Issue 4 (73)

BIOARCHAEOLOGY OF THE NOMADS OF THE LATE 3RD AND 4TH CENTURY AD (THE CASE OF ANALISIS OF LOWER VOLGA AND LOWER DON ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES)
Year 2021 Number 4(73)
Pages 19-28 Type scientific article
UDC 903.5(470.4+470.61) BBK 63.442(235.547+235.7)
Authors Pererva Evgeniy V.
Krivosheev Mikhail V.
Topic SOCIAL BIOARCHAEOLOGY
Summary The paper presents a comparative analysis of anthropological materials originating from the nomadic burials of the Lower Volga and Lower Don regions of the late 3rd and 4th century AD. The standard assessment program of paleopathological conditions developed by A. P. Buzhilova was applied in the course of examination of the anthropological material. The authors conducted the analysis using the methods of multivariate statistics in order to assess the degree of variability. The results obtained were correlated with the data of archaeology and paleoecology. The studied sample from the burial grounds of the Lower Volga region included 22 individuals; the archaeological complex of the Lower Don is presented by bone remains of 9 individuals. The study has shown that both series for the most part are close to each other as regards to pathological conditions, stress markers as well as gender and age indicators. Statistically significant differences were revealed only for 4 characteristics: caries, enamel chips, pathological tooth wear and the “orange peel” type vascular reaction. On the one hand, variability may be a consequence of the objective small number of the series, on the other, might reflect differences in lifestyle, diets and origin of the compared groups. For instance, the dominance of agricultural foods in the Alans-Tanaites’ diet brings them closer to the sedentary population of the Kuban and Lower Don. The specific deviations revealed in the study of dentoalveolar system in the Lower Don group may be the result of close interaction with agricultural centers, or may stem from the North Caucasus regional migrations.
Keywords Lower Volga region, Lower Don region, late Sarmatian time, Sarmatians, stress markers, pathologies, Alans-Tanaites
References

Afanasieva A. O. [Specific features of life activities of the population of the site of Krepostnoe Gorodishche of the I–II century BC according to the data on abnormal changes in dentition]. Vestnik Yuzhnogo nauchnogo tsentra RAN [Bulletin of the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences], 2011, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 79–82. (in Russ.).

Balabanova M. A. Pozdnesarmatskoye naseleniye Nizhnego Povolzh’ya i sopredel’nykh territoriy v antropologicheskom kontekste rannego zheleza i rannego srednevekov’ya: avtoref. dokt. diss. [The late Sarmatian population of the Lower Volga region and the adjacent territories in the anthropological context of the Early Iron Age and Early Middle Ages: Abst. Diss. Doc.]. Moscow, 2013. (in Russ.).

Balabanova M. A., Tsyganova O. M. [Craniology of the Sarmatian population who left the Abganer burial ground kurgans]. Istoriko-arkheologicheskiye issledovaniya v Nizhnem Povolzh’ye [Historical and archaeological research in the Lower Volga region]. Volgograd: VolGU Publ., 1997, iss. 2, pp. 267–286. (in Russ.).

Balabanova M. A., Klepikov V. M., Korobkova E. A. et al. Polovozrastnaya struktura naseleniya Nizhnego Povolzh'ya: pogrebal'naya obryadnost' i antropologiya [Sex and Age Structure of the Sarmatian Population of the Lower Volga: Funerary Rite and Physical Anthropology]. Volgogard: Izd-vo Volgogradskogo filiala FGBOU VO RANKhiGS. 2015. (in Russ.).

Batieva E. F. Naseleniye Nizhnego Dona v IX v. do n. e. — VI v. n. e. (paleoantropologicheskoye issledovaniye) [The Lower Don population in the 9th century BC — 6th century AD (paleoanthropological research)]. Rostov-on-Don: YuNTs RAN Publ., 2011. (in Russ.).

Bezuglov S. I. [Alans-Tanaites: an excursus of Ammianus Marcellinus and archaeological realities]. Istorikoarkheologicheskiye issledovaniya v g. Azove i na Nizhnem Donu v 1989 g. [Historical and archaeological research in the Azov city and the Lower Don in 1989]. Azov: Azovskiy krayevedcheskiy muzey Publ., 1990, iss. 9, pp. 80–87. (in Russ.).

Bezuglov S. I. [Kurgan catacomb burials of the late Roman era in the Lower Don steppes]. Problemy sovremennoy arkheologii: (sbornik pamyati V. A. Bashilova) [Problems of modern archaeology: (collection in memory of V. A. Bashilov)]. Moscow: TAUS Publ., 2008, pp. 285–301. (in Russ.).

Bogatenkov D. V., Buzhilova A. P., Dobrovolskaya M. V., Mednikova M. B. [Reconstruction of demographic processes in the Caspian Dagestan of the Bronze Age (based on materials from excavations of the Velikent archaeological complex in 1995–1998)]. OPUS: Mezhdistsiplinarnyye issledovaniya v arkheologii [OPUS: Interdisciplinary investigation in archaeology]. Moscow: “Paralleli” Publ., 2008, no. 6, pp. 196–213. (in Russ.).

Buzhilova A. P. [Paleopathology in bioarchaeological reconstructions]. Istoricheskaya ekologiya cheloveka. Metodika biologicheskikh issledovaniy [Historical human ecology. Biological research methods]. Moscow: Staryy Sad Publ., 1998, pp. 87–147. (in Russ.).

Buzhilova A. P. [The study of physiological stress of the ancient population according to anthropological data]. Ekologicheskiye aspekty paleoantropologicheskikh i arkheologicheskikh rekonstruktsiy [Ecological aspects of paleoanthropological and archaeological reconstructions]. Moscow: In-t arkheologii AN SSSR Publ., 1992, pp. 78–104. (in Russ.).

Buzhilova A. P. Drevneye naseleniye (paleopatologicheskiye aspekty issledovaniya) [Ancient population (paleopathological aspects of research)]. Moscow: IA RAN Publ., 1995. (in Russ.).

Buzhilova A. P., Kamenetskiy I. S. [The Sarmatians and military clashes (analysis of cranial injuries on the example of materials from the Sagvansky-I burial ground)]. OPUS: Mezhdistsiplinarnyye issledovaniya v arkheologii [OPUS. Interdisciplinary investigation in archaeology]. Moscow: IA RAN Publ., 2004, iss. 3, pp. 208–213. (in Russ.).

Gabuev T. A., Malashev V. Yu. Pamyatniki rannikh alan tsentral’nykh rayonov Severnogo Kavkaza [Monuments of the early Alans of the central regions of the North Caucasus]. Moscow: TAUS Publ., 2009. (in Russ.).

Goodman A. H., Martin D. L., Armelagos G. L., Clark G. Indications of Stress from Bone and Teeth. Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, 1984, pp. 13–49. (in English).

Konduktorova T. S. Fizicheskiy tip lyudey Nizhnego Pridneprov’ya na rubezhe nashey ery (po materialam mogil’nika Nikolayevka-Kazatskoye) [Physical type of people of the Lower Dnieper region at the turn of our era (based on materials from the Nikolaevka-Kazatskoye burial ground)]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1979. (in Russ.).

Krivosheev M. V. [On the question of the existence of professional warriors among the nomads of the late Sarmatian period]. Arkheologicheskoye naslediye [Archaeological heritage], 2020, no. 1 (3), pp. 317–324. (in Russ.).

Krivosheev M. V. [The Volga-Don interfluve in the mid-3rd–4th century AD. Ethno-historical problems]. Materialy V Mezhdunarodnoy Nizhnevolzhskoy arkheologicheskoy konferentsii “Problemy arkheologii Nizhnego Povolzh’ya”. 15–18 noyabrya 2016 goda [Materials of the 5th International Lower Volga archaeological conference “Problems of archaeology of the Lower Volga region”]. Elista: Kalmytskiy universitet Publ., 2016, pp. 100–103. (in Russ.).

Krivosheev M. V., Malashev V. Yu. [The Problem of Cultural Identification of Nomadic Burials from the Late Sarmatian Period in the Northern Pontic Area]. Krym v sarmatskuyu epokhu (II v. do n. e. — IV v. n. e.). Materialy X Mezhdunarod. nauch. konf. “Problemy sarmatskoy arkheologii i istorii” [The Crimea in the Age of the Sarmatians (200 BC —AD 400). Proceedings of the 10th International Research Conf. “The Aspects of Sarmatian Archaeology and History”]. Simferopol: Salta LÒD Publ., 2019, vol. 5, pp. 147–153. (in Russ.).

Krivosheev M. V., Pererva E. V., Eltsov M. V. [Human and Steppe in the Early Iron Age. Results of interdisciplinary research]. Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Serija 4. Istorija. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenija [Science Journal of VolSU. History. Area Studies. International Relations], 2021, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 6–30. DOI: 10.15688/jvolsu4.2021.2.1 (in Russ.).

Malashev V. Yu. [The late Sarmatian culture: an upper chronological limit]. Rossiyskaya arkheologiya [Russian Archaeology], 2009, no. 1, pp. 47–52. (in Russ.).

Malashev V. Yu. [The Alanian culture in the Northern Caucasus: the question of the early state formations among the population of the region in the 2nd–4th cc. AD]. Kratkiye soobshcheniya Instituta arkheologii [Brief Communications of the Institute of Archaeology], 2014, iss. 234, pp. 72–83. (in Russ.).

Pererva E. V. [Markers of stress of the Sarmatianin the II–IV centuries AD from burial ground tombs of the Lower Volga region (paleopathological aspect)]. Izvestiya Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta [Ivzestia of the Volgograd State Pedagogical University], 2017, no. 10 (123), pp. 165–177. (in Russ.).

Pererva E. V. [On the question of some anthropological features of the Meotian population that left the burial grounds of the Starokorsun settlement No. 2 (paleopathological aspect)]. Chetvertaya Kubanskaya arkheologicheskaya konferentsiya: Tezisy i doklady [Fourth Kuban archaeological conference: Abstracts and reports]. Krasnodar: B. i., 2005, pp. 208–210. (in Russ.).

Pererva E. V. [Paleopathology of the Late Sarmatians from the burial grounds of the Esaulovsky Aksai]. OPUS: Mezhdistsiplinarnyye issledovaniya v arkheologii [OPUS. Interdisciplinary investigation in archaeology]. Moscow: IA RAN Publ., 2002, no. 1-2, pp. 141–149. (in Russ.).

Pererva E. V., Krivosheev M. V. [Nomads of the Lower Volga region in the second half of the 3rd–4th c. AD based on bioarchaeological data]. Vestnik arkheologii, antropologii i etnografii [Bulletin of Archaeology, Anthropology and Ethnography], 2021, no. 1 (52), pp. 93–104. DOI: 10.20874/2071-0437-2021-52-1-9 (in Russ.).

Sharapova S. V. [Bioarchaeology of the Trans-Uralian and West Siberia forest-steppe population (Sargat culture)]. Stratum plus. Arkheologiya i kul’turnaya antropologiya [Stratum Plus. Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology], 2018, no. 3, pp. 323–350. (in Russ.).

Siek Th. The Osteological Paradox and Issues of interpretation in Paleopathology. Explorations in Anthropology, 2013, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 92–101. (in English).

Wood J. W., Milner G. R., Harpending H. C., Weiss K. M. The Osteological Paradox. Problems of Inferring Prehistoric Health from Skeletal Samples. Current Anthropology, 1992, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 343–370. DOI: 10.1086/204084 (in English).

Yablonsky L. T. [Paleoanthropological materials from the Late Sarmatian time burials]. Stepnoye naseleniye yuzhnogo Priural’ya v pozdnesarmatskoye vremya [Steppe population of the southern Cis-Urals in the Late Sarmatian time]. Moscow: IA RAN Publ., 2008, pp. 73–81. (in Russ.).

 
Download in PDF