Hiatus in prehistoric chronology of the Cis-Baikal region, Siberia: Pattern or artifact?

Abstract

The problem of a hiatus at about 6100-5300 BP (about 4900-4200 cal BC) in the prehistoric chronology of the Cis-Baikal region in Siberia is discussed. Based on a critical evaluation of existing evidence, there was no discontinuity found in the cultural sequence between the Kitoi and Serovo/Glazkovo complexes of the Neolithic, and the proposed "hiatus" may be an artifact based on underestimation of solid data. Conventional 14C dates are presented that were generated in the 1980s to early 2000s for Cis-Baikal prehistoric burial grounds, and were later dated by the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). © 2007 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.