New data on the origin of the ancient Russian population of Ladoga (based on materials from the burial ground on the Zaklyuka River)

Abstract

Introduction. Until recently, a series of skulls from the Zemlyanoye Gorodishche of Staraya Ladoga was the only sample characterizing the population of this medieval city. This work is devoted to the study of a new Ladoga craniological series from a medieval burial ground on the Zaklyuka River discovered in 2022.

Materials and methods. The research material consisted of 21 skulls (9 male and 12 female) from the necropolis, most of which were subject to restoration (the sample included only three complete skulls). The series was examined using the craniometric method adopted in Russian paleoanthropology as revised by G.F. Debets and V.P. Alekseev. The analysis included a comparison of the series with another Staraya Ladoga group from the Zemlyanoe Gorodishche using Student's paired t-test for individual traits and principal component analysis. Furthermore, the studied sample was considered against a broad comparative background of medieval groups from the Russian Northwest using canonical discriminant analysis.

Results and discussion. The male sample is characterized by average dimensions and proportions of the neurocranium and facial skeleton, a broad forehead, pronounced horizontal facial profiling, and relatively broad nasal area. Morphologically, it is close to the appearance of a wide range of Slavic groups. The female series from the cemetery, while having similar facial dimensions and proportions, differs from the male group by displaying dolichocephalic and a high cranial vault. The series from the cemetery on the Zalyuklya River differs from the earlier group from the Zemlyanoe Gorodishche in traits that distinguish between «German» and «Slavic» morphological complexes (according to T.I. Alekseeva). In comparison with medieval groups of the Russian Northwest, the studied series shows affinities with the Ancient Russian inhabitants of Pskov, the average samples from the Upper Volga region, and the population of Ancient Russian pogosts associated with Slavic groups.

Conclusion. The conducted study has made it possible to connect the inhabitants of medieval Ladoga with Slavic groups of the Northwest and the Upper Volga region, as well as to integrate this one into the general paleoanthropological framework of the populations associated with the spread of Ancient Russian culture.

Acknowledgements. The author expresses profound gratitude to the excavation director, M.S. Pavlova, for the opportunity to work with the skeletal remains from Staraya Ladoga, for consultations on the archaeological context, and for her valuable comments on the text of this work, as well as to A.I. Ivanova for the high-quality laboratory processing and preservation of the material.

Funding. This work was carried out within the framework of the state assignment for the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences, titled «Centers of Ethno- and Cultural Genesis and Contact Zones in Eurasia and America during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene (based on data from physical anthropology, archaeology, and ethnology)».

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