617 INTRODUCTION Paleoparasitology is the study of parasites found in ancient remains. Different archeological and paleontological objects are analyzed, such as soil samples, coprolites, or hair [1]. Pa- leoparasitology reveals the existence of parasites in the past and helps to trace the relationship between parasites and final hosts. Thus, it sheds light on the origin and evolution of para- sitic infections. Moreover, paleoparasitology contributes to a better understanding of paleodiet, paleopathology, sanitary conditions, life style and migration paths of ancient human populations [1]. Paleoparasitological studies have not yet been performed on archeological sites left by indigenous Arctic ethnic groups Ne- nets in West Siberia. Here, for the first time, we introduce pa- leoparasitological results from the burial ground of the Taz Nenets people. Descendants of those interred in the Vesakoyakha III-IV and Nyamboyto I burial grounds ethnically belong to the Nenets, indigenous people in northern arctic Russia, more specifically the lower reaches of the Taz River and its tributaries [2]. These Siberian Tundra Nenets, together with the European and Forest Nenets, form a large single ethnic family in Northern Eurasia from the Pechora River to the mouth of Yenisei River (Fig. 1). Archeological data suggest that Samoyedic languages origi- nated in the Volgo-Kama region in the Neolithic period. Later, ancient Samoyedic people moved farther eastward. The ances- tors of Nenets, native Samoyedic speakers, began to leave the Sayano-Altay highlands and moved to the Near Arctic and Arc- tic Circle in the 3rd century AD. The migration process lasted almost a thousand years. In the 17th century, the Nenets en- tered the Taz River Basin and moved farther to the northeast, displacing and assimilating the Enets people, another Samo- yedic people [3]. Along with the North-Samoyedic group, the Taz Nenets tax- onomically belong to the Yenisei anthropological group of the North Asian race [4]. The Nenets’ language, together with the languages of both Enets and Nganasan, is related to the north- ern branch of the Samoyedic language group, which, together ISSN (Print) 0023-4001 ISSN (Online) 1738-0006 Korean J Parasitol Vol. 54, No. 5: 617-623, October 2016 https://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2016.54.5.617 ▣ ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Received 23 February 2016, revised 16 May 2016, accepted 8 June 2016. * Corresponding author (s_slepchenko@list.ru) * This article is dedicated to the memory of our wonderful colleague, D. Sci. Adauto Araújo, who passed away, but he continues to live in our hearts. © 2016, Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Traditional Living Habits of the Taz Tundra Population: A Paleoparasitological Study Sergey Mikhailovich Slepchenko 1,2,3, *, Sergey Nikolaevich Ivanov 1 , Bagashev Anatoly Nikolaevich 1 , Tsybankov Alexander Alekseevich 2 , Slavinsky Vyacheslav Sergeyevich 2 1 Institute for Problems of the Development of the North, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tyumen 625026 Russian Federation; 2 Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090, Russian Federation; 3 Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tyumen, Russian Federation Abstract: An excavation of the Vesakoyakha II-IV and Nyamboyto I burial grounds was conducted during the 2014 field season, and soil samples from intact burials dating from the 19th and 20th centuries, respectively, were analyzed to de- termine interactions between parasites and host/vectors. Considering the discovery of Diphyllobothrium sp. and Taenia sp. eggs in soil samples from the pelvic region, diphyllobothriasis was the most frequent helminthic infection among the Taz Nenets. The Nyamboyto Nenets mainly consumed uncooked fish, while the Vesakoyakha Nenets had a bigger variety in food choices, including reindeer meat. Nenets children were given raw fish from early childhood. The paleoparasitologi- cal results corroborate rare ethnographic records about the consumption of uncooked reindeer cerebrum which led to beef tapeworm helminthiases. This is the first parasitological report of helminthic diseases among the Taz Nenets, and, as such, it provides insight into their subsistence activities and food patterns and broadens our understanding of their health condition. Key words: Taenia saginata, Diphyllobothrium latum, Western Siberia, paleoparasitology, health status, dietary habit, Nenets, food pattern, subsistence activity