The hazards of the pastoralist lifestyle: Evidence from postcranial fractures in Middle Bronze and Early Iron Age populations of the Forest-Steppe Altai, Russia

Abstract

A global comparison has shown that subsistence-specific practices influenced the risk of postcranial fractures in prehistoric hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists. Much less is known about pastoralists in this regard. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and patterns of postcranial injuries of herders in the Forest-Steppe Altai, Russia. Skeletal samples associated with the Andronovo Culture of the Middle Bronze Age, and Staroaleyka and Kamen Cultures of the Early Iron Age were studied. Long bones of 595 adults were examined for evidence of antemortem and perimortem injuries. Fracture frequencies were calculated per individual and per skeletal element, and the differences were evaluated statistically. While assessing per individual, the relative risk with a 95% confidence interval was calculated as well. All of the observed fractures were healed. This study suggests that pastoralists sustained not only traumatic, but also stress injuries. There were sex-related differences in the rates, patterns, and location of the injuries. In the males, the main reason of fractures could have been high-velocity incidents during horseback riding and using horse-drawn vehicles. In the females, the majority of the injuries were possibly associated with accidents when walking (short falls and twists of ankle) and milking. Females of the Staroaleyka Culture sustained fractures of the limb bones significantly more often than those of the Kamen Culture, probably as a result of differences in their daily activities. In terms of the total fracture rates, the Forest-Steppe Altai pastoralists and their neighbors seem to have surpassed low-intensity agriculturalists but lag behind hunter-gatherers and high-intensity agriculturalists. More datasets are needed to further elucidate the association between postcranial fracture risk and subsistence-specific practices and environments within the Eurasian Steppe, where pastoralism has been the predominant form of economic activity for millennia.