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NUMBER 89 133
{Anser albifrons (Scopoli)) and Bean geese {Anser fabalis
(Latham)), and Eurasian Wigeons {Anas penelope Linnaeus).
These species each make up 8% to 34% of all individuals.
Geese and swans were presumably hunted during the very
short molting season (mid-July) or during migration. Hunting
molting geese was a common practice for local tribes at the
Lena River mouth (Kosarev, 1987b) and the Kolyma River
(Wrangel, 1848) in the eighteenth century.
The relative numbers of each of the skeletal elements of waterfowl
are similar to those for Willow Ptarmigans (Figure
2B,C), although few or no sterna of swans or of Greater Whitefronted
or Bean Geese were found. The sternum, as would be
the case for other inedible parts of the skeleton, was presumably
used for a variety of purposes. The 17 spoons examined
from the site were made of bird sterna belonging to loons {Gavia
sp., 11 spoons), a goose (1) a Greater White-fronted Goose
(1), eagles {Aquila chrysaetos (Linnaeus) or Haliaeetus albicilla
(Linnaeus)) (2), a Mallard {Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus)
(1), and an Oldsquaw {Clangula hyemalis (Linnaeus)) (1).
Moshinskaya (1953) considered the spoons made of large-waterfowl
sterna to be the most archaic elements among the
spoon-like tools that might have been used by inhabitants in rituals
at the site. Production of various types of spoons from bird
sterna has been well documented in recent times. The Mansi
used bone spoons during sacrificial and burial rituals, and in
Nenets folklore, the main hero Pornene, half woman and half
bear, used the sternum of a swan as a spoon (Moshinskaya,
1953).
Northern Pintails {Anas acuta Linnaeus) and Green-winged
Teal {Anas crecca Linnaeus) are represented primarily by
wings. Northern Pintails are rare in the bone remains from this
site, although they have been very numerous in the lower Ob'
region in recent times. People of northern Russia still use duck
wings with brightly colored feathers as a decoration for clothing
and housewares. Today, bird wings are used for applying
cooking oil when preparing pancakes or other foods in rural
houses and in Russia's urban areas. The people of the lower
Kolyma region commonly use wings of geese as rubbish brushes
(brooms) in their cabins (E.R. Potapov, pers. comm., 1997).
In the past, wings of Northern Shovelers {Anas clypeata Linnaeus),
Northern Pintails, and Green-winged Teals were probably
used for similar purposes.
Loons and gulls, which are migratory species, can be obtained
in the lower Ob' River region between May and August
(Flint, 1988; Yudin and Firsova, 1988). The relatively few remains
of loons and Herring Gulls {Larus argentatus Pontoppidan)
at Ust'Polusik, species common in the lakes and rivers of
the tundra-forest zone today, could suggest that these species
were rarely hunted and were less desirable. It also could indicate
that they were less common 2000 years ago. The skeletalelement
representation of these species is similar to that of the
Willow Ptarmigan and suggests full utilization by ancient hunters
(Figure 3A). The skins of loons and Great Crested Grebes
{Podiceps cristatus (Linnaeus)) now are greatly valued for
their use in clothing (Kolosov et al., 1975), and these species
might have been hunted in the site area for the same purpose.
Loons could have been used for fat, which generally is of great
value for northern peoples. Between 1000 BC and medieval
times, inhabitants of the Udal and Buckquoy sites, in the Outer
Hebrides and Orkney Islands, respectively, hunted loons exclusively
for fat (Serjeantson, 1988); however, gull remains at Mesolithic
and early medieval sites in northern Scandinavia and
Scotland are rare (A.K. Hufthammer, pers. comm., 1991; Serjeantson,
1988). Therefore, it is probable that rather than being
less desirable species, loons and gulls were less common in the
Ust' Poluisk area when the site was occupied.
The remains of owls at Ust' Poluisk belong to three large
species: the Snowy Owl {Nyctea scandiaca (Linnaeus)), which
is the most abundant; the Eagle Owl {Bubo bubo (Linnaeus));
and the Great Gray Owl {Strix nebulosa Forster). Among the
bird images on tools and kitchenware found at the site, there
was one bronze, stylized owl (Adrianov, MSc). Because of the
frequency of their remains, it appears that owls were specifically
hunted. Derugin (1898) reported that the local people hunted
owls in autumn and winter, when owls accumulated large quantities
of fat and were considered a delicacy. Their wings were
subsequently used as fans against mosquitoes. The Samoeds
(Nentsy), of the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, hunted owls using
nooses fixed on high poles (Shukhov, 1915) and using traps at
nests (Zhitkov, 1912). Indians of the North American Great
Plains treated owls as a superstitious power and sometimes
even as a medicine. They kept owls in captivity for soothsaying
and used their feathers (especially those of the Great Horned
Owl, Bubo virginianus (Gmelin)) for ceremonies and dances.
Some tribes utilized certain species of owls for food, and there
is evidence that the Arikara Indians ate Great Horned Owls
(Parmalee, 1977a).
At the sacrificial area of the Ust' Poluisk site, a number of
bones of Golden and White-tailed Eagles were found. Golden
Eagles {Aquila chrysaetos) were represented by disproportionately
high numbers of skulls, one of which has had the upper
part completely cut off (Figure 4c,D). White-tailed Eagles
{Haliaeetus albicilla) were represented by full sets of bones
(Figures 3B,C), and, unlike Golden Eagles, they were buried intact.
The different proportions of skeletal elements suggest different
uses for these species.
Among the bones of White-tailed Eagles, one tibia and one
ulna (out of a minimum of 10 individuals found at the site) had
been broken and had grown back together (Figure 4A,B). Birds
with healed broken bones are rare in the wild. In the remains
from the Ust' Poluisk site there were only two other cases of
knitted fractures found: one femur of a Willow Ptarmigan
(0.5% of individuals) and one fibula of a Greater White-fronted
Goose (2.0% of individuals). Among several thousand Pleistocene
bones from the Binagady asphalts (eastern Caucasus),
only two were found with knitted fractures: one mallard and
one Steppe Eagle {Aquila rapax Temminck) (Burchak-Abramovich,
1949, 1968). In ducks, healed fractures may be found