ArchaeoCafé - Episode 2-01 - A hundred and one uses for reindeer: An interview with Tatiana Nomokonova

In this episode, I talk with Tatiana Nomokonova about zooarchaeology, reindeer herding, scapulae, and ethnoarchaeology in Siberia.

Episode notes are available on the ArchaeoCafé website.
http://archaeocafe.kvasirpublishing.com/archaeocafe-podcast-ep-201-nomokonova

About Tatiana Nomokonova

Dr. Nomokonova is a zooarchaeologist at the University of Saskatchewan. She has led and participated in several multidisciplinary international projects focusing on human-animal relationships in the North. These projects include studies of Nenets reindeer domestication practices on the Iamal Peninsula in the Russian Arctic, the life histories of ancient dogs in the Circumpolar North, interactions between Indigenous people and Baikal seals, and the diets and subsistence practices of boreal forest hunter-gatherers and pastoralists in Eastern Siberia. All of these projects involve integration of zooarchaeology and ethnography, and collaborative work with Indigenous communities.

Web:
https://artsandscience.usask.ca/profile/TNomokonova#/profile
https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=_tdryDoAAAAJ
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tatiana-Nomokonova-2
https://usask.academia.edu/TatianaNomokonova

Some useful terminology and links

Iamal Peninsula
[Russian: полуо́стров Яма́л] (also written as "Yamal Peninsula")
Located in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of northwest Siberia, Russia. In the language of its indigenous inhabitants, the Nenets, "Yamal" means "End of the Land".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamal_Peninsula

Nenets
A Samoyedic ethnic group native to northern arctic Russia. Their main subsistence comes from hunting and reindeer herding. Using reindeer as a draft animal throughout the year enables them to cover great distances.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nenets_people

Scapulimancy
the practice of divination by use of shoulder blade bones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapulimancy

Iarte VI and Ust’-Polui
Iron Age sites in the Iamal Peninsula of Arctic Siberia.

Selected publications

The variable histories of reindeer scapula on the Iamal Peninsula of Arctic Siberia.
by Tatiana Nomokonova, Robert J. Losey. Andrei V. Plekhanov, Heather J. McIntyre
Archaeological Research in Asia, 2020, Vol 21, p. 100176.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2020.100176

Iarte VI and Late Holocene reindeer remains from the Iamal Peninsula of Arctic Siberia.
by Tatiana Nomokonova, Robert J. Losey. Andrei V. Plekhanov, Heather J. McIntyre
Arctic Anthropology, 2018, Vol 55(2), p. 54-73.
http://aa.uwpress.org/content/55/2/56.abstract

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