Demkin V.A., Demkina T.S., Udaltsov S.N.

Reconstruction of burial food in clay vessels from mound burial sites using  phosphate and microbiological methods

By using phosphate and microbiological methods applied in the investigation of soils, subject to reconstruction being composition of burial food in clay vessels from mound burial sites of the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age (III millennium B.C. — IV c. A.D.) from steppe zone in the south of Russia. The reconstruction is based on determining the contents of moving phosphorous compounds and trophic structure of microbial communities in the benthic soil obtained from the vessels and control samples. It is determined that the initial contents of the investigated vessels (over 300) was represented by meat, milk, vegetation (including narcotic) products, and water. Subject to discovery being a relation of the food quality composition with the vessels’ types and their location in the burial, determining cultural-historic and natural-geographic regularities in using burial food by ancient steppe tribes.

Mounds, steppe, archaeological cultures, clay vessels, burial food, reconstruction, natural-science methods.