Prevalence of Caries Among Siberian Tatars of the Omsk Region in the 17th to Early 20th Centuries
Prevalence of Caries Among Siberian Tatars of the Omsk Region in the 17th to Early 20th Centuries
DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.3.146-154
S.M. Slepchenko
Institute of Northern Development, Tyumen Scientific Center, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Malygina 86, Tyumen, 625003, Russia
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
This st udy addresses the prevalence of caries in Ayaly and Kaurdak-Sargat groups of Siberian Tatars living in the Omsk Region of the Irtysh. Judging by dental remains from the Okunevo VII and Bergamak II cemeteries (16th–17th centuries), the frequency of caries among those people was similar to that in the late medieval population of northwestern Siberia. The diet of both these populations apparently consisted mostly of meat. However, a somewhat higher frequency of caries among Siberian Tatars indicates a greater amount of carbohydrates. Later (18th to early 20th century) Tatars of Chertaly I, Toksay I and II, Tyulchakovo, and Letniy Kaurdak) exhibit a frequency of caries similar to that found in 18th–19th century Russian peasants of the western Urals, possibly evidencing a similar proportion of refined carbohydrates in the diet. The difference between earlier and later Tatar groups attests to an increasing role of agriculture due to the immigration of Russians; and, later, of Tatars from the Volga-Ural region.
