Artificial skull deformation in the Sargat milieu(bioarchaeological aspect)

The paper deals with rare cases of deliberate cranial deformation amongthe Iron Age Sargat culture in the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia. The examined recordsinclude published and archive materials from excavation of burial mounds, while resultsof paleopathological study correlate with archaeological context and thus extend ourpossibilities for further interpretations of the Sargat past. The paper introduces data ofradiocarbon analysis obtained for Tobol local series illustrating the earliest examples ofcircular type deformation in the Sargat milieu. One may presume that penetration of thispractice, which was not yet widespread in the forest-steppe, is related to the nomadicgroups. This fact confirms previous hypothesis that during its formation and rising inthe middle - second half of the I mill. BC the Sargat aristocracy largely consisted ofrepresentatives of nomadic groups. From this point of view the events on the turn of eraebeyond the nomadic world are of particular interest.