Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 40 (3) 2012

Annotation:  Vegetation and Climate Changes in the Bolshoe Inyaptukskoe Lake Basin (North Baikal Plateau) in the Levantine Perspectives on the Middle to Upper Paleolithic “Transition” The Importance of Changes to microRNA in the Evolution of Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Denisova Upper Paleolithic Portable Art in Light of Ethnographic Studies Statistical Analysis of Spatial Distribution of Ceramics from Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Sites i Ornaments Made from Animal Teeth in Human Burials at Tuzovskiye Bugry-1 and their Relevance to Ethni The Bronze Age Rock Art of Malye Arbaty A 2367-year Tree-Ring Chronology for the Altai–Sayan Region (Mongun-Taiga Mountain Massif) Cultural Contact and Cultural Transfer in Medieval Western Eurasia Camisoles in the Traditional Male Costume of the Bukharan Jews (Part of the History of Clothes Cut f Western Siberian Folk Art: Northern Russian and Ural Traditions in Distaff Decoration Ethnic and Cultural Aspects of Nanai Healing Ritual Sculptures Ethnic and Cultural Identity of the Belorussian Migrants in Western Siberia Prehistoric and Recent Populations of Chukotka: A Paleophenetic Analysis Armenia in the Eurasian Ethnic Context of Late Classical Antiquity: Craniometric Evidence Dental Wear Patterns and Subsistence Activities in Early Nomadic Pastoralist Communities of the Cent   

Prehistoric and Recent Populations of Chukotka: A Paleophenetic Analysis

A.A. Movsessyan.

Thirty nonmetric traits were studied in two cranial series from prehistoric coastal cemeteries on the Chukchi Peninsula (hereafter Chukotka) – Welen (58 crania) and Ekven (107 crania), representing the Old Bering Sea culture. Both series are close not only to modern Eskimos, Chukchi, and Aleuts but also to Tungus-speaking groups. This may be due both to ancient contacts between continental and coastal populations and to their common origin. Comparisons with the Neolithic groups of Baikal and with southern Mongoloids suggest that Eskoaleuts originated in Siberia, and that admixture between migrants from continental Siberia and those from more southern areas of the Pacifi c coast was one of the key factors in this process. Another factor was adaptation to the extreme Arctic environment.

Keywords: Craniology, population history, nonmetric cranial traits, Chukchi Peninsula, Eskimos, Aleuts, Chukchi.