An individual from the Selivanovsky II burial ground exhibited significantly elevated δ13C and δ15N isotope values relative to the contemporaneous group, indicating differential dietary protein intake during early life or residence in a distinct ecological zone prior to community integration.

When a child eats milk from their mother, the nitrogen and carbon in their bones get a special chemical signature. When they stop drinking milk and start eating meat or dairy from land animals, the signature in their bones starts to change. The slow-growing parts of the bone keep the old signature from childhood, while the fast-growing parts show the new diet. If someone moved to a place with different animals to eat, their bones would show a signature that doesn’t match the local group, because their early diet came from somewhere else.