Exploring dietary practices in non‐adults of the Late Bronze Age Southern Urals: A perspective from dental attributes

Abstract

Abstract The article provides a bioarchaeological perspective on the dietary practices of the Late Bronze Age Southern Ural communities, which once inhabited the steppe and forest‐steppe zones of modern Bashkiria (Russia), via studying the pathological dental conditions and aspects of dental tooth use in skeletal remains from four kurgan cemeteries. As children and adolescents constitute the majority of the skeletal remains, the focus is on non‐adult dentition. The cemeteries were used by Srubnaya and Srubnaya‐Alakul communities that are believed to have been settled pastoralists. Despite the absence of convincing archaeological evidence, the existence of secondary‐role agriculture in these communities has not been ruled out. The studied sample includes 38 non‐adults (<18 years of age). The dental attributes studied were linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH), caries, dental calculus, dental wear, and antemortem enamel chipping. In total, the sample showed no cases of caries, a very high frequency of dental calculus, and a frequency of enamel chips that increased with age. The rate of dental wear seems to be mild, though there is a need for comparative data on non‐adults. The frequency of LEH was relatively low and the defects peaked at about 2–4 years of age. Basically, the Bashkirian Late Bronze Age (LBA) non‐adult sample fits well into the larger picture of the Bronze Age pastoralists from the Volga‐Ural and Trans‐Ural steppes. Given the archaeological evidence and the prevalence of the studied dental characteristics, the data are consistent with a society primarily reliant on meat and milk products.

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