Anthropological Features of the Population of the Pazyryk Culture (based on materials from the Berel burial mound)

Abstract

The article presents paleoanthropological materials from the early period of the functioning of the Berel burial mound Pazyryk culture. The monument is located in Altai (Republic of Kazakhstan). The author presents craniological, odontological data and evidence of post-mortem manipulations with the bones of individuals from large mounds that belonged to people of high social status. The physical characteristics of the population represented in the burial mound find analogies both in the Pazyryk culture and among the population of the Saka cultures of Central Asia. The presence of a female skull with a Mongoloid appearance in mound 16 confirms already existing ideas about the participation of individuals with an eastern, Mongoloid appearance in the full life of the Pazyryk community. Post-mortem manipulations with bodies, traces of which are recorded on the skeletal remains of persons of high social status at the Berel burial mound, significantly complement the database for understanding the nuances of burial traditions associated with the artificial mummification of bodies. Farewell ceremonies in a nomadic lifestyle are not always possible in a short time. It can be assumed that the mummification of bodies was a preparatory stage for a complex and lengthy process of farewell traditions before the burial of the body in an arid climate.

Keywords

• archaeology
• craniology
• mummification
• odontology
• pazyryk culture
• paleoanthropology
• perforation
• burial traditions
• early iron age
• trepanation