Late Bronze Age anthropological materials from the Nepljuevski kurgan cemetery

Bibliographic Data

ID4719172
AuthorsMarina K Karapetian (0000-0003-1886-8943, Lomonosov Moscow State University, corresponding author), N A Leybova (0000-0003-0635-0725, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology), V Sharapova (0000-0001-9227-3767, Institute of History and Archaeology)
Year2020
Issue3 (50
Pages133-148
Publication date2020-08-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueVestnik arheologii, antropologii i ètnografii (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1811-7465 • E-ISSN: 2071-0437
PublisherTyumen Scientific Center of the SB RAS (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.20874/2071-0437-2020-50-3-11
OpenAlexW3081832707
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited3

The body of works on craniological and paleoodontological analyses of the materials from the Bronze Age sites of the Southern Trans-Urals still has not clarified the question of the genesis of the people who lived in this area. This is partly due to fragmentary state of the available materials, so that publication of new data appears highly relevant. This paper deals with the results of craniological and dental analyses of an osteological sample from two kurgans of the Nepljuevski burial ground, excavated between 2015 and 2017 by a Russian-German archaeological expedition. The burial ground is located 300 km south-west of Chelyabinsk city, in Kartalinsky dis-trict in the steppes of the Southern Trans-Urals. The recovered materials are dated to the Late Bronze Age and attributed to the Srubnaya-Alakul Culture variant. Materials and methods. Metric description of 5 male and 6 fe-male crania is given. The dental sample comprised remains of 14 children and adolescents and 12 adults. Stan-dard craniometric and paleoodontological protocols were used. Statistical procedures included principal compo-nent analysis (PCA) for craniometric traits and correspondence analysis for odontological traits. Results. Gener-ally, the crania show morphology characteristic for the European (Caucasian) groups. The male crania are ho-mogenous in such traits as narrow, vividly protruding nose and a pronounced horizontal profiling. The sample is dominated by individuals with a high facial height. Females and males generally show morphological similarities, but females, on average, have a relatively higher braincase, wider and lower orbits, a relatively wider nose, and slightly less pronounced horizontal profiling. The odontological analysis is in line with the cranoimetric data indi-cating European ancestry. One of the distinct characteristics of this sample is the presence of «enamel pearls» - a usually rare trait - in 5 out of 12 individuals, which may indicate an increased percentage of biological relatives in it. Conclusion. Overall, the crania from kurgan 1 find analogies among gracilized high-faced forms widespread in Southern Urals and Kazakhstan during the Bronze Age, often linked to the southern ancestry. The attribution of the Nepljuevski sample to the circle of gracile forms is indicated by the results of odontological analysis, which revealed its proximity to the Tripolye culture sample

Archaeology · Bronze Age · Crania · Geography · Osteology · Demography · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Paleopathology and ancient diseases · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access