VESTNIK ARHEOLOGII ANTROPOLOGII I ETNOGRAFII  

 Ή 3 (74)  (2026)

page 130–140                                                                                                                                                                                        RUS

https://doi.org/10.20874/2071-0437-2026-74-3-10

ΣΔΚ 572.08   EDN: https://elibrary.ru/QUSSKW

  http://www.ipdn.ru/_private/a74/130-140.pdf

Medieval population of the Middle Ob region according to dental non-metric data (Saigatinsky burials)

Sleptsova, Anastasia V., PhD in History, Researcher, Tyumen Scientific Centre SB RAS, Tyumen, Russia, sleptsova_1993@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5791-248X

Summary

Current paper is devoted to the reconstruction of the biological affinities of the Medieval people of the Middle Ob region based on dental non-metric traits data from Saigatinsky burial grounds. The large number of individuals examined (246) allowed to form two samples, dating from the 6th–11th and 12th–16th centuries, to study the chronological dynamics. These groups were characterized using an expanded dental program and compared with Western Siberia groups of the Great Migration Period, the Middle Ages, and near-Modern Era. As a result, it was established that an anthropologically unified population lived in the Surgut Ob region during the 6th–16th centuries. There is possibility of a migration of taiga groups from the Middle Ob region to the subtaiga territories of the Tobol-Irtysh region at the turn of the first and second millennia. Confirmed previously known data about the significant affinities between medieval population of the Surgut Ob region and near-modern Ugric populations, especially the Eastern Khanty of the Vasyugan and Vakh River.

Keywords:  northern part of Western Siberia, Lower Ob Cultural and Historical Community, Saigatino Culture, Eastern Khanty, dental non-metric traits variation.

© Sleptsova A.V., 2026

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

 

 Received 10.03.2026

 Accepted 27.04.2026

Article is published: 15.09.2026

   

Acknowledgements. The author is grateful to N.G. Erokhin (Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and M.P. Rykun (Anthropology Department of Tomsk State University) for the opportunity to work with osteological collections. The author thanks G.A. Aksyanova (N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology RAS) for sharing unpublished data. I would like to express my gratitude to two anonymous reviewers and O.E. Poshekhonova, whose valuable comments significantly improved the paper.

Funding. The work was carried out within the framework of the Russian Science Foundation Project Ή 24-78-00181, https://rscf.ru/project/24-78-00181/.

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