Stable isotope studies of anthropological remains from bronze age burial sites in the Middle Don region

The studies of Bronze Age communities that left behind burial sites of the Middle Don Catacomb archaeological culture have significance both for understanding specific traits of the entire phenomenon known as cultural and historical communities and development of concepts on the Catacomb cultural and historical community of the Middle Don variant. The study of the stable isotope composition of protein compounds and the mineral component of human skeletons from kurgan graves dating to the Bronze Age in the Middle Don region for the first time ever offers an opportunity to analyze the data demonstrating individual diet patterns and local features of the ‘individual life area’ relating to the Middle Don Catacomb community. The paper reviews data on the carbon and nitrogen delta from 17 collagen samples of bone tissue and the 87/86 Sr ratio in 16 samples of the mineral component in the bone tissues of the individuals from the First and Second Vlasovskiy cemeteries, the Bogucharovo cemetery as well as Kolbino-1, Repnaya Balka, and Ternovy-1. The results obtained suggest that the population, mostly, followed a stable diet pattern with a predominantly protein component. Several sites have yielded individuals characterized by dramatically different diet models and different «individual life areas».