Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mokhovaya st., 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia
Berezin Yakov B., ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0417-4668; yakov_berezin@mail.ru; Karapetian Marina K., PhD, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1886-8943; marishkakar@hotmail.com.
The article describes anthropological materials from the North Caucasus, collected for the 1879 Anthropological Exhibition, and constituting a part of the oldest core collections of the MSU Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology (RIMA). These specimens were assembled between 1877 and 1878 by Filimonov, Kertselli and Chernyavsky. Materials and methods. Modern storage includes 124 skulls and 2 postcranial skeletons, constituting 8 separate collections. The main sources of information on these collections were the “Bulletin of the Society of Natural History, Anthropology and Ethnology”, published in the late 1870s and the early 1880s, as well as RIMA archive materials, several literature sources and the inscriptions, present on the crania. The history of these collections, archaeological context of their discovery, cultural and chronological characteristics, anthropological research and the state of preservation were studied. Results. Most of the finding are dated to the Late Medieval time and represent immediate ancestors of modern Ossetians, eastern Adygs (Kabardins) and western Adygs (Shapsugs, Natukhajs). Due to poor field documentation, typical for the 19th century, the cultural and chronological characterization of a number of complexes from North Ossetia was problematic. The materials are mostly well preserved, in many cases these are crania without mandibles. Their first craniometric description was done in the late XIX century by Tikhomirov and Bogdanov. Later, Debets studied some of these materials, but the most complete metric study of the Adyg crania was done by Alekseev. Conclusion. Overall, this study allowed, firstly, to clarify the circumstances of the discovery and transfer of the collections to the RIMA, as well as to collect information on researchers who conducted this work. Secondly, the cultural and chronological affiliation of some specimens was revised. Thirdly, it was possible to identify a number of crania that were written off and considered lost.
Upper Koban’; Dargavs; Goryachevodskaya; Nikolayevskaya; Zmeyskaya; Novorossiysk; Shapsugs; Natukhajs; archive sources
DOI: 10.32521/2074-8132.2020.3.122-134
Цит.: Berezin Ya.B., Karapetian M.K. North Caucasian osteological materials from the 1879 Anthropological Exhibition in collections of the Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2020; 3/2020; с. 122-134
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