Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 52 (2) 2024   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2024.52.2.143-153

Annotation:  Who Were the Chagyrskaya Neanderthals? The Possibility of Their Dispersal Across Central Asia and S The “Makarovo” Component of Sosnovyi Bor, Southern Angara, Revisited Archaeological Collections from the Jomon Period in the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and E Revisiting the Correlation Between the Valdivia and San Pedro Ceramic Complexes (Based on Technologi Testing the Sample Preparation Method and Oxygen Isotopic Analysis of Tooth Enamel for the Reconstru Radiocarbon Chronology of the Bronze Age Fedorovka Culture (New Data Relevant to an Earlier Problem) Metal Spearheads from the Bronze Age—New Finds in the Omsk Region The Geochemistry of Unalloyed Copper Metallurgical Group Indicates Copper Ore Sources in the Late Br New Data on Armed Confl icts in the Altai During the Rouran Period: The Choburak I Cemetery New Findings Relating to Bone Processing from Chernyatino-2, Primorye Boundaries, Structure, and Integrity of the Occupation Layer at the Gordinskoye I (Guryakar) Fortifi Miniature Anthropomorphic Sculptures from Ust-Voikary: Chronology, Context, Semantics Russian Orthodox Churches “Under the Bells”: Semantic Features and Origin of the Worldview The Tree-Clan-Individual Concept in Traditional Khakas Culture (Late 19th to Mid-20th Century) The Oral Panji Story Rendered by the Javanese Mask Puppet Show The Origin of the Karasuk People: Craniometric Evidence   

The Origin of the Karasuk People: Craniometric Evidence

A.G. Kozintsev

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

Measurements of 24 male cranial samples associated with the Karasuk culture were compared with those of 56 other samples using multivariate methods. On the dendrogram, the Karasuk cluster includes the Mongun-Taiga people, Saka, Sauromatians, Tauri, and a group from Sialk B. In the two-dimensional projection, this cluster is intermediate between the Andronovo and Okunev clusters, testifying to the admixed nature of the Karasuk population. In people associated with the Classic Karasuk tradition and in the north of the Karasuk area, the Okunev component predominates, whereas in members of the Kamenny Log tradition and in the south of the area, the proportion of the Okunev and Andronovo components is closer to equal. The use of twelve Andronovo samples conclusively disproves the belief that the sole ancestors of the Karasuk people were Andronovans. Mechanisms whereby Okunev aborigines were assimilated by Andronovo immigrants are discussed.

Keywords: Siberia, Bronze Age, Karasuk culture, Andronovo culture, Okunev culture, Cimmerians, Scythians, Kets