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5. Diet according to multidisciplinary studies: steppes and forest steppes of the Volga region and Southern Ural in the Bronze Age

Diet according to multidisciplinary studies: steppes and forest steppes of the Volga region and Southern Ural in the Bronze Age

Karapetian M.K.

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mokhovaya st., 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia

Karapetian Marina K., PhD; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1886-8943; marishkakar@hotmail.com.

Abstract

Introduction. As a part of paleopathological studies of people inhabiting the Volga-Ural and Southern Ural steppes and forest-steppes in the Bronze Age, it became necessary to study and generalize the available extensive data on diet of this population provided by specialists from various related fields. Indeed, the state of “health” is largely related to what and how a person eats and under what pathogenic burden he lives. Materials and methods. The paper summarizes main results of archaeological, zooarchaeological, paleobotanical, geochemical, isotope and paleopathological studies. Results. It has been almost reliably established that animal husbandry was the economic basis of the studied population with elements of hunting and gathering and the absence of crop cultivation. Zooarchaeological studies show that cattle played dominant role and were used both for meat and milk, with some territorial and temporal variations in which of these components was more important. Hunting and fishing played, apparently, a secondary role. It is obvious that the use of plant foods did take place. Researchers agree that the studied population consumed wild plants growing in the steppes and forest-steppes, such as Chenopodium, Amaranthus and a number of others. Conclusion. Studies of associated disciplines are in many ways interrelated and mutually interpretable, which allows us to create a general picture. At the same time, a number of unresolved issues remain that require further, more detailed analytical developments, including those involving paleopathological data.

Keywords

biological anthropology; paleoanthropology; food traditions; Bronze Age; Volga-Ural region; Trans-Urals; pastoralists; bioarchaeology

DOI: 10.32521/2074-8132.2023.1.078-089

Цит.: Karapetian M.K. Diet according to multidisciplinary studies: steppes and forest steppes of the Volga region and Southern Ural in the Bronze Age // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2023; 1/2023; с. 78-89 (Published: February 28, 2023)