Abstract: Inequities in access to the latest advances in health care and effective drugs constitute public health problems today,1 but was this also the case in ancient societies when practitioners used traditional medicines with limited means? The excavation of frozen graves in Yakutia (present day eastern Siberia, Russia) dating from 1700 CE2 led to the identification of a woman, buried almost naked, covered with a magnificent robe and with half a horse bit in her mouth (figure). The other half of the horse bit was found in the trunk behind her head with her earrings, bracelets, and signet rings.

Abstract: This article investigates, for the first time, the diet of the Yakut population between the 15th and 19th centuries AD. Analyses of the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in human and animal bone collagen were used for the study. The stable isotope values were then compared through four historical periods, three geographical areas, sexes, and socio-economic groups determined by the presence or absence of artefacts in the excavated tombs. The results highlight the variety of dietary practices among the Yakuts. There are significant differences between the North, characterised mostly by the consumption of herbivores, the Viluy region, where fish had an important role, and Central Yakutia with a diversified diet. No differences were seen between the diets of men and women. The group of elites had a stable diet based on meat and milk consumption. Samples before 1700AD had δ15N values that were higher than samples from other periods, probably due to greater consumption of fish and foal meat. These data were compared with ethnographic, historical and archaeological information so as to better depict the diet of these past populations.

Abstract: Seventeen years of archaeological and anthropological expeditions in North-Eastern Siberia (in the Sakha Republic, Yakutia) have permitted the genetic analysis of 150 ancient (15th-19th century) and 510 modern individuals. Almost all males were successfully analysed (Y-STR) and this allowed us to identify paternal lineages and their geographical expansion through time. This genetic data was confronted with mythological, historical and material evidence to establish the sequence of events that built the modern Yakut genetic diversity. We show that the ancient Yakuts recovered from this large collection of graves are not representative of an ancient population. Uncommonly, we were also able to demonstrate that the funerary preference observed here involved three specific male lineages, especially in the 18th century. Moreover, this dominance was likely caused by the Russian conquest of Siberia which allowed some male clans to rise to new levels of power. Finally, we give indications that some mythical and historical figures might have been the actors of those genetic changes. These results help us reconsider the genetic dynamics of colonization in some regions, question the distinction between fact and myth in national histories and provide a rare insight into a funerary ensemble by revealing the biased process of its composition.

Abstract: Objective To investigate how tobacco and tea spread among virgin populations and how the first addictions have subsequently influenced the behavior of present-day populations. Design Retrospective observational study using data from frozen burials and levels of theobromine, theophylline, caffeine, nicotine, and cotinine measured in hair samples from frozen bodies of autochthonous people. Confrontation of the results with new ethnobotanical, historical and cultural data from the past and with present day epidemiological data from the same region. Setting Eastern Siberia (Yakutia) from the contact with Europeans (17th century) to the assimilation of people into Russian society (19th century). Participants 47 frozen bodies of autochthonous people from eastern Siberia and a review of present-day populations from Yakutia Intervention Levels of theobromine, theophylline, caffeine, nicotine, and cotinine were measured in hair samples. Along with the collection of cultural data associated with the bodies, potential comorbidities were investigated. Main outcome measure We combined LC-HRMS and LC-MS/MS tools for toxicological investigations in hair and we assessed the association between xenobiotic concentrations and geography using several permutation-based methods to infer the economic circuits of tobacco and tea. Comparison of the results obtained with ethno-botanical analyses allowed to identify the products from which the metabolites were derived. Results Hair levels of theobromine, theophylline and caffeine vary with the type of beverage consumed: green, black or local herbal teas. At the beginning of our study period, a few heavy consumers of tobacco were found among light or passive consumers. Tobacco-related co-morbidities began to be recorded one century after contact with Europeans. Heavy tea users were only found from the 19th century and the heaviest users of the two substances date from this century. After the first contact, teas were widely consumed as beverages and medicines but also for shamanic reasons. Economic factors, fashion and social and family contacts seem to have played a decisive role in tobacco consumption very early on. Conclusion Epidemiological characteristics of present-day Yakutia suggest that the high prevalence of smokers and tea consumers, the prevalence of female smokers and tobacco use in the north, find their origins in the diffusion phenomena of the 18th and 19th century. Behavioral evolution governed the process of substance integration and was determinant for the continuity of use of these substances over a long period of time.