Craniological Characteristics of Anthropological Materials from the Burials of Zhiguli-I Subsoil Burial Ground in Samara Luka (Samara Oblast, Stavropolsky District)

Abstract

The paper features the results of craniological analysis of a series of skulls of the Golden Horde necropolis "Zhiguli – I" of Samara Luka. Based on the study of 25 male and 16 female skulls, the series is collectively characterized as еuropeoid. Intra-group analysis of the series revealed its heterogeneity. The morphological features of the skulls reflect traces of intermixing of various typically еuropeoid groups and the indigenous population of the forest-steppe of the Volga-Ural region. The appearance of the latter reveals a combination of еuropeoid and мongoloid physical features, which formed before the Horde period. A comparative analysis of all the Golden Horde series from Samara Luka and the adjacent areas showed that the population of this region was anthropologically heterogeneous. Its composition includes both groups of sharply еuropeoid and мongoloid appearance (Berezovsky burial ground and a collective series on medieval nomads of the Middle Volga region) and groups of a mixed type. The latter, in general, include skulls from Zhiguli–I burial ground.

Keywords

• zhiguli–i burial ground
• samara luka
• golden horde
• anthropological composition