Evolution of Food and Economy among the Yakuts from the 17th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century : A Comparison of Biological and Cultural Data

• Main Author: Romanova, Liubomira
• Other Authors: Centre d'anthropologie et de génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse III, Âkutskij gosudarstvennyj universitet imeni M. K. Amosova, Éric Crubézy, Nadezhda Pokatilova
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: Eastern Siberia; Yakutia; Food; Economy; Trade; Funerary rites; Funerary meal; Siberian history; Stable isotopes; Carbon; Nitrogen; Toxicological investigations; Biological anthropology; Social anthropology; Sibérie orientale; Iakoutie; Alimentation; Économie; Commerce; Pratiques funéraires; Repas funéraire; Histoire de la Sibérie; Isotopes stables; Carbone; Azote; Études toxicologiques; Anthropologie biologique; Anthropologie sociale; [SHS.ANTHRO-BIO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Biological anthropology; iakoutes; permafrost; Yakut; Yakuts; Siberia
• Online Access: https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03245197; https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03245197/document; https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03245197/file/2021TOU30017a.pdf

Situated at the interface of biology and the humanities, the anthropology of food is a privileged field for the study of ancient societies. Reconstructing the food of the past in all its complexity and diversity can only be achieved by combining the various available sources. Traditionally, the diet of past populations has been studied by historians (written sources) and archaeologists (material sources), but today the development of techniques of biological analysis on human samples offers new ways of tackling this issue. We have chosen the case study of Yakutia, as the abundance of historical and ethnographic data provide a solid contextual framework, and tombs discovered in the permafrost allow access not only to artefacts and funeral meals, but also to very well preserved biological samples. The study of the diet of the Yakuts, who are traditionally horse and cattle breeders, is part of European colonial history and therefore illustrates the transition from a traditional way of life to one dominated by a market economy, in a particular environment where the temperature can reach -71° C in winter. The territory of Yakutia, spread over three million square kilometers, includes various biotopes with valleys and lakes rich in pastures in Central Yakutia and Viluy, and mountainous regions in the North less favourable for breeding, where hunting has always remained an important food source. Our objective is to reconstruct the evolution of the Yakut diet, and to determine its regional particularities as well as those of its social (as determined by artefacts found in the tombs) and sexual categories. To achieve these objectives, we compared data from several sources: 1. The synthesis of historical sources, documents of Russian administration -- some of them unpublished --, as well as ethnographic descriptions from the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century, which attest that the diet of the Yakuts was mainly based on the products of horse and cattle breeding, while hunting, fishing, and gathering served ...