Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
1) Department of Anthropology, Biological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia; 2) Archaeology Department, Faculty of Phylosophy, Belgrad University, Serbia
Goncharova Natalia, e-mail: 1455008@gmail.com; Radichevich Deyan, e-mail: dradicev@f.bg.ac.rs.
The purpose of this study was to get a better insight into the lifestyle of medieval Slavic populations by examining skeletal remains. The populations of two 12th–13th-century settlements on the Middle Danube were studied. One group is an urban population, the other one is rural. The Duplyaya fortified settlement was situated on the left bank of the Danube, 10 km north of the mouth of the river Caras. The Omolitsa rural settlement is also on the left bank of the Danube, near Belgrade. Burials of at least 150 individuals were excavated. Both settlements are well dated by coins. The analysis revealed differences in frequencies of stress markers and pathological bone changes between the urban and the rural groups. The urban population was more affected by a variety of infectious and systemic diseases such as cancer, while the injury rate is virtually the same. Indicators of cranial trauma are almost the same in both groups, but the urban group shows more diverse types of injuries. Differences might result from different lifestyles of the rural and urban populations. Physical features of the two groups differ too, though both belong to the same type of southern Slavs. Urban dwellers had robust skulls and less protruding noses. To visualize differences between the groups, composite “cranial portraits” were generated with Galton’s method.
Slavic populations, lifestyle, stress markers, anthropological types
Цит.: Goncharova Natalia, Radichevich Deyan MEDIEVAL POPULATION OF THE MIDDLE DANUBE: ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALISIS // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 69-69
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