Ancient water supply systems provide important insights into historical sanitation practices and disease transmission patterns. This study examined soils from 2 wells of the medieval city of Phanagoria (8th-9th centuries AD) to reconstruct parasite contamination patterns during the Khazar period. Soil samples from wells 33 and 46 were analysed using light microscopy for parasite egg identification and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for faecal biomarker detection. Microscopic analysis identified 6 types of parasite eggs: Trichuris trichiura/suis, Trichuris muris, Ascaris lumbricoides/suis, trematodes of the family Brachylaimidae, Calodium hepaticum and Dibothriocephalus sp. High concentrations of parasite eggs were found in virtually all samples, indicating significant faecal contamination of the wells. GC-MS analysis revealed limited human faecal signatures but no animal biomarkers, suggesting humans as the primary contamination source. Two distinct periods of well-functioning were identified based on parasite egg distribution patterns. The findings confirm human parasitic infections in medieval Phanagoria and demonstrate the transition of these structures from wells to cisterns and finally to refuse pits. This archaeoparasitological evidence provides valuable data on medieval urban sanitation, water management practices, and parasite-host relationships in ancient Black Sea settlements.

The article presents the findings from an archaeoparasitological study of soil samples collected from the drainage and pavement of the Roman settlement of Myrmekion, located in the modern city of Kerch (Eastern Crimea). The soil samples revealed eggs from four types of intestinal parasites that infect humans and domestic animals. The presence of geohelminth eggs, specifically Trichuris trichiura and Ascaris lumbricoides, indicates that the settlement's sanitary conditions were suboptimal, posing risks for both parasitic diseases and certain infectious diseases. Additionally, the discovery of broad tapeworm eggs from Dibothriocephalus latus suggests that the settle- ment's inhabitants regularly consumed marine and freshwater fish. The identification of Taenidae family cestode eggs in the samples points to the consumption of contaminated raw or insufficiently heat-treated meat from pigs and/or cattle, which formed part of the townspeople's diet. The presence of beef tapeworm eggs in the samples highlights veterinary issues concerning cattle in Myrmekion. An important outcome of this study is the ability to reconstruct certain aspects critical to understanding the lives of ancient populations. Archaeoparasitological research is the only way to gain these insights.

Buchta Nakhodka, which was inhabited by the Northern Samoyeds, is one of the few sites in the far north of Western Siberia that has been explored archaeologically and archaeoparasitologically. Many factors complicate research work in this region; therefore, any additional study of known sites can provide valuable data. Here, we report the results of soil samples from the cultural layer taken during the excavation of structures of the medieval settlement of Buchta Nakhodka. Six types of human and animal parasite eggs were found in the studied samples. The extent of contamination and number of parasite species varied, depending on the sampling location. The analysis of research results in the historical and archaeological context enabled the reconstruction of certain nutritional habits of the population of Buchta Nakhodka in the 13th century and such activities as hunting, fishing, and dog breeding, as well as an evaluation of the level of hygiene and possible population movements and trade links with neighbouring settlements.

For the first time, this paper presents a complex study of the burial of the ancient Russian woman from the classic “Vyatich” mound from the Kremenyie burial site (Moscow region). The mounds and synchronized ground cremation burials are combined at this unique 12th-century burial site. The aim of this research is to examine the historical details of the person from the mound using conventional archaeological, anthropological, and archae-oparasitology methodologies along with modern paleogenetics methods. The burial site is characterized by a general “archaic” rite, manifested in the late preservation of the cremation rite along with the burial. According to anthropological data, an elderly woman, over forty, was buried there. She was identified as a member of the local population by radiogenic strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) study. Rich grave content and the fact that the body was buried in the middle of the mound indicate the woman's high social standing in the community. According to ar-chaeoparasitological data, the eating habits of the woman appear to be characterized by the consumption of un-cooked or insufficiently thermally prepared freshwater fish. The complete mtDNA sequence reconstruction indi-cates that it belongs to haplogroup V1a1, one of the Western Eurasian haplogroup V branches. To date, this represents the first case of the V1a1 mitogroup being found in the Russian Plain during ancient times. A repre-sentative of the Danish Viking clan from the Oxford burial site of the XI century was the closest of the ancient samples to the mtDNA of the studied woman, which indicates a genetic relationship on the maternal lineage with the medieval Northwestern European population. Single nucleotide substitution A7299G in the mitogenome of the woman clusters her with present-day Russians from the Belgorod and Pskov regions and shows the continuity of the modern Russian population with the Ancient Russians. Thus, the results of our study demonstrate the private details of the individual as common historical features, which include the ceremonial side of burial and belonging to the maternal genetic lineage preserved in the modern gene pool of the Russian population.

The subsistence economies of prehistoric pastoralists of the Eurasian steppes have long been viewed through an oversimplified model of reliance on domesticated animals. This conceptualization has begun to shift dramatically through the introduction of scientific analyses, pivoting towards an evidence-based interpretation of economic flexibility and adaptive heterogeneity. Here we provide insights into the dietary practices of Iron Age pastoralists in Siberia through an archaeoparasitological analysis. Soil samples from the Tunnug 1 site in southern Siberia reveal the presence of helminth eggs of Taenia sp. (likely), Trichuris sp., and Dibothriocephalus sp. This indicates that the diet of the analysed prehistoric population might have included beef and did include freshwater fish, occasionally consumed in undercooked or raw form. Despite the primary reliance on pastoralism and possibly small-scale millet agriculture, these populations engaged in diverse dietary practices, including fish consumption. Additionally, the presence of Trichuris sp. eggs points to poor sanitary conditions, possible consumption of contaminated plant foods, and the contamination of drinking water with feces. By providing direct evidence of dietary habits, archaeoparasitology complements isotopic analyses and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the subsistence strategies.

The first Russian settlers developed relatively large cities and a new phenomenon called 'urban habitat' to the north of Western Siberia. This article presents the results of a study on soil samples taken from the cultural layer of Berezov city during excavations of the city's kremlin, or civic centre, posad, or town settlement area, and the farmstead within the posad. The samples are dated from the XVI to the end of the XVIII century. Examination of the samples revealed 12 types of parasite eggs from both humans and animals. The city's cultural layer was found to be relatively highly contaminated with parasite eggs. The species composition of parasite eggs in samples collected from the cultural layer varied according to land use, i.e. whether public, communal, or livestock, or sanitary condition in Berezov city. An analysis of historical and archaeological data enabled the reconstruction of certain nutritional aspects of the population in Berezov city at the time. Additionally, certain cultural and abiotic factors contributing to the high parasite infestation of humans and domestic animals were identified, and similarities can be found in the research of other Russian cities of Siberia in the XVI-XIX centuries.

The landscape-climatic confinement of villages that were founded in the late 19th — early 20th century by peasant-migrants in the territory of the modern Odessa district of the Omsk oblast has been examined. Trend analysis, which were identified during the integration of remote sensing data, meteorological measurements and ethnographic materials indicate the initial landscape-climatic confinement of settlements and subsequent trans-formations of the steppe landscapes surrounding them were influenced by a complex of natural and anthropo-genic factors. The main factor which influenced the emergence of settlements was the presence of water bodies and, to a lesser extent, forests. In the first decades of the 21th century, an increase in air temperature with a de-crease in precipitation increased the dryness of the territory, thereby reducing the duration of the existence of temporary reservoirs until they completely dry out. Anthropogenic factors that influenced the reduction in the number and duration of the existence of temporary lakes include the widespread plowing of steppe landscapes, as a result of which they lost the ability to retain melt and rainwater for a long time. Currently, in connection with the water supply, the importance of confined settlements to temporary lakes began to decline, but aridization leads to the loss of resource, aesthetic and recreational functions of landscapes.

Two graves of the 2 nd—3 rd centuries were found by the archaeological expedition to the Kyz-Aul necropolis in 2021. They contained remains of six individuals. We implemented an anthropological study of the skeletons and an archaeoparasitological analysis of soil samples. We identified sex and age and described pathological and individual features of the appearance of children and adults. An intravital artificial deformation of the skull was recorded in two adult individuals from grave 199. There are no signs of skull deformation in children from the same grave. Whipworm (Lat. Trichuris trichiura) eggs were found in soil samples from four out of six individuals. It is an intestinal parasite that enters the human body through the consumption of contaminated foods or unboiled water. The study showed that children and adults buried in the necropolis have many features characteristic of the settled population of the Northern Black Sea region, Rome and Roman provinces.

This article reports the parasitic contamination of water-collecting drains in the Greek city of Phanagoria, dated back to the Khazar period (8th-9th centuries AD). Helminths of the Opistorchiidae and Diphyllobothriidae families were found in soil samples obtained from water conduits. Based on the life cycle of these parasites and the historical and archaeological context, the authors argue that both humans and animals could have become infected with them through eating fish from freshwater rivers and reservoirs of the Taman Peninsula, or, more likely, from more distant rivers. Taenia eggs discovered in the samples indicate that the dietary habits of the people who lived in Phanagoria in the Middle Ages included the consumption of insufficiently thermally processed meat of pigs, cattle, and small cattle. Numerous eggs of the genera Trichuris and Ascaris identified in the studied samples taken from water conduits could belong to humans and domestic animals (pigs). This fact suggests a settlement with poor sanitary conditions. A similar route of transmitting both geohelminths and various intestinal infections might indicate a high risk of infection with gastrointestinal infectious diseases in the population of medieval Phanagoria. The study showed that wastewater and rainwater were collected in watercourses and went to a cistern without prior treatment. Its use for drinking water is, therefore, highly improbable; it is more likely that this water source was used to water plants and livestock, providing the means by which geohelminths persisted in domestic animals and humans.

We studied linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) in cranial series representative of Eurasian farmers with divergent lifestyles and natural environments: Siberian Russian settlers and Joseon dynasty people. The teeth of Siberian settlers and Joseon people of the 16th-19th centuries were examined in this study. We inspected specimens to detect signs of LEH, and the intergroup prevalence was statistically compared. The proportions of LEH were compared by age and sex across each group. Statistical analysis was performed with R software. Russian settlers' LEH incidence per individual was 4.1% (3/73), whereas that of the Joseon people was 61.5% (56/91). In the case of LEH per tooth, Russian settlers and Joseon Koreans exhibited rates of 1.9% (24/1297) and 16.8% (336/2001), respectively. The statistical difference in the incidence of LEH between the two groups was highly significant (per individual: P = 9.188 × 10-14; per tooth: P < 2.2 × 10-16). The prevalence of LEH was observed to be much higher in the Joseon population than in the West Siberian settlers. In conclusion, we hypothesize that East Asian people's physiological stress in childhood was far higher than that of Russian settlers. Historical LEH frequency on the Eurasian continent was truly diverse, possibly due to divergent stress conditions affecting different groups of people.

In arctic zone of West Siberia, native people's bodies were sometimes mummified inside the medieval graves. In 2013 to 2017, we conducted the excavations of medieval graves at Zeleny Yar cemetery in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Among the burials, current report deals with the mummy grave #79. During the investigation, bronze plate and strips, woven or fur clothing, leather strap, beads, bronze bracelets, and iron knife etc. were collected. Anatomical and radiological research showed that the mummy was found intact with hair, skin, and skeletons, but the preservation status of soft tissue differed greatly depending on the area. The brain and eyes were well preserved, but the chest and abdominal organs almost disappeared. The arms were preserved to some extent, but only the bones remained in the legs. The West Siberian mummy could be a great resource for anthropologists to reveal the biological aspects of arctic indigenous people.

In the paper, the results of an archaeoparasitological analysis of a population group from the ancient Greek city of Pantikapaion, located in the historical centre of the modern city of Kerch (Republic of Crimea), are presented. The aim of the study is to obtain information about the parasitic diseases, state of health, nutrition, and hygiene in a part of the population of the city. The materials for the study were soil samples obtained during the treatment of the human sacra from 31 burials of the necropolis, dated to the 2nd century AD. In the result of the conducted investigation, the parasitic spectrum of the studied population group was determined. Eggs of three species of helminths were found. The discovery of eggs of broad tapeworm (Dibothriocephalus latum) in the soil samples indicates the presence in the diet of the studied population group freshwater fish that were not sufficiently thermally treated. The archaeoparasitological data from archaeological sites of a chronologically close period in the territory of the Northern Black Sea region suggests that diphyllobothriasis was a decease far from being rare in this area. The presence of eggs of human roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) and whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) in the samples likely indicates the challenging sanitary-hygienic environment in the city and insufficient hygienic skills in the studied group. The analysis of the archaeoparasitological data within the historical context and utilisation of the archaeopathological material from the archaeological sites in the Northern Black Sea region permitted to identify the factors that had an influence on the wide spread of geohelminths. The humid and warm climate facilitated maturation of geohelminth eggs in the soil, while the human activities concerned with the irrigation of the territory, building public water collection points, and waste buildup in the streets, in combination with the high population density, were causing the rise of the infectious hazard. The relatively high incidence rates of Trichuris trichiura and Ascaris lumbricoides may indicate a high prevalence of certain bacterial intestinal infections transmitted by the identical route. The occurrence of geohelminths, alongside the archaeological data, can indicate a low social status of the studied population group.

The North Eurasian forest and forest-steppe zones have sustained millennia of sociocultural connections among northern peoples. We present genome-wide ancient DNA data for 181 individuals from this region spanning the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age. We find that Early to Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer populations from across the southern forest and forest-steppes of Northern Eurasia can be characterized by a continuous gradient of ancestry that remained stable for millennia, ranging from fully West Eurasian in the Baltic region to fully East Asian in the Transbaikal region. In contrast, cotemporaneous groups in far Northeast Siberia were genetically distinct, retaining high levels of continuity from a population that was the primary source of ancestry for Native Americans. By the mid-Holocene, admixture between this early Northeastern Siberian population and groups from Inland East Asia and the Amur River Basin produced two distinctive populations in eastern Siberia that played an important role in the genetic formation of later people. Ancestry from the first population, Cis-Baikal Late Neolithic–Bronze Age (Cisbaikal_LNBA), is found substantially only among Yeniseian-speaking groups and those known to have admixed with them. Ancestry from the second, Yakutian Late Neolithic–Bronze Age (Yakutia_LNBA), is strongly associated with present-day Uralic speakers. We show how Yakutia_LNBA ancestry spread from an east Siberian origin ∼4.5kya, along with subclades of Y-chromosome haplogroup N occurring at high frequencies among present-day Uralic speakers, into Western and Central Siberia in communities associated with Seima-Turbino metallurgy: a suite of advanced bronze casting techniques that spread explosively across an enormous region of Northern Eurasia ∼4.0kya. However, the ancestry of the 16 Seima-Turbino-period individuals—the first reported from sites with this metallurgy—was otherwise extraordinarily diverse, with partial descent from Indo-Iranian-speaking pastoralists and multiple hunter-gatherer populations from widely separated regions of Eurasia. Our results provide support for theories suggesting that early Uralic speakers at the beginning of their westward dispersal where involved in the expansion of Seima-Turbino metallurgical traditions, and suggests that both cultural transmission and migration were important in the spread of Seima-Turbino material culture.

The life of the long-established Russian inhabitants of Western Siberia has been well described. In fact, archaeological, ethnographic, and other information on its various aspects is abundant. Archaeoparasitological data, on the other hand, is lacking, particularly with regard to parasitosis incidence. In the present study, eggs of such fish parasites as Opisthorchis felineus and Diphyllobothrium spp. were identified in soil samples taken from the sacral surface of bodies that had been buried in the Gornopravdinskiy burial ground (on the Lower Irtysh River) in the 18th or 19th centuries. The study findings indicate that fish was a key component of the diet of the rural Russian population of that area. No statistically significant sex differences in fish consumption were identified. The parasitological spectrum of the population under consideration was narrow relative to the diversity of parasitoses in urban Russian populations. This fact probably reflects the lower-intensity population flows, their limited radii, and the different economic activities pursued by those people. Based on the archaeoparasitological data, the latter seem to have been closer to the economic activities practiced by the indigenous populations of Western Siberia.

A specific human population's diet can be estimated by analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bones or other organic materials unearthed at archaeological sites. In the present study, we investigated the dietary patterns of two agrarian populations of the Eurasian continent to determine if they might show heterogeneities despite their temporal and lifestyle commonalities. Hairs from mummies representative of Joseon Dynasty Koreans and the remains of Russian settlers in Siberia were analyzed by a stable-isotope technique and further compared with corresponding data on Edo-period Japanese. In brief, the 17th to 18th century Russian settlers, a Western population that had partially adopted a native-Siberian dietary strategy, lived on C3 plants and protein-rich foods relative to the Koreans and Japanese. The highest 813C value among the three groups was observed in the Koreans' hairs, indicating that their diet had been more C4 plants-based. The second-highest 815N value (statistically higher than that of the Japanese samples) likewise was found in Korean hairs. In this study, we could conclude that all three Eurasian groups relied on a subsistence agricultural economy during the 16th to 19th centuries but that their dietary lifeways had somewhat diverged.

Погребения на местонахождении Рябчиков Ключ-1 на р. Кан у г. Канска представлены в литературе как позднесредневековые объекты, характеризующие культуру местного населения до начала русской колонизации Сибири. В 2015 г. здесь были обнаружены две могилы, содержавшие останки девушки и ребенка. На основании комплексного анализа погребального обряда и сопроводительного инвентаря захоронения датированы XII в. и обозначен круг археологических и этнографических аналогий. Установлено, что по основным морфологическим особенностям женский череп имеет тенденцию к сближению с популяциями, в составе которых преобладают монголоидные черты, в частности с группами уральского и обь-иртышского антропологических типов западносибирской формации. По реставрированным костям черепа девушки выполнена реконструкция лица в графической технике. Представлен обзор погребальных практик населения бассейна среднего Кана в XVII-XIX вв. — кетоязычных коттов, тюркоязычных карагасов, самодийскоязычных камасинцев. Анализ источников позволяет связывать погребенных с предками кетоязычных коттов.

Introduction. The article presents the results of archaeoparasitological analysis of the Phanagoria necropolis materials. Methods and materials. We studied soil samples obtained during the processing of anthropological material (sacrums) from 45 individuals. Results. The eggs of two species of intestinal parasites - human whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) and broad tapeworm (Diphyllobothrium latum) were found. Analysis. Consideration of the obtained data in the historical and cultural context has shown that similar, relatively high frequency of parasitosis caused by human whipworm is observed virtually in all investigated archaeological monuments from the Mediterranean, which are synchronic to the studied period of existence of Phanagoria. This may indicate the absence of fundamental differences in the causes of the incidence of trichuriasis between the “ancient centers” and their periphery. The absence of statistically reliable differences in the incidence of trichuriasis between epochs, and also between gender and age groups, indicate the same intensity of the factors leading to the infection of the ancient population of Phanagoria with this pathogen in all studied time periods of the city, regardless of gender and age. The same route of transmission of human worms and a number of intestinal infections also indicates the assumed high frequency of the latter. The detection of Diphillobothrium latum eggs indicates the presence of freshwater fish in the diet, which led to the assumption of a high importance of the latter for the fishery in Phanagoria. Diphillobothriasis infestation in more remote areas also cannot be ruled out, given the presence of roads and the ability to move to other river basins. Authors’ contribution. S.M. Slepchenko organized the study, conducted microscopy, processed and interpreted obtained data. Writing of the article. A.N. and O.M. Voroshilov conducted excavations, composited archaeological context, involved in interpreting the data. M.O. Filimonova performed laboratory processing of the crosses and microscopy of the material. N.G. Svirkina carried out the selection of sacrums stored in the museum of the Phanagoria Reserve.

While early Turkic populations of northern Central Asia are traditionally thought to have been specialized nomads, over the past few years archaeological studies have shown that at least some of these peoples were engaged in farming, especially low-investment millet cultivation. The Turkic populations that spread across West Asia are thought to have originated in northern Central Asia. Despite the importance of these regions for understanding cultural developments, we have a dearth of data relating to the role of cultivated plants in their life, and scholars generally assume that people in this region lived on a diet of meat and dairy. In this article, we present micro and macrobotanical evidence of millet from a ceramic vessel recovered in a burial in the Kurai Valley of the Altai Mountains in Russia. Ceramic seriation and AMS dating, place the burial in the early Turkic period of the seventh century A.D., providing unique evidence for agricultural goods in medieval northwest Asia. Given the ritual context of the vessel, these data do not elucidate the role of millet in the economy, but we can convincingly demonstrate its presence among people thought to be the ancestors of later Turkic speakers in the Altai mountains. We note that millet cultivation could have been integrated into the economy as part of the seasonal migration cycle of the early Turkic semi-nomads, or they might have acquired the grains from farming communities in the adjacent Altai foothills.

The article presents the results of archaeoparasitological and palynological research of the cultural layers located in the ancient Artesian settlement in the Eastern Crimea. The study revealed the species composition of parasites and palynological spectrum in the cultural layers. Parasite eggs distribution over the layers indicates high content of eggs in almost all periods of the citadel’s existence. High abundance of geohelminth eggs in the studied samples, which might belong to both humans and domestic animals, indicates the unsatisfactory sanitary state of the settlement and the constant risk of infection with geohelminthiasis and intestinal infections possessing the same fecal-oral route of transmission. Features of the studied spore-pollen spectra do not allow a detailed reconstruction of the vegetation dynamics in the vicinity of the Artezian fortress at the turn of the millennium. The major reason is complexity of spectra formation: in addition to pollen deposited from the air (pollen rain), a significant proportion consists of pollen grains brought from other sources. Furthermore, interpretation of the spore-pollen spectra is complicated by presence of a large number of microcharcoals and burnt pollen grains. Despite the above-mentioned challenges in the study of samples from the cultural layers of the Artezian archaeological site using spore-pollen method, we have determined that the inhabitants of the settlement probably used animal dung as fuel, and that at the turn of the millennium, forestless open landscapes covered with steppe vegetation were predominant around the settlement. An important result of the study is the demonstration of unexplored opportunities to investigate cultural layers by archaeoparasitological and palynological methods and of the obtained data use as a source of bioarchaeological information.

Objective. The prevalence of calculus is known to be variable by difference in diets or subsistence strategy between human populations. However, this situation has not been confirmed so far for hunter-gatherers and farming people in terms of history. In this study, we tried to reveal the association of diets or subsistence with calculus in different historical populations: Siberian natives, Joseon period Korean people, and Russian settlers in Siberia. Design. We examined the teeth of Siberian natives (hunter-gatherers), Russian (wheat farming) settlers, and Joseon (rice farming) people in sixteenth to nineteenth century. Age and sex were estimated using the methods of Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). We examined specimens to detect signs of calculus formation in teeth. Calculus rates in each group were statistically compared, and the proportions of calculus by age or sex were also compared across each group. We used package R for statistical analysis. Results and Discussion. The prevalence of calculus deposition decreased in the order of Joseon people, Russian settlers, and Siberian natives. Our study proposes that the rate of calculi among farming people was evidently higher than that of hunter-gatherers in sixteenth to nineteenth century Eurasia. In all three groups, calculus prevalence became higher as age increases and was noteworthy in males. Conclusion. Current study demonstrated a significant difference of calculus formation between those groups with different diets or subsistence strategies. Higher prevalence of dental calculus was observed in agriculturalist Joseon Koreans and Russian settlers, but Siberian natives exhibited relatively lower frequency of dental calculus. The results of this study enable us to reconsider the meaning of association between subsistence strategy and calculus in different historical populations.