Human diet and lifeways during late Bronze and early Iron age (pre-empire of Xiongnu time) of Western Transbaikalia: Reconstruction by С-N isotopes

Abstract

Western Transbaikalia is the northern edge of the Eastern steppes zone. Archeological sites of the Late Bronze Age in Western Transbaikalia, which was the peripheral zone of the expansion of the tribes of Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age (ca. 1300-300 BCE) is affiliated with Khirigsuur and Slab Grave cultures, the economic basis for them was pastoralism. Here, we reveal the diet and lifeways of the population of the Khirigsuur and Slab Grave cultures in Western Transbaikalia by analyzing carbon and nitrogen isotopes of bone collagen from human and animal remains from the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age archaeological complexes of Western Transbaikalia. The results of our study showed that Khirigsuur and Slab Grave cultures population practiced the husbandry of domesticated livestock. We identified that by the Xiongnu period (ca. 200 BCE – 250 CE) the dietary trend of the population diversified: in addition to meat and dairy products it included crops and freshwater fish. The isotopic characteristics of herbivorous domestic animals indicated that their feeding during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age and Xiongnu time in Western Transbaikalia were similar.