Osteometric Characteristics of the Russian Population of Tara Cis-Irtysh in 17th–18th centuries

Abstract

The article presents the osteometric characteristics of the Russian population of Tara Cis-Irtysh region in the 17th–18th centuries. The research based on the analysis of anthropological bone remains from the territory of Ananyino 1 burial ground. This site located in the Tara district of the Omsk region was discovered and studied since 2005 by Larisa Tataurova. The Ananyino village founded at the beginning of the 17th century is one of the first Russian settlements near the Tara city. The osteological collection includes the remains of 19 individuals, of which 12 belong to men, 7 to women. The research was carried out according to the standard osteological technique (the measuring program included 51 signs and 25 pointers). According to the results of analysis, it was found that the absolute values of the longitudinal dimensions of the long bones of the male Russian population fall mainly in the category of medium (shoulder, forearm, lower leg) and large (thigh) sizes. Women are generally characterized by large sizes of long bones, except for the length of the lower leg, which shows average values. The male group can be characterized as moderately massive with a tendency to increase the massiveness of the lower extremities, while the female group is moderately massive. The body length of men varies from 166 to 168,1 cm, of women from 159,2 to 161,4 cm. According to Rudolf Martin's conditional rubrication, the obtained values fall into the category of large values. The values of the intersegmental proportions (humeral-femoral and radial-tibial markers), as well as the values of the intermembral index, demonstrate a harmonious ratio of arms and legs, which corresponds to the mesomorphic body type. We used data on four groups of the male population from Siberia (Krasnoyarsk, Yeniseisk, and Irkutsk) for comparative analysis. Intergroup analysis showed that all samples are characterized by average skeletal dimensions. The data also show that the male population has an average ratio of the lengths of the upper and lower extremities. In general, the male Russian population of Siberia in the 17th–19th centuries can be characterized as a population with a mesomorphic body type.