Revisiting the Paleopathological Features of the 5th – 7th Centuries AD Population from the Volga-Don Steppes Area

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the paleoanthropological materials study of the 5th – 7th centuries originating from under the kurgan mounds and ground burials located in the Volga-Don steppes territory. Eleven skeletal remains of 8 men, 2 women, and 1 child were studied. The data obtained as a result of the paleopathological analysis of the material dating back to the post-Hunnic-early Turkic period have been introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. In the course of the paleoanthropological material analysis, analogies with nomadic cattle breeding groups residing on this territory in the Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, and Late Middle Ages have been established in terms of gender, age, and pathological indicators. The findings were confirmed despite the small number of the analyzed series. In adult individuals, a number of dental conditions were recorded, indicating that viscous foods rich in fats and proteins had dominated the diet of the early Turkic time population. The mobile lifestyle of the Volga-Don steppes population of the 5th – 7th centuries was reflected on the skeletal remains of the studied individuals in the form of stress indicators associated with horse riding and body exposure to low temperatures. The presence on a number of skulls of the studied group of traces of the use of deliberate artificial deformation allows us to make the assumption that they had traditions that were characteristic of the nomads of the Eastern European steppes of the first centuries of our era.

Keywords

• early turkic time
• paleopathology
• volga-don steppes
• skeletal remains
• stress markers