Growing up in the Cis-Baikal region of Siberia, Russia: reconstructing childhood diet of Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers

• Author / Creator

  van der Haas, Victoria Marie-Louise

• While substantial progress has been made in studying hunter-gatherer diets through stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N), research on diet during childhood remains rather poor. This study uses dentine micro-samples to reconstruct childhood diet of individuals from six cemeteries in Cis-Baikal, Siberia, Russia during the middle Holocene. Stable isotope results from previous research, conducted on the bone collagen of the same individuals, showed a high dependency on the region’s freshwater resources. Results further showed that the contribution of these sources varied between, as well as within cemeteries and that the movement of these individuals, by migrating into different areas within Cis-Baikal, is tied to their isotopic signatures. This study seeks to further investigate diet and migration by extending the dietary life-histories of a number of these hunter-gatherers. In doing so, their permanent molars were sectioned into 1 mm increments for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, which provides insight into their diet at a higher temporal resolution than bone collagen. The δ13C and δ15N results now permit dietary insight into important life stages such as breastfeeding, weaning, early, and late childhood. Data suggest Cis-Baikal hunter-gatherer groups followed similar
  subsistence strategies but show micro-regional variation in their isotopic values. Dietary variation is also observed in individuals buried within the same cemetery and dating to the same cultural period. This could be viewed as evidence for dietary independence among groups that were occupying the same micro-region.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Cis-Baikal
  • anthropology
  • archaeology
  • diet
  • hunter-gatherers
  • micro-sampling
  • dentine
  • biological anthropology
  • stable isotope analysis

• Graduation date

  Spring 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-smy7-2r13

• License

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