Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 38 (1) 2010

Annotation:  Siliceous Rock of the Southern Urals: Distribution and Usage in the Stone Age Periods, Boundaries, and Contact Zones in the Far Eastern Insular World of the Neolithic (Based on Oyster Cultivation and Archaeology as Producing Activities Early Iron Age Dyupsya Burial, Central Yakutia The “Osmium Trace” in Mineral Inclusions in Ancient Gold Artifacts Social Structure of the Early Medieval Population in the Upper Kama Region (Based on Evidence from t Bronze Helmet Recently Discovered in Mongolia The Matchmaker’s Staffs from Fort Nadym of the 17th–18th Centuries Dendrochronological Survey of the Towers from the Kazym Ostrog Dendrochronological Dating of the Groundsill for the Bell Tower of the Spasskaya Church in Irkutsk Marriages among the Tobol-Irtysh Tatars in the Late 18th – Early 20th Centuries The Altai Cossacks in the 18th – Early 20th Centuries ANTHROPOL A Fossil Human Humerus from Khvalynsk: Morphology and Taxonomy Skeletal Remains from Buston VI – a Sapalli Culture Cemetery in Uzbekistan New Craniometric Evidence on the Origin of the Karelians (the Kylalahti Kalmistomäki Burial Ground) The Maikop Crania Revisited   

Social Structure of the Early Medieval Population in the Upper Kama Region (Based on Evidence from the Nevolino Burial Sites of the 4th–9th Centuries)

S.P. Kovtun.

The article presents the reconstruction of the social structure of the population in the Upper Kama region in the Early Middle Ages, and contains the results of the statistical and combinatory analysis of fi nds from the burial sites of the Nevolino culture of the 4th–9th centuries AD, which have not been previously used as sources for social studies. Formalized statistical operations and comparative analysis revealed the presence of social groups (strata) in the structure of society, the dynamics of their size and the degree of their polarization as well as elements of the burial ritual that mark the social status of individuals. Materials of ethnographic research make it possible to link the social status during life of those buried with the corresponding ritual and mythological expression.

Keywords: Burial rite, social structure, statistical and combinatorial analysis, chronological groups, gender and age groups, social strata, social information content