New data on Selkup craniology from the Upper Taz river basin

Some researchers pointed out that the anthropological originality of some native groups of Western Siberia was formed as a result of late metisation processes that occurred in modern times. Judging by historical and ethnolinguistic data, one of such peoples is the Northern Selkups, who moved to the Upper Taz River basin in the XVII century for political, economic and, possibly, environmental reasons. Paleoontropological data can be an important source for solving the issue of their origin. The article is dedicated to the analysis of the craniological collection from Kikki-Akki burial, received in 2013 and replenished in 2016. The cranial characteristic of this group is reduced to a combination of the following features: a low subdolichocranial skull, a slightly flattened medium-wide and medium-high mesoprozopic face, a flat nose and a very small nasal protrusion angle. The intra-group variability of the male part of the series was studied. In terms of the degree of internal morphological similarity, two groups were singled out in the population under consideration. The first were mesocranial skulls with a mo-derate protrusion medium-high face (8 individuals), the second were subdolichocranial skulls with a flattened low face (5 individuals). It has been established that the Selkups from the Narym River area are indeed the ancestors of the Selkups from the Upper Taz River region, but their physical appearance changed over a short period of time (200–300 years) because of migration to the north. According to its anthropological type, male population of the Upper Taz River region in the XVIII–XIX centuries became as close as possible to the Eastern Khanty. However, it was possible to find in their anthropological structure features of the morphotype associated in genesis with the Selkups from the Narym River region. Formation of the anthropological originality of the Selkups from the Upper Taz River region proceeded with an active metisation of these two components belonging to one West Siberian formation. However, biological connections of the Northern Selkups with the ancestral group from the Narym River region apparently weakened by the XVIII-XIX centuries, and the Ugric component became dominant. A different situation is observed in the female population from the Upper Taz River region. They clearly have both basic components, with a slight predominance of the Southern Samoyedic

Burial food and funeral feast remains from a Northern Selkup grave of 19th century: the experience of ethnoarchaeological analysis

The article deals with an attempt to interpret archaeological and paleoecological sources obtained during the excavation of a Selkup grave in an ancient burial ground situated in the upper river Taz area (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, Russia), by comparing them with ethnographic data. The goal of the paper is to examine historical dynamics of these components in the funeral ritual of the Northern Selkups during the 19th century as traditional preparation of burial food and the funeral feast process. The choice of this particular archaeological site relates to the unique and unusually well-preserved remains of organic materials in the grave that gave a most detailed and complete picture of the composition of the burial food and the funeral feast. In order to interpret the archaeological data we have used information from published ethnographical sources and archival documents as well as materials from the ethnographic field research of funeral traditions of the Selkups of the Upper Taz river, held in 2013 simultaneously with archaeological work. The study made it possible to determine not only probable burial food and funeral feast food of the Northern Selkup burial but also the form and the content of the ritual practice, and to present them in the cultural and historical contexts. As a matter of fact, it was concluded that the closest analogies to the ritual of the studied object are found in earlier archaeological data associated with the Southern Selkups and Eastern Khanty (16–17th centuries) and in ethnographic sources on the Khanty from remote areas which are not directly adjacent to the Taz River basin. The clearly appeared trace of the Southern Selkups and Khanty in the funeral ritual, in our opinion, marks cultural components which played a key role in formation of the Selkup local community of the Upper Taz river. Bones and food scraps of the abundant funeral feast buried on top of the grave are a notable feature of the studied Selkup burial sites which indicate the ancient origin of considerable variability of the Northern Selkup’s funeral ritual

The population of the Lower Tobol river in the transition period from the Early Iron Age to the Middle Ages according to craniology

Up to the present time, a few craniological samples of the migration period from the Early Iron Age to the Middle Ages from the Lower Tobol river have been introduced in scientific circulation [Zolotareva, 1957; Bagashev, 2000; Poshekhonova et al., 2016]. In addition, there was no acces for observation of the morphology of the cranium of the buried, due to a widespread practice of artificial cranial deformation in that period. Accumulation of materials of the III–VI centuries AD from this region became necessary to form a general sample that would allow investigating its anthropological specificity. Some important conclusions were a result of an extensive comparison of the series with groups of Western Siberia and adjacent territories of the Early Iron Age — the Middle Ages. No doubt, the population that left the burial grounds in the Lower Tobol river basin in the III–VI centuries AD was multicomponent. Those characteristics, which related to the medieval inhabitants of the taiga regions of Western Siberia, and to the Mongoloid part of the population of the previous period predominate during the morphological stage of the study of the group [Bagashev, 2000, 2017]. The population characterized by low facial and cranial length, a minimal nasal protrusion angle and a medium profiled transference. The migration of the groups from the taiga zone to the south in the III–VI centuries AD is not excluded. The Caucasian component in the ge-neral sample from the Lower Tobol river, which is already registered as a minor impurity, is not clearly observed. As a result, it was established, as well as the Sargatka paleopopulation, which became a basis for the formation of the Early Medieval tribes. However, a biological mixing has led to a leveling of the features inherent in various components, they can no longer be correlated with any morphotype of the Early Iron Age. Also we cannot make a conclusion about the migration of the population in the III–VI centuries AD from Western Siberia to the Urals, although this assumption has been repeatedly described in archaeological literature [Matveeva, 2015; Rafikova, 2011]. There is no reason to assume large-scale advancement of groups from the south or east to the territory of the Tobol river during that period, despite the fact that it was demonstrated by an artefact (appearance of a superstratum nomadic component) [Matveeva, 2016]

Craniology and odontology of the Early Medieval population alongside the Tobol river, based on Ustyug-1 burial ground

The article presents the results of craniological and odontological research based on a group of Ustyug-1 burial ground. The goal of the research is to determine genesis of the Bakal population from the Tobol river region of the Great Migration time. Morphology of the group was compared with the available data on the populations of the Early Iron Age, Early and High Middle Ages of this and adjacent regions. Their biological connection was determined. It was established that a dominant component in the Bakal population is genetically associated with Western Siberian population of the Early Iron Age. It is found out that by the IV–VI centuries AD the ancient multicomponent substrate of the Bakal group almost did not contain Caucasian morphological type. It was present only as a small admixture. The main component is the West Siberian short-faced Mongoloid complex. By the IX–XIII centuries, that component completely dominated in the paleopopulation structure. But a mixed population with Central Asian admixture came from the East in the Turkic period. A small proportion of this South Siberian morphological type is observed in the later Bakal groups. Superstrata component of Kushnarenkovo, which was identified basing on the archaeological materials, is not observed in the anthropological structure of the Bakal population. Odontology data gives a similar conclusion. A complex of odontology traits suggests heterogeneity of the group. Besides, Sargatka component was transformed under the influence of migration from the Eastern part of the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia and Central Asia. Sargatka component in the Bakal group looks much more indistinct, compared with the population of the Baraba forest-steppe. Markers of the Southern gracile type almost disappear, being replaced by Western Siberian complex

The woman’s burial of Atlasovskoe-2 of the xvii century in Central Yakutia: results of a complex research

This article presents a complex study of the female burial of the XVII century in Central Yakutia. The burial rite (traces of ritual roasting of the coffin, orientation to the North) and composition of the accompanying inventory (a knife of the non-Yakut origin, a sphero-conical top part of a headdress with a support for a plume, twin overlaid decorative details of the headdress’s crown, a composite pectoral panel picture of sewn-on patches, an earring in the form of a question mark with a biconical bead) determine the peculiarity of the burial, and their nearest parallels can be traced to the Medieval cultures of the Eurasian steppe and forest-steppe nomads, as well as to the population of the Siberian forest and tundra zones of the XVI–XIX centuries. Craniological characteristics of the buried woman draw her closer to the populations of Central Asian and Baikal anthropological types of the North Asian formation

Comprehensive study of the early Yakut Sergelyakh burial of the XV — beginning of the XVI centuries

The paper presents a comprehensive study of graves which relate to rare burial sites of the early stage of ethnic history of the Yakuts. The burial belongs to an equestrian warrior. It is confirmed by the findings of the horse harness and fragments of weapons, including a part of a Central Asian composite bow which is unique to the Yakuts, arrowheads and a blade of palma (Siberian pole weapon). The vertebral pathologies and morphological features of femurs also point at riding as a usual way of transportation. Multiple injuries of bones indicate to an aggressive lifestyle. The death of the man was caused by a penetrating injury of the head with a bladed weapon. Craniological characteristics of the man correspond to the South Siberian populations characterized by a combination of Caucasoid and Mongoloid features. In this case, the latter prevails. The ritual funerary complexes correspond to the Ust-Talkin culture, which alongside with cranial features of the man enable us to associate Sergelyakh burial with Turkic part of the Sakha people, which is epically correlated with the legendary Elley Bootur