieval Ust-Chyorninsky Hillfort in South-East Transbaikal Region

The article presents the results of studying an osteological collection obtained during the dig of the medieval Ust-Chyornynsky hillfort on the Shilka river in Transbaikal region. The analysis of the material has enabled the authors to throw light on the variety of game and domestic animals in use by the inhabitants of the hillfort at the turn of the first and the second millennia C.E. On the basis of the quantitative data the peculiarities of hunting activities and the structure of domestic herd have been revealed. The collation with the data of medieval monuments of the region under investigation and the neighbouring territories lying in the South of Russian the Far East reveals the uniqueness of the collection for SouthEast Transbaikal region, as osteological materials of such plenitude have not been collected here before. Together with the data collected earlier on other constituents of life-supporting system (growing crops and gathering wild plants), the results obtained give a fairly complete account of the peculiarities of economic adaptation of Mohe migrants who arrived in this region of the Upper Amur region from the territory of the Middle-Amur lowland.

Keywords: the Transbaikal region, the Shilka river, Ust-Chyorninsky hillfort, Middle Ages, Mohe, osteological remains, mammals, predators, domestic animals