Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 37 (1) 2009

Annotation:  Environment and Human Behavior in Northern Mongolia during the Upper Pleistocene Bear in Mind: Bear Hunting in the Mesolithic of the Southern Caucasus L.B. Kirtcho. Two Bronze Age Steles in Gorny Altai Electron Probe Microanalysis of the Paste from Ceramics of the Far East Eurasian Coins of the 13th century from the Northern Caucasus Absolute Dendrochronological Scales of Archaeological Sites in European Russia A Dendrochronological Analysis of Wood from Pskov Dendrochronological Studies of Medieval Novgorod (Based on the Findings of Archaeological Excavatio On the Semantics of Animal Style Ornithomorphic Images in Pazyryk Ritual Artifacts Treasures of the Sacred River Everyday Diet of the Buryats in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries The Ethnic Environment of Diasporas in Western Siberia Demography of the Siberian Nenets in the First Third of the 20th Century Modern Altai Crafts Human Crania from the Tes Burial Ground, Kamenka III: The Analysis of Metric and Nonmetric Traits Analysis of Temporal Anthropometric Changes in Various Groups of Israeli Males The International Conference on the Neolithic of the Sea of Japan Basin (Vladivostok, 17–18 March, 2   

Everyday Diet of the Buryats in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

A.A. Badmaev.

The present article examines regional and zonal variations in the everyday diet of the Buryats living in the Cis- Baikal, Sayan, Selenga, and Aga regions in the late 19th and early 20th cent. and gives a description of specifi c features of nutrition. The cultural group belonging to the forest-steppe zone (Cis-Baikal and the Selenga valley) was most culturally advanced whereas those of the mountain-steppe (Sayan) and steppe zones (Aga) were relatively backward. The diversity of everyday food items varied in terms of zone and economy (certain groups had shifted to agriculture and vegetable gardening). New tendencies reveal an increase in the proportion of cereals and vegetables in the diet of various Buryat groups as well as a decrease in the role of wild plants. This tendency is especially marked in the Cis-Baikal group. The proportion of meat and milk content remained traditionally high in the diet of all groups studied.

Keywords: Subsistence culture, traditional system of nutrition, Buryat ethnography.