Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 47 (4) 2019   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.4.140-153

Annotation:  A Neanderthal Refugium in the Eastern Adriatic Ushbulak—A New Stratifi ed Upper Paleolithic Site in Northeastern Kazakhstan Archaeological Findings on Suchu Island (Excavation Area I, 1975) Burial with a Chariot at the Tabyldy Cemetery, Central Kazakhstan Objects of Portable Art from a Bronze Age Cemetery at Tourist-2 The Use of 3D-Modeling for Reconstructing the Appearance and Function of Non-Utilitarian Items (the Ceramic Protomes of Horses from Late Bronze to Early Iron Age Sites in the Southern Taiga Zone of Si “Portrait” Medallions from the Kazym Hoard A Runic Inscription at Sarykoby (Southeastern Altai) The Ussuriysk Tortoise—A 13th Century Jurchen Monument Turkic Inscriptions in Cyrillic on 14th–15th Century Eastern European Lithic Artifacts The Topography of Ritual Buildings in Villages of the Tobolsk Governorate (Late 19th to Early 20th C Mesolithic Human Teeth from Zamostye-2, Moscow Region The Physical Anthropology of the Odino People, Western Siberia A Study of Human Bones from a Dwelling at Ust-Voikar, in the Subarctic Zone of Western Siberia   

A Study of Human Bones from a Dwelling at Ust-Voikar, in the Subarctic Zone of Western Siberia

O.V. Batanina¹, Y.N. Garkusha¹, A.V. Zubova², A.V. Novikov¹, and D.V. Pozdnyakov¹

¹Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

²Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

This article discusses bones of two males from a medieval or recent double burial at Ust-Voikar, on the Yamal Peninsula. The camp was constructed by northwestern Siberian natives. Both individuals had been buried in a hearth inside a dwelling, which was still used after that. The results of tree-ring analysis suggest that the burial dates to the last third of the 17th century, or the first decade of the 18th century. Both males were adult (adultus-maturus). Their physical features point to the northern East European Plain. The unusual nature of the burial, then, evidently stems from the fact that they were intruders. No lethal injuries suggestive of violence were found on the bones. Both individuals show signs of malnutrition during childhood (deficiency of vitamin C and phosphorus). Their diet consisted mostly of carbohydrates (apparently coarse cereals). The entheses and articular surfaces likely indicate physical activity, such as sailing and fishing with nets.

Keywords: Northwestern Siberia, Ust-Voikar, burial, dwelling, physical anthropology, dental anthropology, paleopathology, paleodiet