Dental health indicators of hunter-gatherer adaptation and cultural change in Siberia's Cis-Baikal.

This investigation of the Cis-Baikal dental record focuses on health and lifestyle reconstruction of the region's mid-Holocene foragers, with particular interest in an apparent fifth millennium BC biocultural hiatus. The four cemetery populations considered represent two distinct biological and cultural groups separated by an apparent 700-year hiatus: the late Mesolithic-early Neolithic Kitoi culture (6800-4900 BC) and the middle Neolithic-early Bronze Age Serovo-Glaskovo cultural complex (4200-1000 BC). Research focuses on the frequency and severity of seven dental health indicators: enamel hypoplasia, caries, alveolar defects, periodontitis, antemortem tooth loss, dental calculus, and dental attrition. Together, these seven indicators provide a basis not only for better understanding mid-Holocene lifeways in the Cis-Baikal but also for independently assessing the relative effectiveness of the different adaptive strategies employed by pre- and posthiatus peoples. Results reveal some discrepancies between the Kitoi and Serovo-Glaskovo, specifically in their relative vulnerability to physiological stress, providing evidence to support previous interpretations of their distinct adaptive regimes (namely the narrower resource base and decreased mobility of the former). Results also suggest that some of the differences observed among the four sites may reflect geographical or environmental factors rather than simply cultural ones. However, despite these distinctions, the overriding trend appears to be one of general continuity, social equality, and good health among all mid-Holocene occupants of the Cis-Baikal, pre- and posthiatus alike.

Osteoarthritis in Siberia's Cis-Baikal: Skeletal indicators of hunter-gatherer adaptation and cultural change.

This examination of osteoarthritis in Siberia's Cis-Baikal region focuses on the reconstruction of mid-Holocene mobility and activity patterns with particular interest in an alleged fifth millennium BC biocultural hiatus. Five cemetery populations--two representing the pre-hiatus Kitoi culture (6800-4900 BC) and three the post-hiatus Serovo-Glaskovo (4200-1000 BC)-are considered. The objective is to investigate osteoarthritic prevalence and distribution (patterning) within and among these populations in order to reconstruct mobility and activity patterns among the Cis-Baikal foragers, and to test for possible disparities that may reflect differing adaptive strategies. The data reveal that levels of activity remained relatively constant throughout the mid-Holocene but that mobility and specific activity patterns did not. Although results are consistent with the current understanding of distinct Kitoi and Serovo-Glaskovo subsistence regimes, specifically the lower residential mobility and narrower resource base of the former, they also draw attention to adaptive characteristics shared by all occupants of the Cis-Baikal.