Fecal Stanols in the Bottom Sediments of Lake Zapovednoe (Evenkia) Indicate an Insignificant Anthropogenic Load in the Lake Basin in the Late Holocene

Biomarkers of the presence of animals and humans (fecal stanols) are well preserved in lake sediments. They are produced by intestinal microflora from sterols. Coprostanol and epicoprostanol are specific human stanols, since they are produced in the greatest quantities when compared to animals. These stanols are used to reconstruct the population history of water bodies. In this work, fecal stanols have been studied for the first time in the bottom sediments of Lake Zapovednoye, located in Evenkia (Siberia, Russia). The analysis is carried out using a gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometric detector. Along the entire core, there are no pronounced signals of coprostanol and epicoprostanol compared with other stanols, which indicates a negligible contribution of humans to the pool of fecal stanols. It is obvious that throughout the entire studied time interval (up to 2500 years ago) there were no permanent settlements in the lake’s drainage basin, which is generally consistent with the extremely low population density of this region and unfavorable living conditions.