EAA2021: Abstract

To learn more about the diets of Yamnaya communities (LCA/EBA, 3rd Millennium BC) in the Carpathian Basin, we studied the dental calculus of a woman's remains from a burial place (Bojt, Great Hungarian Plain). Plant microfossils (starch grains and phytoliths) were identified in the matrix of the calculus. Based on our findings, millet could be a consumed crop. Besides meat and milk – as the primary food source for the Yamnaya people – the young Yamnaya woman might have supplemented her diet with immature grass or crop shoots. However, the most exciting result is that the calculus matrix was rich in conifer phytoliths, apparently from Abies alba (silver fir) and Picea abies (Norway spruce) needles. As there were no conifers in the Great Hungarian Plain of the Carpathian Basin about five-thousand years ago, this may be new evidence for immigration or transhumance. The closest conifer habitat is located in the Transylvanian Apuseni Mountains, with higher pastures on the mountains' top. A traditional transhumant route of Yamnaya people between the western part of the Apuseni Mountains and the microregion of the burial site has been presumed based on evidence of both archaeological and stable isotope data sets of human remains. The hypothesis is that the transhumance with livestock passing the winter and spring in the Great Hungarian Plain's milder regions and returning to higher pastures in the warmer months is supported by our results. Consequently, we found further evidence for the seasonal transhumance of Yamnaya communities during the LCA-EBA Transitional Period of the Eastern Carpathian.

dental calculus, phytolith, Yamnaya, Bronze Age, Carpathian Basin, conifer needles

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Zsuzsa Lisztes-Szabó¹

Anna Fruzsina Filep²
Volker Heyd³
Gabriella Kulcsár⁴
Piotr Włodarczak⁵
János Dani⁶