scholarly journals The Dynamics of Anthropological Types of the Sarmatian Population That Left Staritsa Burial Mound

2019 ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Mariya Balabanova
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Caucasoid Population

The paper presents the intergroup analysis made by the canonical method aimed at determining variability of anthropological types in chronological groups of the Sarmatian population that left Staritsa burial mound. For this purpose, digital information on 44 male and 30 female series including all three stages of Sarmatian culture from the burial mounds of the Lower Volga region was studied. The results of the analysis reveal smaller massiveness of the Sauromatian and Sarmatian population in comparison with the Bronze Age samples. The main anthropological type, whose carriers were the early Sarmatian groups of Staritsa burial mound, is the type of ancient Eastern Caucasians, and they are not separated from the synchronous population of other burial mounds. Characteristic features of this type include meso-brachycrania, weakened horizontal profiling at the upper facial level and a quite Caucasoid structure of the nose and nasal bones. There is the influx of the long-headed Caucasoid population in the middle Sarmatian epoch, which increases due time, and the late Sarmatian population acquires dolicho-mesocrane features. In the early epoch, the middle– late 2nd century A.D., some cultural and morphological features are blurred, as the material from burial 2 of barrow 8, burial 1 of barrow 54 and burial 1 of barrow 11 shows. In the late Sarmatian time, the inflow of not only long-headed groups, but also individuals with the mixed anthropological Caucasoid-Mongoloid type was possible. Like the early Sarmatian group from Staritsa burial mound, the late Sarmatian group is more similar to the synchronous population from other Lower Volga burials.

scholarly journals The Population of the Bronze Age of the Lower Volga Region in the Works of Russian Anthropologists

2019 ◽  
pp. 205-223
Author(s):  
Evgeny Pererva ◽  
Alexandr Djachenko
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Bronze Age

Introduction. This work is a review of scientific publications on studying paleoanthropological materials of the Bronze Age originating from burial mounds of the Lower Volga region. Materials and Analysis. The paper begins with the analysis of articles and monographic studies of domestic authors, whose works were written in the period from the 30s to the late 80s of the 20th century. The so-called Soviet period in Russian anthropology is characterized by the dominance of the individual-typological approach in describing skeletal series of representatives of the Bronze Age cultures. The osteological collections from burial complexes of the Bronze Age of the Lower Volga region accumulated at this stage of the study were distinguished by a small number and low representativeness. The main conclusions were based on studying craniological samples. A great contribution to developing ideas on the racial and ethnic history of the Lower Volga region during this period was made by researchers G.F. Debets, V.V. Gizburg, V.I. Vuich, B.V. Firshtein, A.V. Shevchenko. The second part of the article is devoted to analyzing the results of anthropological research in the region in the works of modern Russian scientists.A distinctive feature of these works is that they are based on studying large-scale craniological series of broad temporal and territorial coverage. The studies of such scientists as A.A. Khokhlov, E.F. Batieva, A.A. Kazarnitsky, M.A. Balabanova use the complex approach in which classical methods of physical anthropology (craniology, osteology) are combined with the methods of statistical analysis and using data from Archaeology, Paleodemography, and Paleoecology. Results. The work shows the importance of using anthropological data as an independent source in paleohistorical constructions, as well as in the process of the archaeological study of various cultures of the Bronze Age that existed in the Lower Volga region.

scholarly journals Элистинский курганный могильник: анализ соотношения курганов и погребений раннего и среднего бронзового века

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 572-590
Author(s):  
Erdni A. Kekeev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Correlation Ratio ◽  
Foreign Culture ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Quantitative Properties ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
The Bronze Age

Introduction. Elista grave field is a largest and most investigated one in the Ergeni Uplands, with the bulk of barrows and burials dated to the Bronze Age. Burial mound sites in the mentioned area are distinguished by linear positioning of tumuli — the most sizeable groups constitute chains of kurgans located transversally along watershed lines. Plateau-like ridges may comprise groups consisting of several parallel kurgan chains. Goals. The study aims at analyzing the correlation (ratio) between kurgans and burials of Early and Middle Bronze Age cultures within the grave field of Elista. Results. The work reveals some specific functions of under-kurgan rooms (space) in different cultures of the examined period. So, burial mounds of the Yamnaya culture contained one central burial each. In the Early Catacomb era, inlet burials were made only in ‘own’ barrows, while the arrived North Caucasian steppe culture gave rise to scattered cases of constructing inlet burials in culturally alien kurgans. Pit-catacomb burials were characterized by somewhat differing use of foreign culture barrows: one such construct virtually demolished the main burial in a Yamnaya kurgan; in another instance, the creation of an inlet burial was followed by heaping quite a plenty of soil which resulted in that the tumulus became several times as large. The distinctive feature is that all the monuments are arranged along the watershed without visible clustering. The largest group is that of kurgans and burials referred to as the East Manych Catacomb culture. Catacomb barrows were inserted into the existing chain, and dimensionally the bulk of them were virtually identical to previous monuments. Conclusions. The analysis shows research of Early and Middle Bronze Age burials should focus not only on quantitative properties in separate kurgans. When it comes to counting inlet burials it is critical to identify the cultural and chronological affiliation of the main burial. Moreover, it is important to obtain additional data, such whether the burial is located inside the tumulus or below the latter, whether there is any trace of later soil heaping, etc. This may be instrumental in discovering additional groups of inlet burials that vary from ‘common’ to ‘elite’ ones and could have been accompanied by several-fold enlargement of the initial (original) tumulus.

scholarly journals Continuity and Innovations in the Middle Sarmatian and Late Sarmatian Cultures (Based on the Materials of Staritsa Burial Mound)

2019 ◽  
pp. 32-48
Author(s):  
Mikhail Krivosheev ◽  
Mariya Balabanova ◽  
Anatoliy Skripkin
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Multivariate Statistics ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Cranial Measurements ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Population Continuity

This article considers the issues of continuity and innovations in the middle and late Sarmatian cultures on the materials of Staritsa burial mound. The burial mound was dug out in the 60s of the 20th century by archaeological expedition under the leadership of V.P. Shilov. To solve this problem the main features of burial complexes and anthropological materials of the 1st – 3rd centuries A.D. were analyzed. The source base of the research includes materials of 30 burial complexes and cranial measurements of 22 skulls. To highlight transition periods the authors used the method of determining sign’s weight during its allocation to the antecedent or subsequent culture, as well as its chronological range. Digital information on anthropological series obtained in the process of measuring skulls was processed by the simple and multivariate statistics methods to identify the population continuity, similarities and differences. As a result of the study, the authors have identified and substantiated partial continuity of the two cultural traditions at the stage of their interaction, which apparently began near the middle of the 2nd century AD, when late Sarmatian culture representatives appeared in the Lower Volga region. The transformation of such middle Sarmatian culture signs as diagonal burials and the appearance of late Sarmatian culture signs such as northern orientation of a buried, cubic incense burners, skulls with traces of artificial deformation may indicate the influence of a new culture on traditions of local people, who continued to dwell in this area and use the burial mound. As for the anthropological material, it shows that in this region the population of the middle and late Sarmatian time partially retains the appearance of its predecessors, the population of the early Sarmatian time. New components, such as long-headed Caucasoid and mixed Caucasoid-Mongoloid, identified on the basis of intragroup analysis, allow to reveal the type of migrants.

scholarly journals Burials of the Early Iron Age of the Kurgans Cemetery “Bogomolnye Peski-I”

2020 ◽  
pp. 279-305
Author(s):  
Alexey Timofeev ◽  
◽  
Damir Soloviov ◽  
Georgiy Stukalov ◽  
Dmitriy Vasiliev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Burial Rite

The article is dedicated to the publication of the materials of burials from the Early Iron Age, discovered during excavations of a crumbling kurgan which is a part of the cemetery “Bogomolnye Peski-I” close to the village of Nikolskoye, Enotaevsky district, Astrakhan region. In total, 14 burials were investigated during the rescue excavations, two of them relate to the Middle Ages, other seven belong to the Bronze Age. The article describes in detail 5 burials of the Early Iron Age. The dating of the burials is defined based on the materials and details of the burial rite. The earliest burial (No. 2) dates back to the Savromat era. It contained a decapitated rams carcase and a molded pot which is typical of assumed era. The rest of the burials belong to the Middle Sarmatian period (1st – 2nd centuries AD). One of the Middle Sarmatian burials was completely destroyed by robbers in ancient times. It was possible to find a lot of gold stripes of clothes among its containment, as well as a bronze cauldron with a tamga. Plaques and stripes are not typical of either the Savromat or the early Sarmatian cultures. Indeed, they are widely used in prestigious burials of the Middle Sarmatian culture. The burials No. 5 and No. 13, accompanied by a rich inventory, are of the greatest interest. A set of gold decorations for a funeral veil and a belt set of gold with turquoise inserts were found in burial No.5, which belong to the products of the Sarmatian polychrome style, typical of the Middle Sarmatian period. In addition, a gilded bronze dish related to Roman provincial dishes and an alabaster vessel were discovered there – a typical find of the Middle Sarmatian era. In burial No. 12, the most interesting findings, in addition to a large number of various beads, are intaglio gemstones made of red glass with plots of ancient mythology depicted on them, which are unique in their own way. Moreover, an interesting vessel shaped as a bird (duck) was found there as well. The close analogs to the latter are known in cemeteries of the 1st – 2nd centuries AD in the Kuban region. A feature of this kurgan is a large number of inlet burials of the Middle Sarmatian culture, whereas in general, the burials under individual mounds predominate in the Middle Sarmatian epoch. Key words: early Iron Age, barrow, Lower Volga region, Sarmatians, burial rite.

scholarly journals New Pre-Scythian Burials from the Volgograd Region. Interpretation Problems

2021 ◽  
pp. 39-50
Author(s):  
Alexandr Dyachenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Funeral Rite ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Volgograd Region ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
Scythian Period

The article is devoted to the publication and analysis of new burial materials of the pre-Scythian period (9th – 7th centuries BC), obtained as a result of excavations of several burial mounds in the Volgograd region. The work was carried out by the expedition of Volgograd State University from the end of the past to the beginning of the present century. The burial mounds were located on the coastal terraces of the Don river and some of its tributaries, as well as on the steppe watersheds associated with the Don basin. The sample includes seven pre-Scythian burials, the burial rite and clothing material of which allows us to correlate them with the previously discovered monuments of the Chernogorovskaya Culture of the southern Russian steppes and date them within the boundaries of the initial stage of the early Iron Age. According to archaeological and anthropological data, various components were involved in the formation of this culture in the Lower Volga region and the neighbouring Don and the Volga-Ural regions. The basis was autochthonous substrates of the Late Bronze Age, as well as cultural formations derived from them at the final stage of the Late Bronze Age. The combination of local and imported cultural traditions is also reflected in the grave inventory of the studied series, especially in the ceramic complex, which shows technological and typological features of various origin. The variety of elements of the funeral rite and the mixed nature of the accompanying inventory of the presented burial series reflect the complex processes of cultural genesis in the Lower Volga region in the pre-Scythian period during transition to a nomadic economy.

Paleoecological crisis in the steppes of the Lower Volga region in the Middle of the Bronze Age (III–II centuries BC)

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 791-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. Demkina ◽  
A. V. Borisov ◽  
V. A. Demkin ◽  
T. E. Khomutova ◽  
T. V. Kuznetsova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Volga Region ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
The Bronze Age

Mound of the Bronze Age at the Ak-Monai Isthmus in the Eastern Crimea: Stereoscopy of Archaeological Time and Space 

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Д.В. Бейлин ◽  
А.Е. Кислый ◽  
И.В. Рукавишникова
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Stage ◽  
Road Construction ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Cultural Heritage Object ◽  
Eastern Crimea ◽  
The Bronze Age

The article represents the results of archaeological digs of a Barrow № 2 (a cultural heritage object) belonging to the «Ak-Monai 1» Barrow Group situated in the Tavrida road construction area. A research area was 1534 square meters. Exploration revealed 13 simple ditch graves, mostly supplied with slab ceilings. 12 graves were initially covered with a burial mound; only one grave was placed inside a burial mound in antiquity. It was noticed that a burial mound had not been formed with a very first grave, but had been constructed by adding new graves to the cemetery, which was a common practice in Early Bronze Age. After completing of several burials a territory was leveled out to the extent possible, in some places it was windrowed. Digs of a Barrow № 2 enabled us to trace and analyze some funeral rite’s peculiarities, especially concerning children’s burials, and to give a cultural and chronological characteristic to the whole Barrow Group, attributing it to the late stage of a Pit Grave Culture. 

scholarly journals Big-Men and Small Chiefs: The Creation of Bronze Age Societies

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Iversen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Early Late ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Big Men

AbstractThis paper investigates to what extent the significant material changes observable at the end of the Neolithic reflect transformations of the underlying social dynamics. Answering this question will help us to understand the formation of Bronze Age societies. The analysis concerns southern Scandinavia with a certain focus on Denmark. The assumption is that the creation of Bronze Age societies must be understood as a long formative process that partly originated in the culturally-heterogeneous Middle Neolithic. Four aspects seem to have been essential to this process: the rise of the warrior figure, the reintroduction of metal, increased agricultural production, and the establishment of one of the characteristic features of the Bronze Age, the chieftain hall. These aspects do not appear simultaneously but are introduced stepby- step starting out in the late Middle Neolithic and early Late Neolithic to fully develop around 2000 BC. Consequently, this paper argues that the final Late Neolithic (LN II, c. 1950-1700 BC) was de facto part of the Earliest Bronze Age.

scholarly journals The results of the study of the Algay site (2019) in the lower Volga Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-131
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Alekseevich Vybornov ◽  
Irina Nikolaevna Vasilyeva ◽  
Aleksey Valerievich Baratskov ◽  
Filat Faritovich Gilyazov ◽  
Pavel Andreevich Kosintsev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Cultural Layer ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Lower Volga Region ◽  
Lower Volga ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Technological Analysis

The processes of Neolithization and Eneolithization are two of the most important in the study of the human prehistory. The territory of the Lower Volga is of particular importance. In the Neolithic period, one of the oldest ceramic traditions in Eastern Europe appears. In the Eneolithic, cultures with signs of a productive economy are recorded rather early here. A further study of these issues depends on a quality source base. Monuments of the Neolithic and Eneolithic in the Volga steppe are rare. Therefore, the study of the new site Algay is very relevant. Its importance increases due to the discovery of stratigraphic data in 2019: the Eneolithic and Neolithic layers are separated by relatively sterile layers. This allows us to establish reliable periodization. Features of the lower cultural layer allowed us to trace the process of its formation. The work was interdisciplinary. The results of the technical and technological analysis of ceramics revealed the characteristic features of the Neolithic and Eneolithic. Archaeozoological definitions established the species composition of animals in the Neolithic and Eneolithic. New radiocarbon dates provide a basis for determining the exact chronological framework of the Orlovskaya and Caspian cultures in this region. Among archaeological materials, rare artifacts have been discovered that testify to social stratification already in the Neolithic period.

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