Excavations in the Amur Basin reveal a life organized around water: woven nets and stone or bone sinkers, harpoon fragments, and abundant fish remains point to sophisticated aquatic subsistence. Pottery, often tempered and soot‑stained, served for cooking and storage, preserving the traces of stews, fermented plant foods, and rendered fish fats.
Archaeological data indicates seasonal rounds — spring and autumn fish runs, winter hunting of large mammals, and summer gathering — with households clustering in low terraces and floodplain edges. Hearth features and repeated occupation layers suggest a rhythm of return and reuse rather than permanent urban settlement. Burials are sparse but informative: individuals interred with simple grave offerings, sometimes placed near habitation loci, indicate small kin groups with ritualized attention to certain dead.
Material culture shows technological adaptations to a cold temperate environment: fur working, woodworking, and light portable shelters are implied by tool assemblages. Social organization likely emphasized kin networks and flexible group size, permitting mobility and intensive exploitation of seasonally predictable resources.
