Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (3) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.3.148-156

Annotation:  Aktas—an “Ephemeral” Upper Paleolithic Site in North Kazakhstan Neolithic Burials in the Zelinda River Mouth, Northern Angara: Burial Practices and Radiocarbon Chro Classic Samarra Painted Pottery from Yarim Tepe I, the Neolithic of Northern Iraq The Megalithic Tradition of East and Southeast Asia The Beginning of Iron Metallurgy in East Asia Tools Used in Tagar Rock Art: Findings of an Experimental Traceological Study Grave Goods of an Elite Saka Burial at Kyrykoba in the Context of Cultural Ties Between the Nomads o On Phoinix (Φοίνιξ) and Its Distinguishing Marks: A Karian “Type Site” Medieval Burials at Ryabchikov Klyuch-1, the Kansk-Rybinsk Basin Chinese Coins from the Early Medieval Cemetery Gorny-10, Northern Altai The State of Preservation of the Shakhty Rock Art Site and the Prospects of Its Conservation South Russian Settlers of Western Siberia in the Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries, Based on Archiva A Case of Chronic Maxillary Sinusitis in a Late Neanderthal Population of the Altai Mountains Analysis of 3D-Models of Artifi cially Deformed Crania, Using Geometric Morphometry Dental Data on the Origin of the Early Iron Age Bolshaya Rechka Population in the Upper Ob Area, and   

Dental Data on the Origin of the Early Iron Age
Bolshaya Rechka Population in the Upper Ob Area,
and the Differentiation Between the Kamen
and Bolshaya Rechka Cultures

M.S. Kishkurno

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

This dental study addresses the origin of the Bolshaya Rechka people in the Novosibirsk region of the Ob, with reference to the migration of Saka and Sarmatian tribes from the southwest. I compare dental features of southern Kamen and northern Bolshaya Rechka populations inhabiting the entire Upper Ob area. Dental samples from eleven Bolshaya Rechka cemeteries were studied. Findings indicate heterogeneity. Nearly all samples evidence admixture between eastern and western groups. That from Bystrovka-3 takes a separate position, revealing more eastern traits along with those marking the Southern Siberian Upper Paleolithic complex. The results enable us to evaluate the role of Saka and Sarmatian migrants from Kazakhstan, Cis-Urals, and Tian Shan. This role appears to have been relatively minor and likely indirect, upholding the ideas advanced by archaeologists. Bolshaya Rechka and Kamen populations (the latter culture was thought to include the former) are biologically distinct. Bolshaya Rechka displays continuity with local Early Bronze Age groups. The main component of the Kamen population of forest-steppe Altai, on the other hand, was introduced by Saka and Sarmatian immigrants, who, evidently, had not reached the Novosibirsk region of the Ob. Rather than moving on northwards along the Ob from the forest-steppe Altai, they turned west, toward the Tobol-Irtysh watershed.

Keywords: Upper Ob area, Bolshaya Rechka culture, Kamen culture, Early Iron Age, Saka migration, dental anthropology