Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
1) Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mokhovaya st., 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia; 2) Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117036, st. Dm. Ulyanova, 19, Moscow, Russia
Berezina Natalia Ya., Ph.D., ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5704-9153, e-mail: berezina.natalia@gmail.com; Buzhilova Alexandra P., Ph.D., D.Sc., ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6398-2177, e-mail: albu_pa@mail.ru; Reshetova I.K., e-mail: reshetovairina@yandex.ru
Introduction: Saltovo-Maiytsky culture has been researched for more than one hundred years. During this period a lot of sites, which belong to that culture, were investigated and the ethnic origin of the people, who left it, was defined. Nevertheless, the accumulation of craniological materials has essential value for confirmation or updating of existing data. Materials and methods: In the work the new craniological materials from six early medieval monuments from middle of river Don territory and one necropolis of Mamisondon from the territory of North Ossetia are presented. For sex and age definition we made complex study of skull and postcranial skeleton using modern scientific programs. The craniological analysis of materials was carried out using the R. Martin’s standard technique and the T.Wu additional sizes updated by V.P. Alekseev and G.F. Debets. The statistical processing of craniological materials has been carried out with use of several programs: Statistica 6.0 and Canoclas V.E. Deryabin author’s program. Results and discussion. The intra group analysis of the burial ground of Mamisondon and the intergroup analysis of the new materials have been carried out. In the analysis we took into account data from the synchronous sites of the Northwest, Northeast and Central Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the lower Volga region, Don region and the Volga Bulgaria. The closest analogies for the Mamisondon studied series were found among series of skulls of Saltovo-Mayatsky culture. The new materials received from burial grounds of Don region, lay in the border of classical craniological characteristics of Saltovo-mayatsky culture representatives. Taking several burial grounds as examples, it is possible to fix the break of tendency in interrelations of funeral ceremony type with a certain anthropological type (Yamna and Catacomb burials and, respectively, brachycranic and dolichocranic anthropological types) revealed in early researches. Conclusion. The new craniological materials have been examined; the results of the research confirmed the existing idea of the migratory processes’ important role in early Middle Ages in formation of the population of Eastern Europe. The expansion of number of samples from such known complexes as Verkhnee Saltovo, Mayatsky and Dmitrovsky confirmed the tendency of the population of Saltovo-Mayatsky culture formation revealed earlier on the basis of several anthropological variants. On the example of the North Caucasian series of Mamisondon it was possible to track connection between the population of Saltovo-Mayatsky culture and the North Caucasian region, which are characterized by a primary dolichocrania with big longitudinal, small and average in cross-section diameters.
anthropology, craniology, Alan culture, Don region, North Caucasus, early Middle Ages, Khazar Kaganat
Цит.: Berezina N.Ya., Buzhilova A.P., Reshetova I.K. New craniological materials revisited anthropological background of medieval Alans // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2012; 4/2012; с. 18-36
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