FUNERAL WARE AND DIETARY STRATEGIES IN THE PAST

Abstract

The article continues the publication of the results of multidisciplinary study of the Bronze Age cemetery Nepluyevsky in the Southern Trans-Urals, presenting the experience of studying the soil contents of ceramic vessels from kurgan 1. The pottery collection consists of 95 pots found intact or fragmentated in burials, food offerings pits and cenotaphs, as well as outside structures, i. e. on the ancient surface horizon. All studied structures were attributed to the Srubnaya culture, mainly to its Srubnaya-Alakul variant. The undertaken reconstruction of funeral food is based on comparative analysis of chemical compounds in soil samples from 54 archaeologically intact pots using X-ray and mass-spectrometry. The studied pottery includes decorated and non-decorated pots of different shapes. There are no any traces of utilization, that is why one may presume its ritual meaning. During laboratory analyses, its soil content marks high points titers of biogenic elements such as P, K, Ca and Mg, which used to be the difference in funereal meals. The results obtained made it possible to reconstruct the original contents of ritual ceramics. Thus, there is no evidence of meat, the vessels could contain both milk/fermented milk products and water/herbal drinks, or they could be empty as well. There is not any strong connection between the age of the deceased and the food offerings. The absence of cereals residues in the studied samples is noteworthy, which is typical for groups with a predominantly meat and dairy diet.