Вестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии (Sep 2018)
The ethnographic region of Miankal as part of the Big Sogd
Abstract
This article characterizes extensive craniological and osteological materials from Miankal, the site located in the Samarkand region, the central part of the Big Sogd. A review of anthropological and archaeological data on the population having resided in the aforementioned province is given for a lengthy historical period from antiquity, through the Late Middle Ages and up to the present time. The majority of the collections are presented for the first time in their full size. The article reviews the epochal dynamics of main craniological characteristics and indicators. A comparative analysis of the Miankal series with all other Big Sogd series is performed in terms of important morphological and paleodemographic indicators. The main morphological complexes having existed in ancient, Middle Age and close to the present time populations are described. A certain morphological peculiarity of the Miankal groups is shown. These groups are described in terms of intergroup differences and in comparison with the other Sogd population. The relationship vectors of the Miankal populations with those of the Central (Samarkand), Western (Bukhara) and Southern (Kaskadarya) Sogd are demonstrated for different historical periods. A suggestion is made that Miankal, being part of the Central Sogd, was also populated by groups from the Western and Southern Sogd, as well as from other historical and cultural geographical regions, such as the Central Kyzylkum, the Sarikamish region, the lower Syrdarya. In addition, according to archaeologists, this region might have been populated by immigrants from Kangju.
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