Introduction. The publication aims to introduce new craniological materials into scientific circulation and to conduct their comparative analysis with previously published series in order to determine the place of the studied samples within the system of craniological variability of the population of the Alanian culture of the North Caucasus.

Materials and methods. The study is based on paleoanthropological collections from the cemeteries of Kari Tsagat (9th–12th centuries CE, North Ossetia–Alania) and Sultan‑Gora‑4 (3rd–5th centuries CE, Stavropol Krai). The anthropological material from the Kari Tsagat cemetery comprises 44 skulls: 21 male, 16 female, and 7 of undetermined sex. The material from the Sultan‑Gora‑4 cemetery includes 5 skulls: 3 male and 2 female. For intergroup comparison, the method of canonical discriminant analysis was applied, implemented using the MultiCan software package. Statistical processing of craniological data was performed in Statistica 10. Published data on ten Alanian series were used as comparative material.

Results and discussion. Craniometric analysis of male and female skulls from the Kari Tsagat cemetery revealed predominantly medium-sized neurocranial and facial parts, accompanied by high individual variability (ranging from small to very large values). Male skulls are mesocranial, while female skulls are dolichocranial. The series of male skulls from the Sultan‑Gora‑4 cemetery is also characterised by average parameters, mesocrania, a medium-wide face, and narrow and low orbits. Intergroup canonical discriminant analysis (accounting for 63 % of intergroup variability) showed that the main differentiation of the studied Alanian groups (11 collections; the Sultan‑Gora‑4 series was not included in the analysis due to its small size) is driven by features of the facial part – including orbital width and height, facial height, and nasal height – in combination with the proportions of the neurocranial box.

The Kari Tsagat sample occupies a central position in the space of the first two canonical variables.

Conclusion. The early medieval population of the Central Caucasus was characterised by a mosaic anthropological structure formed in a zone of active migrations and admixture processes. It is suggested that the series from the Kari Tsagat cemetery, which demonstrates high individual variability and morphological similarity with Western Alanian groups, reflects the multicomponent formation of Alanian populations. We do not rule out the possibility that, using the Sultan‑Gora‑4 series as an example, we can assume the preservation of anthropological identity in the mountain‑foothill zone, despite cultural integration into the Alanian area, this group retained its own morphological characteristics.

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University for providing access to anthropological material.

Funding: The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 25‑18‑00322).

Introduction. The purpose of the article is to determine the character of variability of the phenofund of the population of Staraya Russa during the 14^th–16^th centuries. Fr om a paleoanthropological point of view, Staraya Russa remained almost unexplored until recently. The question of the genesis of the medieval city's population is very important. This paper publishes the first dental anthropological data on the urban population of Staraya Russa and an attempt has been made to generalize all currently available paleoanthropological samples.

Materials and methods. The sample consists of 135 individuals, formed fr om 3 groups representing the nearby cemeteries of Staraya Russa. The first group belongs to St. George’s Church and dates back to the second half of the 14^th century (42 individuals). The second group belongs to the Saint Mina Church, dating from the 16^th–17^th centuries (71 individuals). The third group belongs to the St. Nicholas Church (22 individuals), it is synchronous with the St. Mina Church. The Novgorod State University (by E.V. Toropova) carried out archaeological excavations of the necropolis in 2006-2009. The research program is based on the methodological developments of A.A. Zoubov.

Results. The population of Staraya Russa has the traits of the northern gracile complex (type) of the western dental trunk. When comparing the samples, the stability of the morphological traits of the population of Staraya Russa during the 14^th–16^th centuries is observed. This happened according to a local and chronological criterion (the sum of groups of the 16^th–17^th centuries). There were no statistically significant discrepancies between the frequencies (except for the case, which was explained by a small number of observations). We do not observe such homology, for example, in Pskov, wh ere several different morphological variants are represented. In an comparison, the morphological traits of the population of Staraya Russa are similar to the total sample of Krivichi (by R.U. Gravere). Possible participation of the Baltic-Finnish populations in the formation of the morphological complex of Staraya Russa.

Discussion. The main conclusion is the phenotypic continuity of the population of Staraya Russa at different historical periods. This suggests that the process of joining Staraya Russa to Moscovy did not have an impact on the phenofund, which was most likely formed on the basis of Krivichi (with the inclusion of the Baltic-Finnish component). Similar population processes occurred in some other non-urban settlements of the North-West of Russia, wh ere a similar dental anthropological complex was found to a large extent.

Acknowledgements. Before writing the article, the author made a report «Nonmetric dental of the population of Staraya Russa in the second half of the XIV–XVII centuries» at the XL scientific conference «Novgorod and the Novgorod land. History and Archeology» (29.01.2026). The author expresses his gratitude to the organizers of the conference for the opportunity to speak and discuss the results. The author thanks the Novgorod State University team of archaeologists, in particular E.V. Toropova (the head of the archaeological excavations in Staraya Russa) for the opportunity to work with the collection and the staff of the Institute and Museum of Anthropology (Moscow State University) for providing access to the collections. The author thanks N.A. Leibova for providing unpublished data and advice during the writing of the article and O.M. Leibova for assistance in data visualization.

Introduction. This article examines a trepanation hole identified during the study of a collection of skulls of Early Nomads from the Southern Urals housed in the craniological repository of the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Lomonosov Moscow State University. The skull comes from kurgan 20 of the Novyi Kumak burial ground located in the Orenburg Region. The burial dates to the 4th century BC and belongs to the Early Sarmatian period. The aim of this study is to introduce into scholarly circulation a new case of trepanation and to determine the circumstances and possible reasons for the intervention recorded on the skull of an Early Nomad.

Materials and methods. The article considers the archaeological context in which the trepanned skull was discovered at the Novyi Kumak burial ground. Sex and age were assessed on the basis of the morphological features of the skull. A description of the skull and the dentition is provided. The trepanation was described according to the method proposed by M.B. Mednikova. Differential diagnosis was based on macroscopic examination and photographic documentation.

Results and discussion. It was established that an antemortem trauma was present on the skull of a male over 55 years of age, and that a perimortem or postmortem trepanation was later performed at the site of this trauma. In the search for possible reasons for such interventions, various interpretations of trepanations recorded on the skulls of ancient populations of the Early Iron Age in Central and Middle Asia, as well as Southern and Western Siberia, were considered.

Conclusion. The burial from the Novyi Kumak burial ground may be characterized as that of representatives of the nomadic elite. The trepanation in this case appears to have been associated with postmortem manipulations carried out during the preparation of the body for burial. This practice may reflect the influence of traditions that reached the Southern Ural steppes from the east, which is also supported by archaeological data.

Acknowledgements. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the director of the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dr. A.P. Buzhilova for the opportunity to study a series of skulls of early nomads of the Southern Urals, as well as to the fellows of the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Ph.D. N.Ya. Berezina and Ph.D. D.V. Pezhemsky for their valuable advice and recommendations.

Research was carried out under partial support of the MSU Shared Research Equipment Center «Technologies for obtaining new nanostructured materials and their complex study», National Project «Science» and the MSU Program of Development.

Funding. The study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation Grant No. 25-28-20201, Professional specialization in the Early Iron Age nomadic societies of the Southern Urals during the 7th-3rd centuries BC, https://rscf.ru/project/25-28-20201/

Introduction. Extensive damage to skeletal remains recovered from burial grounds in southern Russia necessitates a move away from classical craniometric approaches and toward new methods for the study of craniological series. The way to examine poorly preserved samples at the intergroup level is the system of cranial nonmetric traits. An important aspect of work with this system is the possibility of assessing the taxonomic significance and frequencies of particular traits characteristic of the study area. Therefore, in order to obtain reference frequencies for this territory, mean values were calculated for the Early Iron Age populations of the Kuban region and the Northeastern Black Sea region.

Materials and methods. To achieve this aim, cranial nonmetric traits were recorded on skulls originating from a number of burial sites in Krasnodar region. These included the burial ground of Starokorsunskoye settlement No. 2 (99 crania), dated to the 6th century BC–3rd century AD; the burial ground of the Volna-1 settlement (73 crania), dated to the 6th–2nd centuries BC; the burial ground of the Spornoe settlement (47 crania), dated to the 4th century BC–3rd century AD; and the Prikubansky burial ground, dated to the 4th–early 3rd centuries BC, from which 22 crania have been studied to date. The present study includes only those traits developed by the Moscow school of craniofenetics.

Results and discussion. A number of cranial nonmetric traits observed in crania from the Early Iron Age population of Krasnodar region not only exceed the maximum frequencies calculated by A.A. Movsesyan for samples from Southern Europe and the Caucasus, but often have no counterparts at the global level. A distinctive feature of the studied series is the high frequency of frontal foramina and parietal foramina, wormian (sutural) bones in the lambdoid and coronal sutures and in the area of the mastoid fontanelle, as well as the palatine torus and a number of other traits.

Conclusion. The present study makes it possible to assess the frequencies of cranial nonmetric traits in series originating not only from Krasnodar region, but also from other areas that fell within the sphere of influence of the Meotian archaeological community, as well as from cultures that interacted with the Meotians during the Early Iron Age.

Funding. The paper was prepared as a part of the Russian Science Foundation project No. 22-18-00108 "The North Caucasus in the Late Bronze and Early Iron ages: people, horses, metal".