Andreevskoie lake system (hydrology and use of natural resources according to archaeological and cartographic materials of the XVIII–XX centuries)

• Main Author: Zakh V.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Tyumen Scientific Centre SB RA 2016-12-01
• Series: Вестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии
• Subjects: Andreevskoie Lake system; Bolshoi Andreevskii Island; hydrological regime; aridity; humidification; appropriating forms of economy; producing forms of economy
• Online Access: http://www.ipdn.ru/va-en/_private/a35/enga35-1-6.htm

The article is dedicated to fluctuations in the water regime in the Andreevskoie Lake system and, particularly, to Bolshoi Andreevskii Island, which serves as a kind of indicator of the fluctuations. According to cartographic materials, the island was connected with the mainland in some periods, and other times it was an island. The water level in the lake system could change in the range of 2–2,5 m. The change of the water regime led to landscape changes. Aridity and humidification of the climate determined the primacy of economic trends in the life supporting systems of the societies with appropriating and producing economy. So, periods of flooding contributed to the rise of appropriation forms, i.e. hunting and fishing, and aridity in the middle of the II millennium B.C. brought cattle breeding and, probably, agriculture to the Andreevskoie Lake system. Besides, the change of water regimes influenced the forms of economy, first of all fishing. Periods of floods included small rivers and channels between the lakes and the Duvan river into economic activities, on these small rivers they built special blocking constructions for catching fish. In aridity periods, even the Duvan river was probably blocked. Nets and traps were probably used during all periods.