Dietary Adaptation of the Early Iron Age Population of the Novosibirsk Ob Region in the Context of Their Economic Specialization

This study analyzes the dietary strategies followed by the carriers of the Bolsherechie cultural traditions in the Novosibirsk Ob region during the Early Iron Age. Their subsistence economy was primarily based on pastoralism, with hunting and agriculture possibly playing auxiliary roles. Previous research on the diet and overall well-being of this population has demonstrated that the Bolsherechie groups experienced periods of food shortages potentially caused by destabilization of their subsistence and economic system. These shortages might have led to increased reliance on carbohydrate-rich components in their diet. The present study aims at identifying the specific features of their dietary adaptation in the broader context of the populations of Southern and Western Siberia with diverse economic specializations. The main evidence for the study came from the Bystrovka necropolis. Statistical research involved discriminative analysis using STATISTICA software (version 10), based on the frequencies of the following dental pathologies: caries, dental calculus, periodontal disease, antemortem tooth loss, and enamel hypoplasia. For comparative purposes, data from the populations associated with the Sredniy Irtysh, Odinovo, Afanasievo, Late Krotovo (Chernoozero), Andronovo (Fedorovo), Okunevo, Karasuk, Elovka, Pakhomovo, Irmen, and Tagar cultures was included. The research revealed that in terms of the dental pathological status, the Bolsherechie population of the Novosibirsk Ob region in the Early Iron Age markedly differed both from the Bronze Age groups with complex subsistence strategies and pastoralist groups. Instead, the Bolsherechie population was most similar to the populations engaged in foraging activities of the Early Bronze Age in the Baraba forest-steppe, as well as some pastoralist groups whose diets also contained significant carbohydrate component. These findings suggest that the carriers of the Bolsherechie traditions retained pastoralism as the primary basis of their subsistence, but were compelled to expand their subsistence system through the inclusion of foraging practices and, possibly, the earliest forms of agriculture

Agriculture · Bioarchaeology · Bronze Age · Economic shortage · Pastoralism · Population · Subsistence agriculture · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Indigenous Studies and Ecology