Reconstruction of Dietary Habits of a Local Upper Taz Selkup Group in the 18th and 19th Centuries Based on Archaeoparasitology, Osteology, Stable Isotope Analysis, and Archival Documents

Abstract

This study aims to reconstruct the dietary habits of a local group of the Northern (Upper Taz) Selkup in the 18th and 19th centuries based on multidisciplinary analyses of human interments from the Kikki-Akki burial site in Western Siberia and a study of unpublished written sources. It includes archaeoparasitological studies of soils adjacent to human remains, a paleopathological examination of human crania and teeth, and isotopic analysis of both human and animal organic samples to reconstruct dietary habits. Information on the inhabitants of the upper Taz River from documents of the 19th century was cross-checked. Bottom-feeding omnivorous and predatory fish were prevalent in the diet of all group members. All group members, including children, continually consumed raw fish or insufficiently cooked fish dishes. The change in the protein composition of the diet in autumn and early spring coincided with the hunting seasons of certain animals.