ANTIQUITIES OF EAST EUROPE, SOUTH ASIA AND SOUTH SIBERIA IN THE CONTEXT OF CONNECTIONS AND INTERACTIONS WITHIN THE EURASIAN CULTURAL SPACE (NEW DATA AND CONCEPTS) Proceedings of the International Conference, November 18–22, 2019, St. Petersburg. Volume II., 2019, 2019

This paper first examines craniological materials of the Chemurchek culture of the Early bronze age in Western Mongolia. Significant morphological differences are discovered as compared with the previous Proto-Europeoid population of the Afanasyevo culture in Southern Siberia and Central Asia. The anthropological type of the people of the Chemurchek culture is characterized by mongoloid features, which are stronger expressed in women. The Chemurchek population most resembles people of the Serovo and Glazkov cultures of the Circumbaikal region. Certain morphological closeness is shown by bearers of archaeological cultures of the Early bronze age of the south of Siberia and Central Asia: the Elunin culture in Altay and Eastern Kazakhstan, at the burial ground of Aymyrlyg in Tuva (in males), Ust-Tartas, Odinovo and early Krotov cultures at the burial ground of Sopka II in Baraba forest-steppe, as well as materials from the cemetery of Gumugou in Xinjiang. Possibly, this closeness is a reflection of a common anthropological substratum, since an anthropological type similar to the Circumbaikal one is recorded in craniological materials of the Neolithic-Eneolithic burial grounds in the northern foothills of the Altay-Sayan mountains.

VESTNIK ARHEOLOGII, ANTROPOLOGII I ETNOGRAFII, 2020

Recent studies show that, in the 3rd millennium BC, the highlands in the basin of the upper reaches of the Khovd (Kobdo) River constituted a ritual zone, which was of particular importance for the population inhabiting the western foothills of the Mongolian Altai Mountains. Its cultural singularity was due to the so-called Chemurchek cultural phenomenon — a set of characteristics of West European origin, which appeared there no later than 2700–2600 BC. Three large-scale ritual complexes-‘shrines’ attributed to this period were discovered in the area of Lake Dayan Nuur. Excavations conducted by the expedition of A.A. Kovalev and Ch. Munkhbayar revealed that these structures constituted fences consisting of vertical stone slabs, decorated all-over on the outside with the images of fantastic anthropomorphic creatures and animals. The excavation of Hulagash 1 (one of these sanctu-aries), radiocarbon dated to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, revealed a single grave in the centre of t...

Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Serija 4. Istorija. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenija, 2014

Nižnevolžskij arheologičeskij vestnik, 2024

The article is devoted to the reconstruction of the relations of the nomads' social elite from the Southern Urals buried in the cemetries of the kurgans Filippovka 1, 2. The total craniological series of these monuments consists of 22 skulls (9 male and 13 female) representing brachycranial broad-faced Caucasoids. The aim of the study is to determine the historical roots of this group including their migration patterns, as well as their contacts with the surrounding population. The study is based on a comparative analysis of 35 craniological series of the Early Iron Age sites in the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Eurasia. The comparison was carried out according to the canonical analysis method using the Multican and Statistica 12 programs. In terms of morphological features, the individuals buried in the Filippovka kurgans are as close as possible to the nomads of the Southern Urals and the Lower Volga region of the Sauromatian (6 th-5 th /4 th centuries BC) and early Sarmatian (4 th-3 rd centuries BC) time. They probably come from the local nomadic population who resided in this territory in early Sauromatian time. Representatives of the Filippovka group are also morphologically close to the Saka of the Aral Sea region and to the bearers of the Tasmolа culture from Central Kazakhstan. The formation of the pastoral population of the Early Iron Age (5 th-4 th centuries BC) of two regions-the Southern Urals and the Aral Sea-might have taken place on a single anthropological basis, which is associated with the nomadic tribes of Central Kazakhstan including the bearers of the Tasmolа culture who had contacts with the Southern Siberia settled groups. As a result of mestizo processes on the contact territory, a special type of population the so-called Eastern Caucasoids with a small Mongoloid admixture was formed, which then spread in the southern Aral and western Ural directions. The spatial connections of the population that left the Filippovka kurgans are geographically wide. Judging by the archaeological data, they were grounded primarily on the basis of trade and economic relations. The craniological source shows some heterogeneity of the Ural nomads, but it is difficult to speak confidently about the time and mixing forms of their constituent components; the recorded phenomenon is also relevant among other synchronous groups of mobile pastoralists from Central Asia.

Вестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии, 2015

Рассматриваются краниологические материалы из могильника тюркского времени Кудыргэ в Горном Алтае. На основании результатов статистического сопоставления серии с характеристиками синхронного и хронологически предшествующего населения Горного Алтая, Минусинской котловины, Новосибирского Приобья делается вывод о неоднородности населения Горного Алтая в тюркское время и присутствии в его составе мигрантного субстрата восточного происхождения. Последний доминирует в составе серии из Кудыргэ, тогда как у тюрок катандинского типа представлен также автохтонный компонент, восходящий к пазырыкским группам. The article considers craniological materials from Kudyirge burial ground of Turkic time in Gorny Altai. Basing on results of a statistical correlation of the given series with characteristics of simultaneous and chronologically prior population from Gorny Altai, Minusinsk Depression, and Novosibirsk Low Ob basin, the authors come to a conclusion on heterogeneity of the population from Gorny Altai in Turkic time, and presence of migrant substrate of the east origin in its composition. The latter dominates within series from Kudyirge, while the Turks of Katanda type are also represented with autochthonous component, running back to Pazyryk groups.

Problems of Archaeology, Ethnography, Anthropology of Siberia and Neighboring Territories, 2024

This study focuses on morphological features of several skulls of the Ancient Koryak culture from the burial grounds of Mys Bratyev, Mys Bratyev-4, Astronomicheskaya-2 and -9, and Mys Astronomichesky, located on the coast of the Babushkin Bay in Ola District of Magadan Region. Earlier study revealed that the Ancient Koryak population was heterogeneous and included components of different origins, related to the Arctic populations, and carriers of traditions of the Jomon and Epi-Jomon periods from Hokkaido. Cranial metric characteristics of seven male and four female skulls, examined using the standard cranial metric protocol, are discussed. New data has made it possible to obtain the extended morphological description of the Ancient Koryak series. Two best-preserved male skulls (from Mys Trekh Bratyev-4 and Mys Astronomichesky sites) were compared with population of the continental part of Northeast Asia and Japanese archipelago using canonical variate analysis and Mahalanobis distances, which made it possible to evaluate the similarity between individual Ancient Koryak finds and average features of the old and recent populations of the Far East. New evidence confirms the earlier conclusions based on the study of skulls from excavations in 1976 concerning heterogeneous structure of the carriers of the Ancient Koryak culture. In addition to earlier suggestions about population links of the Ancient Koryak population, new analysis revealed morphologic parallels between the Ancient Koryak population and the Nivkhs, as well as component associated with the carriers of the Old Bering Sea culture who left the Uelen burial ground.

During the last decade Mongolian archaeology had been marked by the discovery and/or introduction of several archaeological cultures that belong to the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. Especially western areas of the country, namely the Mongolian Altai region, which was still untouched by extensive archaeological investigations, were extremely productive in terms of the discovery of new types of archaeological monuments. Despite major achievements in Bronze age archaeology, we are constantly encountering challenges, including terminology and naming of new types of archaeological monuments. The author tries to reconsider the name of a recently introduced archaeological culture in Mongolian ancient history research, namely the “Khemcek” culture which dates to the Early Bronze Age. Until now, the name of this culture has been written with at least seven different spellings: ke’ermuqi, kemuqi, chemurchek, shamirshak, kermuqi, kermuqy, and khemcek, which is certain to cause confusion in future publications on this subject. The author was wondering about this embarrassing situation of terminology and tried to identify the sources of this rather unusual diversity of spellings with the study of ancient and modern geographical maps of the 17th to 20th centuries. Additionally, the author paid a special trip to the very place of discovery of this culture in Altai prefecture of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the PRC in August 2012. With the hope of finding the original name of the place which gave this archaeological culture its designation, the author made a cartographic research taking in account the major historical maps of the region, including the Renat Maps of 1734 (in todo Mongol and Latin script), the Qianlong Map of 1760 (in Manchu and Chinese characters), a US War and Naval Department map of 1942, the Xinjiang Uyghur Atlas of 1966 (in Uyghur Latin script), and some more travel reports from the 19th century. All these first hand sources give unanimously “Khemcek” as the original name of the place, which was corroborated by my interviews of local Mongol people in Altai city and its vicinity. The discoverer of this culture, Chinese archaeologist Li Zheng, called the place “Ke’ermuqi” written in Chinese characters, which is a very regular Chinese transcription of the Mongolian word “Khemcek”. Only in the 1980s during the state campaign of unification and renovation of local toponyms the initial name was modified in an inappropriate way into “Chemurchek”, based on the contemporary Kazakh spelling of the place name. In respect of 1) the initial name given by Chinese archaeologists and 2) the original name of the place we suggest to use the version “Khemcek” for future references to this culture.

Вестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии, 2016

Работа посвящена актуальной проблеме связи двух ярких культур энеолита-ранней бронзыямной Восточной Европы и афанасьевской Южной Сибири. Приводятся гипотезы о происхождении афанасьевского населения. Сравниваются краниологические материалы разных территориальнохронологических групп этих культур на фоне серий черепов энеолита-средней бронзы Восточной Европы, Кавказа, Средней Азии, Южной Сибири с использованием методов многомерной статистики. Показана неоднородность населения локальных ямных и афанасьевских групп, а также доминирование в составе тех и других широколицых европеоидных антропологических компонентов. Сравнительные нео-энеолитические краниологические материалы Алтая, прилегающих областей Южной Сибири и Северного Казахстана демонстрируют морфологические комплексы с умеренной профилировкой лица. Население такого облика не может рассматриваться в качестве базиса для сложения европеоидного в своей основе афанасьевского населения. Среди нео-энеолитических краниологических выборок с территорий Средней и Передней Азии, Кавказа, юга Восточной Европы доминируют варианты долихокранных мезо-или гипоморфных европеоидов. Они морфологически отличаются от афанасьевских краниологических выборок Алтая и Минусинской котловины. Соответственно отрицается точка зрения об истоках протоафанасьевского населения в регионах Средней и Передней Азии. Исходя из общих результатов морфологического анализа предков протоафанасьевского населения следует искать именно в кругу степных и лесостепных популяций энеолита-ранней бронзы восточно-европейского ареала. По нашим данным наибольшее краниологическое сходство с афанасьевцами Горного Алтая демонстрируют волго-уральские ямники, которые и хронологически оказываются наиболее древними в составе популяций ямной культурно-исторической области. Таким образом, поддерживаются археологические разработки и антропологические доводы, по которым появление протоафанасьевцев на территории Алтая связано с миграцией какой-либо восточно-европейской популяции энеолита-ранней бронзы, вероятнее всего, с территории Волго-Уралья. Ключевые слова: ямная культура, афанасьевская культура, морфологические особенности, антропологические компоненты, генетическое единство.

2018

The paper features the results of an intragroup and intergroup analysis of all presently available craniological materials on nomads from the Altai Mountains of the Hun-Sarmatian period (Bulan-Koby archaeological culture, 2nd century B.C. – 5th century A.D.). A craniometric analysis of 75 male and 38 female skulls indicates a general Europeoid character of the physical appearance of the Bulan-Koby community at all stages of its development. Its composition is mainly represented by the Caucasian morphological component with traces of Mongoloid elements: meso-brachicranial with a wide moderately profiled face of an average height in combination with an average nose protrusion angle. A comparative intergroup analysis involving male craniological series from the territory of Southern Siberia and Central Asia of the Early Iron Age revealed two primary vectors of probable genetic relations of the nomads from the Altai Mountains of the Hun-Sarmatian period. The first vector is associated with the preceding local (Pazyryk) population. The second vector featuring a wide range of nomadic groups from the Eurasian steppes at the turn of the centuries is mainly represented by carriers of the Caucasian meso-brachicranial morphotype with various degrees of Mongoloid traces.

Since its d is co v e ry in 1962 the mu l t i lay e red Kulbulak site (Tashkent region, Uzbekistan) has been declared the basic object for reconstruction o f cultural and chronological schemes o f Paleolithic Age period development in the western part o f Central Asia. On the basis o f the Middle Paleolithic industries o f the site ( materials o f 1960-1980 excavations) the separate facies named «Denticulate Mousterian» was identified in the regional Stone Age. This facies is characterized by presence o f a large quantity o f denticulate and notched tools. During a new stage o f excavations of the Kulbulak site (2007-2010, 2013) new results were obtained, which can review the interpretation o f the industries preceding the upper Paleolithic. On the basis o f géomorphologie, s ed imen to lo g ic a l and s t ra t ig rap h ie studies it was established that geological layers 3-11 (middle part o f stratigraphie sequence) are o f a proluvium and mudflow genesis. The results o f this research make identification o f facies Denticulate Mousterian based on materials of the Kulbulak site questionable and dispute approach to its identification based on materials o f Paleolithic sites in the western part o f Central Asia.