Paleoanthropological and archaeological studies of early bronze age materials from Berezovy ostrov-1 burial ground (Novosibirsk Ob region): preliminary results

Purpose. This article aims at analyzing anthropological data from the burial ground Berezovy Ostrov-1. The materials studied belong to the Siberian population of the Early Bronze Age. We studied the demographic situation, dental and postcranial pathologies. We also analyzed the burial rites and inventory in terms of the sex and age of the buried. Our main aim was to characterize the lifestyle, the diet and the ritual practice of this micropopulation. Results. We estimated the safety of the anthropological materials related to the Early Bronze Age community from the burial ground Berezovy Ostrov-1, analyzed the sex and age composition and pathological status of the buried and compared the demographic data of the Berezovy Ostrov-1 micropopulation with the distribution of sex and age in the Sopka-2/3 and Sopka-2/3A groups, which attribute to the Ust'-Tartas culture. As a result of sex and age identification, we found some similarities of the demographic structure of the population studied and the Ust'-Tartas groups from the burial ground Sopka-2. As for the ritual rites, we can ascertain some regularity. Stone tools, arrowheads and ornaments as objects of the same nature are typical for women, as well as for men and children. At the same time, we observe no burials of cremated women, newborns and children under 2 years old. In terms of pathologies, Berezovy Ostrov-1 site is characterized by increased frequencies of linear hypoplasia, calculus and periodontal diseases and an average frequency of caries. We can assume that the basic diet of the population included meat and wild plants, which is typical for hunter-gatherers. An increased frequency of linear hypoplasia indicates a possible famine or transferred diseases at the stage of tooth enamel formation. Our comparison with the Neolithic and Odinovo groups of the Baraba forest-steppe indicates that the diet in the Berezovy Ostrov-1 group was similar to that in the Neolithic series from Vengerovo-2A. Conclusion. The first results of our analysis reveal general correspondence of the adaptation models observed on the territory of the Novosibirsk Ob region to the characteristics of the populations of hunter-gatherers. We draw a conclusion about difficult conditions for the population of Berezovy Ostrov-1 and acute shortage of food resources. Correlation of the sex-age characteristics of the buried with the peculiarities of the funeral rite allows us to assume that there existed a special burial rite for newborns and children under the age of one year.