Veselovskaya Elizaveta Valentinovna

Introduction. The Center for Physical Anthropology Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Russian Academy of Sciences conducts the project «Facial Reconstruction of the World War II Soldiers». The anthropologists are interested in the Great Patriotic War, drawing attention to military topics, and getting new reliable information about its participants, both about the heroes who ensured the victory of our country and about the soldiers of the enemy’s army. The three soldiers of Wehrmacht army of the Italian artillery unit who died at Stalingrad were studied. The work was carried out within the framework of the Russian-Italian project "Forgotten Names", initiated by the Chairman of the "Heritage" Fund for Social Projects (Volgograd) Victor Nikolayevich Vasilevsky.

Materials and methods. The remains of three Italian soldiers were obtained. The reconstruction was carried out according to the method of M.M. Gerasimov with the clarifications of his followers.

Results and discussion. The Laboratory of Anthropological Reconstruction has been working for many years to refine the method developed by M.M. Gerasimov. The appearance of three Italian soldiers was restored taking into account the new developments in the area; then verbal portraits of their appearance were compiled. The reconstructions were handed over to Italy, where they will be compared with the photographs in personal files in military archives of those who fought in 1942 on the territory of the Volgograd and Rostov regions.

Conclusion. On January 26, 2024, the remains of Italian soldiers were delivered to Venice. On January 30, a burial ceremony was held with military honors in the military pantheon of Cargnacco (province of Udine). © 2025. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license

Introduction. The population of the city of Astrakhan has been formed from quite heterogeneous groups from the very moment of its founding in 1558, both anthropologically and confessionally. Anthropological studies of the region are very important for understanding the migration processes that contributed to the formation of the city.

Materials and Methods. The material studied was discovered in the territory of the Blagoveshchensky Women's Monastery during the work of the archaeological expedition in 2022. The analyzed sample represents a Europoid population from excavations at the Blagoveshchensky Monastery (9 male skulls, 7 female). A standard craniological study was conducted on both the male and female parts of the sample. Canonical analysis was applied. Contour and graphic portraits-reconstructions were created for four male and two female skulls using M.M. Gerasimov's method.

Results and discussion. The craniological study revealed some increased variability in a number of traits, indicating the heterogeneity of the group. The male series is characterized by brachycephaly. The faces are wide at the level of the forehead, cheekbones, and lower jaw. The female sample shows mesocephaly, and like that of the males, has large facial breadth measurements. The male sample from the territory of the Blagoveshchensky Monastery in Astrakhan was found at the center of the graph surrounded by series from necropolises near monasteries in the Upper Volga region.

Conclusion. The studied sample is characterized by average craniological parameter values typical for late medieval Eastern European populations. The gallery of portraits presented in the article demonstrates the range of variability in the appearance of late medieval populations in Astrakhan. Based on the conducted craniological analysis and completed reconstructions of appearance, we can conclude that the studied group is somewhat heterogeneous within the Europoid race and can be classified as a Central European variant.

Funding. The study was carried out within the framework of the Russian Science Foundation and Belorussian Republican Foundation for fundamental research grant № 23-48-10011 «Bioarchaeological reconstruction of the lifestyle and physical characteristics of the medieval population of Belarus and the European part of Russia».