TEPHROCHRONOLOGICAL METHOD OF INVESTIGATION OF USHKI V SITE IN KAMCHATKA
I.Yu. Ponkratova
North-Eastern State University, 13 Portovaya str., Magadan, 685000, Russian Federation
Keywords: метод, тефра, тефрохронология, археология, Камчатка, ушковские стоянки, вулканы, извержения, катастрофы, сценарий, реакция населения, method, tephra, tephrochronology, archaeology, Kamchatka, Ushki sites, volcanoes, eruption, disaster scenario, population response
Abstract
About 40 major volcanic eruptions have occurred on the Kamchatka Peninsula over the last 10,000 14C years, which led to ecological changes throughout the peninsula. In turn, restructuring the environment has changed lives of human beings who lived through these events. A tephrochronological technique restores the history of volcanic deposits, which makes it possible to use it to specify the stratigraphy and chronology of archaeological sites; assume the reaction of inhabitants to volcanic activity in the region involving archaeological, ethnographic data. Based on the research of the multilayer Ushki V site , it was established that the territory of the modern Big Ushki Lake and surrounding areas were in the center of ash falls of the biggest catastrophic volcanic eruptions situated 30 to 630 km away from the place. For example, the population of a culture layer V (Initial Neolithic, 14C 7,705±38 BP (KIA-35,662) has been affected by a catastrophic eruption of the volcano Hangar (6,900 BP). The key episodes of volcanic activity were earthquakes, fires, devastating tsunamis, spreading eruptive clouds (ash falls) products, changes of relief, destruction and redistribution of biota, forming uninhabitable soil, etc. The population reacted to these phenomena by reducing sites and settlements, moving them to river banks, lake and sea coasts; this led to desolation of inhabited places during the period of 1,000 to 2,000 years. According to ethnographic data, volcanic eruptions and their consequences were reflected in omens, prognostications, faiths, and in granting anthropomorphic qualities to volcanoes. The fear and doom in the face of the forces of nature were in the basis of them all. In the future, interpretation of the data obtained based on the tephrochronological method allows reconstructing the environment in time, to identify patterns of changes of human living conditions in certain periods. The author does not exclude, that the stages of settling Kamchatka, changes in technologies, and, possibly, in population were related to catastrophic eruptions.
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