Taxonomic Composition of Soil Prokaryotic Communities of Northwestern Crimea Archaeological Sites

The characteristics of soil prokaryotic diversity of archaeological sites of the Late Bronze Age (12th–10th centuries BC) in northwestern Crimea were studied using the high-throughput sequencing method, considering human economic activity in the past (residential and cattle-breeding loads). It was shown that the prokaryotic community of the cattle paddock is characterized by the highest species diversity, and the communities of the cultural layers of the residential building are characterized by the lowest. The highest content of dsDNA was found in the soil of the residential building. The soils of the cattle paddock, compared to the background, are characterized by a higher representation of Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi, as well as a lower proportion of candidate division WPS-1, Verrucomicrobia, and Gemmatimonadetes. A higher content of euryarchaea belonging to the genus Methanomassiliicoccus was noted in the prokaryotic community of the cultural layer of the residential building. Thus, it has been established that anthropogenic activity in the past led to changes in the taxonomic composition of the soil prokaryotic community and these changes have been preserved to this day. The nature of these changes allows us to reconstruct the specifics of economic use of territories in the past.