Articles

The catalog of the collection of copies of fossil finds of the genus Homo, which is kept in the Museum of Anthropology of Moscow State University, is presented in this article. The publication will be useful for researchers to sel ect research materials.

Materials and methods. The documents of the archive of the Museum of Anthropology of MSU were used to work on the article. Analytical and chronological research methods were applied in the study.

Results and discussion. Brief information on the history of the collection formation. The section contains data on the sources of replenishment of the collection, the names of the scientists who handed over the items are named. The collection of copies of fossil bones is divided into parts that combine items that came fr om the same source and at the same time.

Catalog of collections. A short catalog of collections of copies of Homo finds of the Museum of Anthropology is presented in the table. The finds are listed in alphabetical order, the division into geographical regions and chronological periods was not carried out.

Conclusion. The catalog of copies of finds of representatives of the genus Homo, stored in the Museum of Anthropology of MSU, is presented in this article. A catalog of finds of other systematic groups of the Primates order will be compiled and published in the near future. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. In recent years, insufficient attention has been paid to the study of the dynamics of the growth and development of children of early and preschool age, their variability over time and depending on various factors of the external and internal environment. The literature data are contradictory and indicate two multidirectional processes – acceleration and deceleration.

Materials and methods. A comparative analysis of basic anthropometric indicators of physical development (length and body weight) in children of early and preschool age in Belarus, obtained in 2021 (group I) and in 1989–1997 (group II), was carried out. These populations were homogeneous in place of residence, ethnicity, and close in time of inspection. The number of boys and girls in the first group was 700 people, in the second group – 3351 and 3175 people, respectively.

Results. Monitoring of anthropometric indicators of children of early and preschool age allowed to establish the features of physical development. Boys of group I from birth to 6 years of age are significantly more likely to have higher body weight indicators compared to group II. In girls, this trend was not registered only at the age of 3 years (P>0.05). In all age periods, both sexes of the group I significantly more often have higher body length indicators compared to the group II. The most pronounced difference in body length (over 4 cm) in children of the group I and group II was noted in boys and girls in the age groups of 2 and 5 years. The analysis shows an increase in somatometric indicators of physical development and the phenomenon of acceleration.

Conclusion. The conducted studies have established the presence of higher values of body length and weight in children in 2021 compared to their peers in 1989–1997. Higher levels of all the studied indicators were noted in boys than in girls. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. Most of the burial mounds of the Caucasian Mineral Waters region combine the burials of representatives of different archaeological cultures separated by thousands of years. Therefore, the rate of accumulation of monocultural synchronous materials in collections for some epochs is quite low, and slows down even more due to the unequal preservation of bone remains. The introduction of new information into scientific circulation based on the results of recent archaeological work will allow faster accumulation of materials and data exchange between researchers working on the same issue. The purpose of this work is to publish morphological features of the skeleton of individuals belonging to the Sarmatian culture of the Pre-Caucasus.

Materials and methods. The skeletons of three individuals, from three burials of one mound, dating from the III-I centuries BC and belonging to the nomads of the early Sarmatian time were investigated. The study used both traditional methods of anthropology and bioarchaeological approaches. Sex and age studies were carried out on all preserved parts of the skeleton according to standard anthropological methods. A program for fixing markers of stress and pathological conditions was applied to all the studied individuals.

Results. Skeletal remains of two young women and a mature man were studied. Both women had anomalies in the development of teeth: in one case – underdevelopment of enamel, in the other – partial congenital adentia. A set of specific features on the postcranial skeleton of a man allow us to characterize him as a rider, right-handed.

Discussion. The results of the study supplement our knowledge about the variability of morphological features of the skeleton of representatives of the nomads of the early Sarmatian culture. Some of the detected signs have a pronounced genetic determination; however, the data obtained is insufficient to identify kinship ties, despite the fact that according to the interpretation of archaeologists, this group of burials is defined as a generic cemetery created during the lifetime of one generation. All the discovered features of the skeleton find analogies among the published materials of synchronous time. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. A dinucleotide deletion of AG at the rs781470490 locus of the SI gene (SI delAG variant) causes dysfunction of the sucrase-isomaltase enzyme and the inability to digest sugar. The deletion frequency in the world is 0.0021%, while among the Inuit (Eskimo) it reaches 17–20%. Research hypothesis: the SI delAG variant is common in all the populations of indigenous northerners.
The study aimed to ascertain the prevalence of the SI delAG variant in the Cis-Ural, Siberian, and Far East populations of the Russian Federation and compare it to that of the Inuit people.
Materials and methods. DNA genotyping and the SI delAG variant frequency analysis were carried out in the samples from study groups of Russians, Komi, Mansi, Khanty, Nenets, Shors, Evenks, Evens, Koryaks, Chukchi (n =613). Corresponding data for the Canadian and Greenlandic Inuit (n =391) were used for comparison.
Results and discussion. The deletion in samples from the Chukchi, Koryak, and Even study groups occurred in 14, 7, and 4%, respectively; there was no the deletion found in the samples of the other Siberian and Cis-Ural groups. The carriage of the SI delAG variant decreases with the distance from the area of the Greenlandic Inuit. The Inuit, Chukchi, and Koryak groups form a distinct cluster. The Paleo-Eskimo do not carry the deletion. Minimal amounts of sugar-containing products appeared in the diet of the Greenlandic and Canadian Inuit at the end of the 19th century, 200 years later than in the diet of aboriginal northerners of Eurasia.
Conclusions. There was no SI delAG variant found in the samples of the indigenous people of West Eurasia high latitude regions. The deletion emerged in Neo-Eskimo population 1.2–2 thousand years ago and has been retained in the small numbered isolate due to their way of existence and diet. In the populations of the northwest coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Chukchi Peninsula, the SI delAG variant was brought by the gene flow from the Inuit people. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is an indirect method of body composition assessment. The equipment for BIA measurements is produced in many countries including Russia and may differ in electrical current frequencies, measurement schemes and built-in algorithms for the evaluation of body composition. In view of this, body composition estimates from various BIA instruments may be inconsistent which limits the ability to combine and generalize BIA data. Our purpose was to analyze the consistency and possibility of joint use of the BIA data obtained using the ABC-01 ‘Medas’ (SRC Medas, Moscow) and Diamant-AIST (LLC Diamant, St. Petersburg) instruments in adults.

Materials and methods. 185 adult volunteers (107 women and 78 men) aged 18 to 61 years were examined according to the standard anthropometric measurement protocol and on the basis of paired consecutive measurements with the bioimpedance body composition instruments ABC-01 ‘Medas’ and Diamant-AIST. The estimates of fat-free mass (FFM), body fat (BF) and percentage body fat (%BF) were compared. Mutual calibration of the bioimpedance data was carried out based on transformation of the Diamant-AIST data using a conversion formula between the ABC-01 ‘Medas’ and Diamant-AIST resistances and subsequent application the ABC-01 ‘Medas’ body composition assessment algorithm.

Results. There were significant differences in the median values of FFM, BF and %BF estimates provided by the ABC-01 ‘Medas’ and Diamant-AIST instruments. The FFM values in females using the ABC-01 ‘Medas’ instrument were significantly lower, and the BF and %BF were significantly higher as compared to the Diamant-AIST data. In males, the inverse relationship was observed while maintaining significant differences between the medians.

The differences in paired estimates of body composition data provided by the ABC-01 ‘Medas’ instrument and the transformed Diamant-AIST data in males and females, respectively, were statistically insignificant. Also, the confidence intervals for the differences of paired body composition estimates reduced essentially, but still not ensured good consistency of individual body composition data.

Conclusions. Significant differences in paired values of fat-free mass, fat mass and relative body fat using the ABC-01 ‘Medas’ and Diamant-AIST bioimpedance instruments are obtained. The possibility of mutual calibration and joint analysis of the related bioimpedance data at the group level is established. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. Rapid life style changes are leading causes of increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks among people in India today. Despite the country’s high ethnic diversity, studies related to physiology and such health risks, particularly among the tribal populations have been limited.

Materials and methods. The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,434 tribal participants belonging to six tribes from the two states of West Bengal and Odisha. The aim of the present study was to understand the relationship of age (in years), sex and raised Body Mass Index (BMI) (kg/m²) with selected CVD risk factors among the six tribes of India.

Results. In the males, raised BMI (kg/m²) was found to influence CVD risks by significantly increasing the blood glucose among the age group (in years) of <40 years (Odds Ratio (OR)= 6.396, p≤ 0.05); isolated systolic hypertension among the age groups <40 years (OR= 2.387, p≤ 0.01) and ≥40 years (OR= 2.123, p≤ 0.05); isolated diastolic hypertension among the age groups <40 years (OR=4.74, p≤0.001) and >40 years (OR= 3.24, p≤ 0.001); hypertensive MAP among the age group <40 years (OR= 5.769, p≤ 0.001) and hypertensive blood pressure among the age groups <40 years (OR= 5.865, p≤ 0.01) and ≥40 years (OR= 3.127, p≤ 0.01).

Conclusion. Among females low BMI (kg/m²) was seen to be linked with higher CVD risk. Influence of BMI (kg/m²), age (in years) and sex on CVD risks can explain the increasing health threat among the tribal populations in India. Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) can be considered to correctly indicate the cardiovascular risks; particularly in case of the younger population. An increasing tendency towards a double burden of disease is evident in the studied populations. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. The goal of study – quantitative conformities of intergroup variability of the level of sexual dimorphism (SD) of somatic traits of children of early and first childhood in connection with ecological factors – the degree of urbanization and the geographic latitude of the residence place of population.

Material and methods. The analysis embraces the wide specter of ethno-territorial samples of 3-year-old and 6-year-old children from Russia and former USSR of the second part of XX century (literary data). Each sample has minimal necessary number of statistical characteristics: number of sex/age groups, means and standard deviations for height, weight, chest girth. The quantitative estimation of SD level is performed using Kullback divergence, the analogue of Makhalanobis distance. To estimate the direction and the level of associations of SD of anthropometric traits and ecological parameters the classic correlation analysis for pair combinations of indices in age groups of 3- and 6-year-old children was used.

Results. For the compact block of Slavonic samples, examined in 1960s–1970s, the increase of the level of the quantity of population of the residence place is associated with significant decrease of SD of height and SD of weight. The same association for 3-year-old children has the character of tendency, but the same vector of dynamics. SD of chest girth has some small negative significant correlations with the latitude for 3-year-old children and close to significant level for 6-year-old children. The estimation of comparable dynamics of SD of somatic traits in pairs of rural and urban samples of the same region revealed less meanings of SD of height and weight of urban children, that is higher synchrony of growth processes of sexes through the increase of the level of urbanization.

Conclusion. The decrease of SD of height/weight parameters and greater sex synchrony of growth dynamics apart with increase of the level of urbanization of the residence place may be the result of better quality of the urban environment (medicine service, nutrition quality, social family status). The decrease of the level of SD of chest girth apart with the increase of the values of geographic latitude witness to the greater sex uniformity of adaptive reactions to the more extremal climatic conditions. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. Physical development indicator variables can be used to estimate the population health status. Mature and elderly male residents of Magadan region, Aborigines and Caucasians by origin, were examined to study basic anthropometric indicators.

Materials and methods. This study presented data obtained in the 2022 Evensk and Magadan Reproductive Health pilot project and Kolyma Longevity regional program surveys. The data of medical examination records of one hundred and seven male residents from the district of Evensk and eight hundred ninety-nine from the city of Magadan were assessed. The following anthropometric indicators were put into general database: body length, body mass, waist circumference, and body mass index was also calculated. Age and ethnic criteria were applied to form 6 groups.

Results. The research showed that negative tendencies in physical development were characteristic of both ethnic groups in both regions: all examinees exhibited high percentage of overweight and shorter body length with the incidence growing with increasing age. The higher waist circumference index at older age in Caucasian populations of Magadan indicated subjective abdominal obesity. The ethnicity proved to specify the dynamics of physical development indicators with age: Caucasian examinees, mostly from the city of Magadan, tended to get shorter in body length with an increase in waist circumference and body mass variables. Aboriginals pronouncedly reduced body length with a tendency to a decrease in body mass, body circumference and body mass index.

Conclusion. Age and ethnicity have an influence on somatometric status of northern residents, which should be considered when forming regional standards of physical development. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. This review is a continuation of the research devoted to the assessment of the development of auxology in Russian anthropology. The first part was devoted to a comprehensive assessment of the processes of growth and development of children from birth to 3 years old, living both in our country and in the countries of the near abroad. The analyzed sources describe factors influencing growth processes (evolutionary, climatic, geographical, ethnic and genetic factors, constitutional features of mothers, circumstances of intrauterine growth) [Permiakova, 2023]. This article examines and describes in more detail the main activities of auxologists, as well as physicians and psychologists working both within our country and in cooperation with foreign researchers from various academic institutions.

Materials and methods. In this part of the work, the author analyzed articles devoted to the comprehensive assessment of physical development (as well as factors affecting it) of the school and student contingent living in Russia and some other countries. All these articles were published in Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin from 2009 to 2022.

Results and discussion. Works in the designated area, on the one hand, analyze the physical development of children and youth of the Moscow region, on the other hand, assess the differences in the rates and dynamics of growth processes of residents of different regions of our country and abroad, including the secular aspect. In addition, representative samples are used to analyze socio-economic factors affecting these processes and determining the features of their course in a particular territory. Complex studies involving the relationship of somatic development indicators not only with socio-economic or environmental parameters, but also the psychological characteristics of the subjects are also important.

Conclusion. The number of works devoted to the subject under study is quite numerous, which allows us to speak about the undiminished interest of domestic anthropologists in studying the problems of growth and development. The complex nature of most of them, among other things, indicates an integrative approach to solving the problems posed to this field of science. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. The paper deals with the issue of pressure blademaking emergence chronology in the North-Western Caucasus. The possible paths of the innovation diffusion are discussed.

Materials and methods. The study of the lithic technology is based on the materials from the Early Holocene layers of the Dvoinaya Cave and the Chygai Rockshelter. The series of AMS dates were obtained for the layers. The earliest use of pressure blademaking was revealed in the layer 4/5 of the Dvoinaya Cave and the layers 3-5 of the Chygai Rockshelter dated to 11,3–8,5 cal kyr BC and 11,1–8,5 cal kyr BC respectively.

Results. The full technological context of the bladelet and microbladelet production with the use of pressure was revealed at the Dvoinaya Cave. The blanks were produced from the conical cores with faceted platforms. In layers 3–5 of the Chygai Rockselter the pressure bladelets and microbladelets were discovered. In both cases the metrics of the pressure produced blanks indicate the use of Mode 3 of the pressure technique (pressure with the use of short crutch in a sitting position).

Discussion. We don’t consider possible the diffusion of the technique from the Elbrus region of the North Caucasus as there were two technologically distinct traditions that were partly synchronous. The lower chronological range of the Mode 3 pressure emergence in the North-Western Caucasus roughly coincides with the Early Mlefaatian and the Nemrikian in the south and the Early Butovo in the north. The possible intermediate industries dated to the Early Holocene have not been discovered so far in the neighboring regions to the south or to the north of the North-Western Caucasus.

Conclusion. The early timе of the complex mode of the pressure technique emergence in the North-Western Caucasus is indicative of the external adoption and an extremely fast pace of the innovation diffusion in the Early Holocene. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. Until now, no work has been carried out to reconstruct the external appearance of the ancient population of Transcaucasia. In order to fill this gap, this study of the skull of a man from an early medieval catacomb burial in the Shamakhi region of Azerbaijan was undertaken. Craniometric and odontometric measurements determined the sex, racial type, age at death, revealed pathologies of the dentition and various traumatic injuries.

The purpose of the work was to obtain primary information about the appearance of people who lived in the first centuries of our era on the territory of Azerbaijan and thereby attract scientific attention to this problem.

Materials and methods. The skull, found in 1949 by the expedition of R.M. Kasimova with the participation of G.F. Debets, underwent an anthropological study according to classical programs to determine age, gender and race. Lifetime appearance restoration in the form of a graphic portrait in isometric projection was carried out according to the method of M.M. Gerasimov and E.V. Veselovskaya using Adobe Photoshop CC 2020 graphics editor.

Results. A table of individual measurements of the skull is presented, lifetime dimensions of the head are calculated, and a verbal description of the appearance is given. In racial terms, the subject can be attributed to the Caspian subtype of the Indo-Mediterranean race, the most characteristic modern representatives of which are Azerbaijanis, which also illustrates the reconstructed graphic appearance.

Discussion. The metric data of the skull were compared with similar characteristics of the closest male samples, which included a total of over 1300 skulls from the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Southwestern Europe. Based on the results of applying the corresponding discriminant analysis equations, it was found that the studied skull in the racial format belongs to the Caspian anthropological type.

Conclusion. As a result of the reconstruction of the appearance of the skull of a man from the early medieval burial ground in the Shamakhi region of Azerbaijan, paleoanthropological material unique for the Transcaucasian region was obtained for the first time. Previous archaeogenetic studies confirmed its belonging to the local population of Transcaucasia. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. This work is devoted to the assessment of the Upper Paleolithic sites of the Northern Tien Shan.

Materials and methods. Plains and foothills of Kazakhstan occupies a large western part of Central Asia and stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Altai Mountains in the east. There are many Paleolithic sites, the vast majority of which are open-air (surface) sites. Recently several multilayer Upper Paleolithic sites have been discovered in the Northern Tien Shan. Among them are the sites of Maibulak, Rakhat, Uzynagash 1–3, Saryzhazyk and some others. The sites have been studied intermittently since 2004. A new research phase began in 2018.

Results and discussion. The sites are located in similar geomorphological conditions. The cultural layers of the sites are nested in loess-like loams covering the northern foothills of the Zailiysky Alatau Range. Most of the cultural layers are interpreted as habitation levels with preserved hearths, burn spots, charcoal spots, and storage pits. Accumulations of lithic artefacts and sometimes animal bone remains are tightly linked with those features of cultural layers. This is an interdisciplinary research.

Conclusion. The chronology of these sites covers the Early Upper Paleolithic, the Middle Upper Palaeolithic and the beginning of the Late Upper Paleolithic. The development of the Northern Tien Shan Upper Paleolithic took place within the framework of a single cultural vector, characteristic for the western part of Eurasia. There are cultural horizons with Aurignation-like, Gravettian-like lithic industries, as well as a culture with geometric microliths (scalene triangles). At the same time, lithic industries show considerable originality. Further work is aimed at studying the classification, typology of lithic collections and their correlation with each other. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. The paper defines pathological conditions arguably developed as the result of the cranium deforming practices.

Material and methods. One hundred and fifty-eight brain capsules dating back to the Middle Bronze Age were studied; 42 showed traces of artificial deformation. Comparison of the series of normal and deformed skulls was carried out on the basis of 21 signs identified. The author compared frequencies of pathological conditions between the deformed and non-deformed skulls using nonparametric Mann-Whitney and Pearson's Chi-square (χ2) tests. Thus, differences in the occurrence of traits in the two independent samples was assessed. Additionally, we tested the association between 14 features using Spearman's correlation coefficient (r-Spearman's).

Results. As a result of the comparative analysis, it was possible to establish statistically significant differences in the series of adult individuals between the non-deformed and deformed skulls in three following categories: hyperostosis frontalis interna, external exostosis of the auditory canal and injuries of the cranial vault. The identified pathological conditions are prevalent on the skulls artificially deformed skulls. No significant differences were identified between the compared groups of children and adolescents.

Conclusion. The absence of significant differences for most of the pathological conditions, such as the state of the dentition, growth processes, the development of intracranial hypertension, inflammatory processes and mechanisms that cause metabolic disorders, indicates that artificial deformation does not have a significant effect on the development of the pathology of this character. On the contrary, hyperostosis frontalis interna is a pathological condition that may have been stimulated by the impact of artificial deformation. The high incidence of external exostoses of the auditory canal and injuries on the deformed skulls are most likely markers of the social or ethnic affiliation of the population that practiced this custom.

It should be stated that, intentional artificial deformation of the cranium is quite compatible with a normal health state and human activity. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. The relationship between the Human Development Index, life expectancy and the level of innovative development of the economy as a whole for the countries of the world and separately for 85 subjects of the Russian Federation is considered.

Materials and methods. The source of information for assessing the level of development of the innovative economy in the countries of the world was the Global Innovation Index for 2019, and in the regions of Russia – the data of the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia.

The Human Development Report 2020 published by the United Nations Development Program was used to obtain information on Human Development Indices in the countries of the world. The source of information on Human Development Indices in the regions of Russia was the Analytical Note “Human Development Index in Russia: Regional Differences”, published by the Analytical Center under the Gov-ernment of the Russian Federation in 2021. The source of information on the life expectancy of the popu-lation of 85 regions of Russia is the collections of Rosstat. Correlation and non-parametric analysis of variance was used to assess the relationship between the studied indicators.

Results. It is shown that the Spearman correlation coefficient between the Global Innovation Index (GII) and the Human Development Index (HDI) according to the data for the countries of the world is 0.905 (significance level – <0.0001), the correlation coefficients between GII and life expectancy, both average and separately for men and women, are quite high: 0.834; 0.794 and 0.852 respectively.

The correlation coefficient between the Innovative Economy Development Index (IEDI) and the HDI according to data for 85 regions of the Russian Federation is 0.578 (significance level is < 0.0001), the correlation coefficients between the IEDI and average life expectancy and separately for men are not statistically significant, but for the female population – 0.233 (significance level – 0.033).

Conclusion. In the world, with the development of an innovative economy, the Human Development Index is growing, which, in turn, accelerates the development of the economy. In the world, with the growth of the level of development of the innovative economy, the average life expectancy is growing.

In Russia, the relationship between the Human Development Index and the level of development of the innovative economy is rather linear, and the correlation coefficient between these indicators is much lower compared to the correlation coefficient for the countries of the world. In Russia, there is a significant positive correlation between the Innovative Economy Development Index and life expectancy only for the female population. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. As a part of paleopathological studies of people inhabiting the Volga-Ural and Southern Ural steppes and forest-steppes in the Bronze Age, it became necessary to study and generalize the available extensive data on diet of this population provided by specialists from various related fields. Indeed, the state of “health” is largely related to what and how a person eats and under what pathogenic burden he lives.

Materials and methods. The paper summarizes main results of archaeological, zooarchaeological, paleobotanical, geochemical, isotope and paleopathological studies.

Results. It has been almost reliably established that animal husbandry was the economic basis of the studied population with elements of hunting and gathering and the absence of crop cultivation. Zooarchaeological studies show that cattle played dominant role and were used both for meat and milk, with some territorial and temporal variations in which of these components was more important. Hunting and fishing played, apparently, a secondary role. It is obvious that the use of plant foods did take place. Researchers agree that the studied population consumed wild plants growing in the steppes and forest-steppes, such as Chenopodium, Amaranthus and a number of others.

Conclusion. Studies of associated disciplines are in many ways interrelated and mutually interpretable, which allows us to create a general picture. At the same time, a number of unresolved issues remain that require further, more detailed analytical developments, including those involving paleopathological data. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.