Craniology of Novo-Sasykul burial ground

The article analyzes craniological data from the Novo-Sasykul burial ground (I-III cc. AD) of Pyany Bor culture in the Lower Kama region. Totally, 46 male and 47 female crania were studied craniometrically. Skulls were measured according to the standards adopted in Russian biological anthropology. Male and female skulls are generally characterized as mesomorphic, with sub-dolichocranic shape of the head, average face width and low nose protrusion angle. In anthropological terms, the sample is basically Caucasian, showing the typical characteristics of other Pyany Bor groups. Intra-group analysis showed a certain heterogeneity of this sample. The search for the reasons for such heterogeneity is hampered by the narrow period during which the cemetery had functioned. Also, there is no unambiguous confirmation in the results of a multidimensional comparison of “chronologically varying” skulls from the Novo-Sasykul burial ground. Inter-group analysis supports previous conclusions about the similarity of all Pyany Bor samples. Moreover, it demonstrates their noticeable differences from the previous Ananyino, relatively synchronous Kara-Abyz and later Mazunino samples. This fact confirms that the formation of the Mazunino groups was not the result of simple inclusion of the descendants of the Pyany Bor population. The discriminant canonical analysis results show that, in the differentiation of the Volga-Kama and Ural population, not only traditional craniometric traits with high taxonomic significance, but also dimensions of the nasal and orbital regions are certainly important.