Anthropology  

Khokhlov A.A., Solodovnikov K.N., Rykun M.P., Kravchenko G.G., Kitov E.P.

CRANIOLOGICAL DATA ON THE PROBLEM OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POPULATIONS OF THE EARLY BRONZE AGE YAMNAYA AND AFANASYEVO CULTURES

This study focuses on the problem of the relationship between two distinctive Early Bronze Age cultures — Yamnaya of Eastern Europe and Afanasyevo of Southern Siberia; the issue is still very topical and appealing to a wide range of specialists in the field of history. Here we summarize the existing hypotheses on the origin of the Afanasyevo population, compare cranial material of geographically and chronologically different groups of these cultures with the series of Eneolithic — Middle Bronze Age skulls from Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia and South Siberia. Multivariate statistics techniques, such as canonical analysis and clustering of Mahalanobis distances, were used. The heterogeneity of the local Yamnaya and Afanasyevo groups, as well as predominance of wide-face European-type anthropological components in both populations, were shown. Comparative Neo-Eneolithic craniological materials of Altai, adjacent areas of Southern Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan demonstrate morphological complexes with moderate face profiling. The population with such appearance cannot be considered as a basis for the European-type Afanasyevo population. Among available Neo-Eneolithic craniological series from Central and Western Asia, Caucasus and South-Eastern Europe, various types of dolichocranial meso- or hypomorphic European-type individuals clearly prevail. They are morphologically different from the Afanasyevo craniological samples of Altai and the Minusinsk Hollow. As such, we deny the existing point of view on the origins of the proto-Afanasyevo population in Central and Western Asia regions. From the overall results of morphological analysis, we suggest that the ancestors of the proto-Afanasyevo population need to be sought specifically among the steppe and forest-steppe Eneolithic — Early Bronze Age populations of Eastern Europe. According to our data, Yamnaya groups from Volga-Ural regions, which, moreover, appear to be chronologically the oldest ones within the populations of the Yamnaya cultural-historical area, demonstrate the greatest craniological similarity with the Afanasyevo groups from the Altai Mountains. Therefore, we support archaeological research and anthropological arguments which suggest that the appearance of the proto-Afanasyevo people in the Altai region is related to the migration of some Eneolithic — Early Bronze Age Eastern European population, most likely from the Volga-Ural areas.

Key words: Yamnaya culture, Afanasyevo culture, morphological features, anthropological components, genetic unity.

Zubova A.V., Marchenko Zh.V., Grishin A.E.

STRUCTURE OF ALIMENTATION OF THE BEARERS OF THE ODINO CULTURE FROM THE BARABA FORREST-STEPPE AREA (ODONOLOGIC DATA)

The article is dedicated to reconstruction of paleodiet in three groups of the Odino archaeological culture from the burial sites of Sopka-2/4A, Tartas-1 and Preobrazhenka-6. The main goals of the article are to analyse carbohydrates and protein consumption, to determine the level of biological stress and to compare the Odinovo diet with the same features of the Neolithic — Late Bronze Age populations from the South region of Western Siberia. Chronological changes in the composition of the diet were analyzed too. Frequencies of dental pathologies allow us to suggest a complex composition of the diet in the Sopka-2/4A group where a low level of carbohydrates and prevalence of animal protein were presented. The level of the food stresses was low. There are no serious differences between men and women. Basing on the sample from Tartas-1, we can suggest a higher, than in Sopka-2/4A, level of carbohydrates consumption and also a low level of stress. There is a higher level of animal proteins in the late burials. Very high frequency of caries was found in the samples from Preobrazhenka-6, which indicates a high level of carbohydrates here. Also there is a high level of food stresses, which is respectively low in women than in men. Women from this site are characterized by lower frequency of ante-mortem tooth loss and caries than men. The results of the comparative analysis showed that the strategy of food consumption had been common for the population of the Baraba forrest and steppe area during at least three thousand years.

Key words: Bronze Age, Odino culture, dental anthropology, paleopathology, paleodiet, caries, hypoplasia, dental calculus.

Bobrova A.I., Alekseeva E.A.

BURIAL SITES AS A SOURCE OF FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE INDIGENOUS POPULATION FROM THE RIVER KET BASIN (XV–XVII AD)

The article presents results of the study of archaeological and paleoanthropological materials from burial mounds in the basin of the river Ket (XV–XVII AD). The region was a special contact area in the Late Middle Ages. The phenomenon is in the fact that people of different ethnic groups lived there: Kets, Selkups, Evenks and Russians. The researchers made a clear conclusion about ethnic identification of the peoples from burial grounds (XV–XVII AD). They were Samodeic-Selkup. The research focused on anthropological materials from burial grounds of the low (Yoltyrevsky burial mound II, Yoltyrevsky burial mound III), and middle (Karbinsky burial mound II) Keta river basin (Kolpashevsky and Verkhneketsky Districts of Tomsk region). Those artifacts were made by members of the Southern group of Selkups (Narym), representatives of the ethnic groups of siussekum (siussykum). The appearance of representatives of that population is recreated with the help of anthropological reconstruction in graphic technique.

Key words: Western Siberia, the river Ket, burial mounds, the Late Middle Ages, Narym Selkup, Chumulkup, Siusekum, anthropological reconstruction, facial approximation.