Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 45 (3) 2017   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.3.146-154

Annotation:  New Stratigraphic Data on the Quaternary Sediments in the Peschanaya River Valley, Northwestern Alta A Comprehensive Study of Neolithic Stone Tools from Dwelling D on Suchu Island, the Lower Amur (1974 From Chauvet to Lascaux: 15,000 Years of Cave Art New Engravings from Abri Du Poisson (Dordogne, France) The Techniques of Modeling and Decorating Upper Paleolithic Anthropomorphic Figurines from Malta, Ea A Comparative Analysis of Paints on the Karakol Burial Slabs Petroglyphs from Northeast China: New Sites and Interpretations Paint on Deer Stones of Mongolia Old Turkic Stone Statues from Taldy-Suu, Kyrgyzstan Scythian Age Barrows with Burials on the Ground Surface in the Southern Ural Steppes: Features of th The Megaliths of Korea and Japan: An Analysis of Origins and Functions Traditional Tailoring Technology as an Ethnographic Source (the Case of Eastern Slavic Clothing in S Robusticity of Hand Phalanges: Relevance to the Origin of the Altai Neanderthals Human Teeth from Strashnaya Cave, the Altai Mountains, with Reference to the Dental Variation in Sto Prevalence of Caries Among Siberian Tatars of the Omsk Region in the 17th to Early 20th Centuries   

Prevalence of Caries Among Siberian Tatars of the Omsk Region
in the 17th to Early 20th Centuries

S.M. Slepchenko

Institute of Northern Development, Tyumen Scientific Center, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Malygina 86, Tyumen, 625003, Russia

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

This st udy addresses the prevalence of caries in Ayaly and Kaurdak-Sargat groups of Siberian Tatars living in the Omsk Region of the Irtysh. Judging by dental remains from the Okunevo VII and Bergamak II cemeteries (16th–17th centuries), the frequency of caries among those people was similar to that in the late medieval population of northwestern Siberia. The diet of both these populations apparently consisted mostly of meat. However, a somewhat higher frequency of caries among Siberian Tatars indicates a greater amount of carbohydrates. Later (18th to early 20th century) Tatars of Chertaly I, Toksay I and II, Tyulchakovo, and Letniy Kaurdak) exhibit a frequency of caries similar to that found in 18th–19th century Russian peasants of the western Urals, possibly evidencing a similar proportion of refined carbohydrates in the diet. The difference between earlier and later Tatar groups attests to an increasing role of agriculture due to the immigration of Russians; and, later, of Tatars from the Volga-Ural region.

Keywords: Dental pathology, caries, Siberian Tatars, diet, agriculture.