Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 35 (3) 2008

Annotation:  Sergeyevka-1: Neolithic Site in the Khanka Plain, and the Typology of Middle Neolithic Sites in Pri Cultural Change during the Late Prehistoric Period in Southern Primorye (Based on Archaeological Ev Formation of the Eurasian “Steppe Belt” of Stockbreeding Cultures: Viewed through the Prism of Arch Stages in the Settlement History of Chicha-1: The Results of Ceramic Analysis New Early Iron Age Culture in the Southern Taiga Zone of Central Siberia Prospects for Correlating Radiocarbon and Archaeological Chronologies of the Scythian and Hunno- Sa The Role of Migration in the Evolution of the Andronov Community The Bear Image in Western Siberian Art of the 2nd Millennium BC and its Relevance for Delimiting the Ethnic and Cultural Functions of Name in Traditional Japanese Society G.I. Choros-Gurkin’s Archaeological and Ethnographic Drawings at the National Museum of the Altai R Eco-museums in Siberia as Centers for Ethnic and Cultural Heritage Preservation in the Natural Envi Cranial Characteristics of the Saka Populations of the Eastern Pamirs   

Cranial Characteristics of the Saka Populations of the Eastern Pamirs

T.K. Khodzhayov.

This article gives an analysis of a Sakaean cranial series from the Eastern Pamirs. The predominant trait combination aligns these groups with the Eastern Mediterraneans. The crania are generally robust by Mediterranean standards; dolichocrany combines with high vault, high, narrow face. This trait combination evidences affi nities with the peoples of southern Turkmenistan, northern Tadzhikistan, and central Iran. Somewhat less common is a gracile variant with a low vault, narrow, low face – a trait complex displayed by the peoples of Namazga, Sapallitepa, Zaman-baba, and the Chust cultures of Western Central Asia and of the Turing-Hissar culture of northeastern Iran. The combination of robustness, dolichocrany, high, broad face, typical of the pastoralist tribes of the Bishkent culture of southern Tadzhikistan does not occur in the Pamirs. Markedly Caucasoid features along with a very low cranial index points to Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, and South Asian affi nities.