From hunting and fishing to herding: strategies of adaptation among forest-steppe populations of the Ob-Irtysh interfluve (Western Siberia) during the 2nd millennium BC basing on bioarchaeological research

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Sabine Reinhold
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390087929

How do people change their economy? One of the most important adaptations of societies in the central parts of Eurasia and particularly at the northern frontier of the Eurasian steppe belt was the transition from a hunter-gatherer to a pastoral economy during the Bronze Age. The different hypothesis regarding this transition are studied by the ongoing German-Russian research project with a bioarchaeological research agenda focusing on the analysis of stable isotopes to reconstruct changes in diets and mobility pattern.Sites from three micro-regions in Western Siberia offer the possibility to compare different ecological but likewise cultural adaptation processes. These sites provided large sets of well documented grave assemblages and settlements, which cover the late 3rd to early 2nd mill. BC. The Late Krotovo and Andronovo cultural formations represent an epoch of significant transformations associated with migrations from the steppe into the forest steppe.First results of stable isotope data indicate considerable shifts in diets when compared to the Early and Middle Bronze Age. This concerns individuals of the Late Krotovo and even more those of the Andronovo complex. We notice a differentiation into diets, which resemble earlier patterns of hunter-gatherer-fisher economy, as well as a new form of diet that indicates food obtained from animals that were fed in a wider area including steppe biomes. They reflect a population with more shares of a pastoral economy.We apply δ13C and δ15N isotope analyses to reconstruct diets and dietary shifts for humans and animals. First time in Siberia we also use a combination of strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen isotope (δ18O) composition of tooth enamel to assess mobility pattern associated with different dietary groups. Another methodological novelty is the use of modern animal faeces to reconstruct possible pastures for.In the third year of the joint project we will explore the data obtained in detail and edit it with a series of publications in international journals. How did the different regional settings of the Baraba forest steppe, the Irtysh valley and the Ob valley environmental settings play out, when analysed in detail? Which part of the respective populations adapted to the new type of pastoral economic practices, which sustained traditional foodways? To explore this, all available data must be integrated. We will delve into the intra-site differentiations, which were by now established for three sites. The first results using the Bayesian mixing model FRUITS shall be expanded. We will establish more precise chronology for the Andronovo data set basing on ovicaprid bones not prone to freshwater reservoir effects. Human bones from the same complexes will help to breakdown these effects in radiocarbon dates. The edition and GIS analysis of the respective cemeteries are important to correlate the isotopic clusters with other aspects in burial practices and burial gifts, including animal offers.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Russia
• Cooperation Partner: Janna Valerevna Marchenko, Ph.D.