Population of the Eastern Aral Sea region of the 1st millennium according to data from archaeoparasitology (experience of a pilot study)

Abstract

The article presents the results of archaeoparasitology analysis of soil samples obtained during cleaning of sacrums of individuals of the Dzhetyasar archaeological culture (2nd–8th centuries AD) from burial grounds of the South-Eastern Aral Sea region. The purpose of the study was to reconstruct the diet, sanitary conditions of the settlements, and to identify possible directions of movements of the Dzhetyasar Culture population. During the study, eggs of intestinal parasites such as whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), oocysts of coccidia (Eimeria cameli) and broad tapeworm (Dibothriocephalus latus) were detected in soil samples. The data indicates the presence of freshwater fish in the diet of the population, moreover it also suggests poor hygiene, and potentially the use of faeces as fertilizer. The discovery of the broad tapeworm eggs possibly indicates migration links with northern regions such as Tuva, Mongolia and Western Siberia. The results align with the archaeological and anthropologi-cal data, supporting the multicomponent nature of the Dzhetyasar population and its connections with the no-madic groups of Semirechye, the Kyrgyz Alatau and Central Asia.

Affiliated Institutions

• Siberian Scientific Research Institute of Oil Industry RU
• Institute of Archeology UA
• All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Fundamental and Applied Parasitology of Animals and Plants named after K.I. Skryabin RU

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