Slepchenko S.M., Vinokurov N.I., Babenko A.N., Khrustalev A.V., Ivanov S.N. Results of Archaeoparasitological and Palynological Research Conducted on Cultural Layers of the Artesian Ancient Settlement (Eastern Crimea)

 
Sergey M. Slepchenko, Candidate of Sciences (Biology), Lead Researcher, Tyumen Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chervishevsky Trakt, 13, 625008 Tyumen, Russian Federation
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Nikolai I. Vinokurov, Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor, Department of the History of the Ancient World and Middle Ages named after V.F. Semenov, Moscow Pedagogical State University, Malaya Pirogovskaya St, 1/1, 119435 Moscow, Russian Federation
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Anna N. Babenko, Candidate of Sciences (Biology), Senior Researcher, Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dm. Ulyanov St, 19, 117292 Moscow, Russian Federation
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Alexander V. Khrustalev, Researcher, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Fundamental and Applied Parasitology of Animals and Plants named after K.I. Skryabin, Bolshaya Cheremushkinskaya St, 28, 117218 Moscow, Russian Federation
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Sergey N. Ivanov, Researcher, Tyumen Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chervishevsky Trakt, 13, 625008 Tyumen, Russian Federation
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Abstract. The article presents the results of archaeoparasitological and palynological research of the cultural layers located in the ancient Artesian settlement in the Eastern Crimea. The study revealed the species composition of parasites and palynological spectrum in the cultural layers. Parasite eggs distribution over the layers indicates high content of eggs in almost all periods of the citadel’s existence. High abundance of geohelminth eggs in the studied samples, which might belong to both humans and domestic animals, indicates the unsatisfactory sanitary state of the settlement and the constant risk of infection with geohelminthiasis and intestinal infections possessing the same fecal-oral route of transmission. Features of the studied spore-pollen spectra do not allow a detailed reconstruction of the vegetation dynamics in the vicinity of the Artezian fortress at the turn of the millennium. The major reason is complexity of spectra formation: in addition to pollen deposited from the air (pollen rain), a significant proportion consists of pollen grains brought from other sources. Furthermore, interpretation of the spore-pollen spectra is complicated by presence of a large number of microcharcoals and burnt pollen grains. Despite the above-mentioned challenges in the study of samples from the cultural layers of the Artezian archaeological site using spore-pollen method, we have determined that the inhabitants of the settlement probably used animal dung as fuel, and that at the turn of the millennium, forestless open landscapes covered with steppe vegetation were predominant around the settlement. An important result of the study is the demonstration of unexplored opportunities to investigate cultural layers by archaeoparasitological and palynological methods and of the obtained data use as a source of bioarchaeological information.
Key words: archaeoparasitology, helminths, palynology, cultural layer, spore-pollen spectra, Eastern Crimea, antiquity.
Citation. Slepchenko S.M., Vinokurov N.I., Babenko A.N., Khrustalev A.V., Ivanov S.N., 2022. Rezul’taty arheoparazitologicheskogo i palinologicheskogo issledovaniya kul’turnyh sloev antichnogo poseleniya Artezian (Vostochnyy Krym) [Results of Archaeoparasitological and Palynological Research Conducted on Cultural Layers of the Artesian Ancient Settlement (Eastern Crimea)]. Nizhnevolzhskiy Arkheologicheskiy Vestnik [The Lower Volga Archaeological Bulletin], vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 184-207. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/nav.jvolsu.2022.2.12
 
Results of Archaeoparasitological and Palynological Research Conducted on Cultural Layers of the Artesian Ancient Settlement (Eastern Crimea) by Slepchenko S.M., Vinokurov N.I., Babenko A.N., Khrustalev A.V., Ivanov S.N. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
 
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