Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 47 (1) 2019   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.1.147-156

Annotation:  The Loess-Paleosol Sequence at the Krasnogorskoye Section, the Low-Hill Zone of the Northeastern Alt The Early Neolithic Complex on the Tartas-1 Site: Results of the AMS Radiocarbon Dating Water and Cosmology in the Stone Age of Northeastern Europe Turning Points in Horse Breeding in the Eurasian Steppes and the Near East The Study of Middle Bronze Age Interments at Khanghah Gilavan: Tentative Results The Petrovka Bronze Age Sites: Issues in Taxonomy and Chronology A Comparative Study of the Layout of Bronze Age Fortifi ed Settlements in the Southern Urals (3rd to Early Iron Age Pyramidal Kurgans in Western Siberia The Xiongnu Gold from Noin-Ula (Mongolia) Geophysical Studies at the Horogoru Fortifi ed Settlement in South Korea Medieval Sites of Tara Region, the Irtysh Basin: Origin, Chronology, Cultural and Ethnic Attribution A Central Asian Helmet from the Northern Kazakhstan Regional Museum The 18th-Century Udmurt Women’s Outfi ts Depicted in J.P. Falk’s Book: Interpretation and Attributio Wearing Folk Costumes as a Mimetic Practice in Russian Ethnographic Field Studies Types of Winter Clothing Worn by Descendants of the Russian Pioneers in Siberia (Late 19th to Early Long-Bone Growth in the Bronze Age Skeletal Population of Gonur-Depe, Turkmenistan   

Long-Bone Growth in the Bronze Age Skeletal Population
of Gonur-Depe, Turkmenistan

V.V. Kufterin

Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Mokhovaya 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia

This article presents some results of the analysis of long-bone growth rate in the sub-adult skeletal population from Gonur-Depe—a Bronze Age proto-urban center in Turkmenistan, the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. The sample includes 130 skeletons of sub-adults (735 skeletal elements) from burials in the “ruins" of the palace-temple ensemble, excavated in 2010-2015. The results indicate a significant retardation of long-bone growth relative to modern standards. The individual variation is considerable. The retardation is maximal in the leg bones (especially femur and fibula), and minimal in the forearm bones. The latter fact is confirmed by the sub-adult to adult bone length ratio. The smallest lag in growth rates is observed in children aged from birth to 2-3 years. This was apparently due not only to optimal nutrition (breast-feeding), but also to a more stable genetic determination of growth during this period. The lag is greater in age cohorts showing stress markers, such asporotic hyperostosis and enamel hypoplasia. Retardation of skeletal maturity in this group is interpreted not as a symptom of maladaptation, but as a result of a complex process of adapting to the totality of environmental factors. The comparison of the paleodemographic, paleopathological, and “paleoauxological" data confirms that the ancient population of the Murghab oasis was well adapted to the environment.

Keywords: Paleoauxology, skeletal growth, sub-adults, Bronze Age, Gonur-Depe, Turkmenistan