The Palasa-Syrt cemetery. Experience of a bioarchaeological study base Don anthropological remains from the 2014 excavations

The study is based on the examination of paleoanthropological remainsunearthed at the Palasa-Syrt cemetery in Southern Dagestan. The bioarchaeologicalapproach to reconstruction offers a possibility to study both large groups and separate individuals. The paper is dedicated to the first results of studying the remains of13 individuals from the excavations of kurgan group 5 at Palasa-Syrt. The buried peopledemonstrated a high morphological variation, with massive, tall and extremely gracileskeletons having been identified. The highest variation is demonstrated by the femalesof this group (i.e. paired graves of miniature women in kurgans 1480 and 1478). Suchgracile variant of the female skeleton built was found among the human fossil remainsfrom the elite graves at the Klin-Yar cemetery and an elite female grave of the Hun periodat Mukhino 2 on the Upper Don River. Some male skeletons from Palasa-Syrt cemeterywere 180 cm long, similarly long skeletons were identified among the Late Sarmatianpopulation. A great number of pathologies such as teeth pathology, signs of episodic stress,injuries, and arthropathy were identified. A pilot study of strontium isotopes demonstratedthat some representatives of both the male and the female population had spent longperiods in the steppes north from the Caspian Sea.