Reconstruction of Prehistoric and Medieval Dietary Patterns in the Russian Far East: A Review of Current Data

Abstract

An overview of current knowledge on the human paleodiet of the southern Russian Far East is presented. The earliest data are available for the Neolithic complexes of Primorye Province, dated to ~7000–5800 BP. For 10 humans from the coastal site of Boisman 2, a heavy reliance on marine fish and mammals (~70–80% of the total diet) has been established; this is similar to the Jomon and Chulmun complexes of Hokkaido Island and Korea. For two individuals from the inland site of Chertovy Vorota, a mixture of terrestrial and riverine (including anadromous species such as salmon, ~25% of the total diet) food resources is evident. In the Amur River basin, the diet of the Paleometal (i.e. Bronze/Early Iron Ages) population (dated to ~2500–1800 BP) was probably based on a mixture of C4 plants (millet, ~50–60% of the total diet), C3 plants, and terrestrial animals, while in the Middle Ages (~1500–300 BP) the contribution of C4 food was lower at ~20–25%. On Sakhalin Island, the maritime-oriented economy existed for a long time, at least since the Late Neolithic/Paleometal Age (dated to ~2500–1800 BP) and until the ethnographic time period (from the 17th–18th centuries AD onwards). Up to ~80–90% of the diet consisted of marine mammals and fish, and this is in accord with dietary patterns of the Epi-Jomon and Okhotsk cultural complexes on Hokkaido Island. Information on the paleodiet of the coastal populations of the Japan and Okhotsk Seas should be taken into account when calibration of 14C dates run on human bones from these regions is undertaken, because the predominant consumption of marine food caused a distortion of the true 14C age.

Paleodietary Patterns of the Cherepakha 13 Site Population (Early Iron Age) in Primorye (Maritime) Province, Russian Far East, based on Stable Isotope Analysis

“…Katzenberg 2008) (see Figure 2). This is also consistent with data on the marine-based diet of coastal prehistoric and Medieval people in Northeast Asia (Japan, Korea, and Sakhalin Island; see references in Kuzmin 2015); and the mainly terrestrial diets of the Tochibara and Boji sites belonging to the Jomon of Japan (Yoneda et al , 2004, and the Chertovy Vorota site in Primorye ; for the latter two sites, the consumption of a certain amount of anadromous fish (salmon) was also suggested Yoneda et al 2004;Kuzmin 2009).…”

“…Based on δ 15 N values, the Cherepakha 13 individuals are close to those of the Chertovy Vorota site, with the diet of the latter based on a mixture of terrestrial animals and anadromous fish (Kuzmin et al , 2012; however, the former is much higher in terms of δ 13 C values than the latter (-10.2‰ vs. -17.6‰) (see Figure 3). The δ 13 C signatures of the Cherepakha 13 humans are also higher compared to those for the Early Iron Age and Medieval populations in the Amur River basin, with the diet based on a mixture of terrestrial animals, C 4 plants (domesticated millets), and C 3 plants (mainly wheat) (see Kuzmin 2015). While the variation of δ 13 C values for the Amur River sites is quite large (Figure 3), from -18.5‰ to -12.4‰, the mean value is toward the lower end: -15.8 ±2.0‰.…”

“…The elevated δ 15 N values for the Cherepakha 13 site inhabitants (Figure 3) can be explained by the consumption of marine-based protein (mainly from fish and mollusks); they are, however, lower than the δ 15 N values for pure marine hunters and fishers from the coasts of Japan, Korea, and Sakhalin Island (see references in Kuzmin 2015). It can be assumed that the share of sea food resources of high trophic level (i.e., marine mammals) for the people buried at the Cherepakha 13 site was not large.…”

Ust-Ishim Bone: Mineralogical and Geochemical Characteristics as the Source of the Paleontological, Paleoecological, and Paleoanthropological Information

“…Важнейшим источником палеонтоло-гической, археологической и палеоэколо-гической информации в последние 15 -20 лет становятся изотопно-геохимические данные, полученные как по биоминераль-ному, так и органическому веществу ко-стей (Николаев и др., 2000, 2005Силаев и др., 2015Bocherens, 2003;Bocherens et al, 1999;Kuzmin, 2015;Salazar-Garsia et al, 2015;Tutken et al, 2007;Qu et al, 2013). Идейной предпосылкой к таким исследованиям служат, во-первых, обусловленность изотопного состава уг-лерода и кислорода в костном биоапатите бикарбонат-ионами, растворенными в во-де, потребляемой животными, а во-вторых, зависимость изотопного состава углерода и азота в органическом матриксе костей от пищи, поглощаемой животными в течение своей жизни.…”

“…20. Вариации изотопного состава углерода, кислорода, азота в биоапатите (а, 1-3 -дан-ные по костям соответственно современного человека, средневекового тоболо-иртышского тюрка и усть-ишимского человека) и коллагене (б, с использованием (Bocherens, 2003;Kuzmin, 2015;Kuzmin et al 2015;Salazar-Garsia, Richrds, 2015)) ископаемого костного детрита. С3 и С4 -растительность с разными типами фотосинтеза Усть-ишимская кость: минералого-геохимические SalazarGarsia et al, 2015).…”