Abstract
Archaeological and paleoecological investigations of Neolithization processes in Southern Primorye (or the Maritime Region) of the Russian Far East are generating new insight into the complex interactions between human populations and the natural environment during the Middle Holocene. Dynamic coastal and terrestrial ecosystems have been linked to transformations in the paleoeconomy and social structure of prehistoric societies that gave rise to the Boisman Neolithic culture (7500–4500 BP) of coastal hunter-fisher-gatherers. These human–environment relations are reconstructed in the current paper, drawing from a wide range of available evidence.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Junzo Uchiyama (Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto), Dr. Shinji Ito (Kokugakuin University, Tokyo), Professor Peter Jordan (Arctic Centre, University of Groningen, The Netherlands) and Dr. Chris Gillam (University of South Carolina) for productive cooperation and for comments on various aspects of the Neolithic and Neolithization in the Russian Far East.
This paper is an output of the international project ‘Neolithisation and Modernisation’ (NEOMAP), hosted by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (Kyoto, Japan). Participation in this project provided inspiration for multi-disciplinary research into the cultural processes and landscape dynamics of the Maritime Region (Popov et al. 2007), and is stimulating the application of the concept of ‘Neolithization’ to the archaeology of the Russian Far East via a range of publications, conferences and new projects (Popov et al. 2009). This ongoing program of research is supported by the Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia.
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Popov, A.N., Tabarev, A.V. & Mikishin, Y.A. Neolithization and Ancient Landscapes in Southern Primorye, Russian Far East. J World Prehist 27, 247–261 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-014-9073-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-014-9073-1