Anthropology  

Solodovnikov K.N., Tur S.S.

ON ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE NEOLITHIC POPULATION OF THE OB RIVER BASIN NEAR BARNAUL (BASING ON THE MATERIALS OF THE BURIAL GROUND OF FIRSOVO XI)

The results of a study of Neolithic skulls from the burial ground of Firsovo XI, on the right bank of the Ob River near the city of Barnaul, are presented. The restoration resulted in obtaining craniometric characteristics of 7 male and 3 female skulls of different degrees of preservation. The series is characterized by a structure of the facial skull, intermediate between the Caucasoids and the Mongoloids, it contains skulls of a more Caucasoid and a more Mongoloid appearance. According to the results of an intergroup comparison, the Firsovo XI series differs greatly from the Afanasyevo culture series and the similar cultural types of the Altai Mountains, which confirms the conclusion that the Afanasyevo population of Southern Siberia has no local roots. The craniological series under consideration is very similar to the synchronous groups from the Northern foothills of the Altai (burial grounds of Ust-Isha, Itkul, Solontsi V, etc.). There is also a great morphological similarity to the Neolithic series of the more Northern areas of the Ob River Basin near Novosibirsk and Kamen', Kuznetsk Depression, Baraba forest-steppe zone, the Irtysh River basin near Omsk, Northern Kazakhstan, and the forest-steppe Trans-Urals. The similarity to the synchronous groups of the Upper Lena and the Upper Angara is also revealed, as a reflection of racial and genetic connections between the population of the Altai foothill regions and the Neolithic population of the Circum-Baikal region. The male group under consideration also demonstrates a significant morphological similarity to the Neolithic and Early Eneolithic craniological materials from the burial grounds of Lebiazhinka IV and V, Chekalino V, S''iezzhe I in the Volga-Ural interfluve. A hypothesis is made that, before the Bronze Age, an anthropological community of ancient population of the plain forest-steppe zones of Eurasia with intermediate Caucasoid-Mongoloid racial features existed in the territories of Western Siberia and Eastern regions of Eastern Europe. Besides, the group, which left the burial site of Firsovo XI, especially its female part, demonstrates presence of brachicranian component, also with intermediate Mongoloid-Caucasoid racial features. Probably, it belongs to the Southern Eurasian anthropological formation, which determined the anthropological composition of the local population of the Altai-Sayan Highland in the Neolithic — Late Bronze Age.

Key words: the Neolithic, Firsovo XI, paleoanthropology, craniometry, Caucasoids, Mongoloids, Western Siberia, forest-steppe zone.

Khudaverdyan A.Yu., Hakopyan N.G., Zhamkochyan А.S., Engibaryan A.A., Hovanisyan А.А.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIVIDUALS OF THE IX–XI CENTURIES FROM THE MONUMENT OF DVIN (ARMENIA) WITH GROWTH DISORDERS

Irrespective of era and habitat, people paid more attention to extraordinary and unlike phenomena, than to everywhere found and usual ones. This article is about unusual individuals of the 9^th–11^th centuries from Dvin, among which traces of delay of growth processes were revealed. The paper analyzes individual features of craniological, cranioscopic, odontological, osteological and paleopathological characteristics of two individuals. Basing on a comprehensive anthropological study of finds, an attempt to reconstruct the way of life of the buried was made. Due to the lack of bones of the post-cranial skeleton of the individual No. 1, we can state only nanocephalia. Markers of an incidental stress (hypoplasia of enamel, cribra orbitalia) in this individual indicate systemic influence of negative factors, such as infections, frequent periods of starvation which interfered with normal development of the organism in the childhood. The skeleton No. 2 is characterized by the Laron-type dwarfism (Laron syndrome). The research of bones of the skeleton showed presence of serious pathologies, unrepresentative for so young age, related to excessive exercise stresses. An optional version of the activity is possible: the dwarf was a clown-acrobat. Harris lines, or growth arrest lines are clearly seen on Х-ray images of two diaphyses of tibial bones. Another marker of growth delays (enamel hypoplasia) is also found in the individual No. 2. Existence of one of the diet indicators (odontolith) and absence of caries indicate similarity of ingredients of the meals of two individuals, and tying, perhaps, proteinaceous origin of their food.

Key words: Armenia, Dvin, IX–XI centuries, рaleoanthropology, craniology, odontology, osteology, paleopathology, Laron syndrome, gistrions.