Micro-Sampling Dentine to Reconstruct Life Histories of Holocene Hunter-Gatherers in Siberia

Summary

This paper presents a contemporary method for investigating the dietary history of past peoples using micro-sampling dentine of molars from middle Holocene (~8300–3500 cal BP) hunter-gatherers in the Cis-Baikal region, Siberia. The dentine has been sampled into 1mm strips and each is analyzed for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. Each dentine strip represents roughly nine months of developmental life while bones samples typically average over the course of ~10–20 years. Previous geochemical tests demonstrated that during the Early Bronze Age a number of individuals migrated from the north of the Cis-Baikal, the Upper Lena area, towards the coast of Lake Baikal, the Little Sea micro-region. Some hunter-gatherers appear to have retained diets typical of their homeland while in other cases they were abandoned for new local diets. Micro-sampling of dentine allows for a more complete and informative record of human behaviour in the Baikal region and a greatly improved temporal resolution of the chemical signatures obtained from human teeth.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Investigating the Hunter-Gatherers of Lake Baikal and Hokkaido: Integrating Individual Life Histories and High-Resolution Chronologies   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16250