Microbiological approach to the reconstruction of initial presence of fat in vessels from burials of alanic culture

The article presents the results of determining lipase activity in soil samples from the filling of ceramic vessels from burials in order to identify the initial presence of fat as component of ritual food. The level of lipase activity in the soil directly depends on the amount of incoming materials (fats). After decomposition of organic residues in the soil, an enzyme pool is formed, which can be preserved for an indefinitely long period of time. Our new methodological approach made it possible to reliably identify vessels containing fat of vegetable and/or animal origin, which was primarily characteristic of soil samples from small jugs.