NO. 13 SOVIET ANTHROPOLOGY — FIELD 215 



No anthropometric dilTerences could be observed between Hellenis- 

 tic and Roman crania. Rcfjionally, however, significant differences 

 were found between crania from the Volga-German region and the 

 Astrakhan district. The crania from the former were mesocephalic 

 and large; from the latter they were hrachycephalic and small. While 

 the general European character of tlie face is common to the two 

 periods, the skull differs greatly in breadth and in other characteristics. 



Bronze Age dolichocephalic crania were encountered at a much 

 later period in the Finnish burial grounds of the Middle \olga. This 

 agrees with the archeological data, which indicate a direct continuity 

 between the two cultures. The same type of cranium is present in t!ie 

 "Andronovo" culture burials from the Minusinsk region of western 

 Siberia. The Sarmatian crania stand much closer to the Andronovo 

 crania than to those of the \'olga Dronze Age. The same type of 

 cranium was found by M. N. Komarova in burials along the left 

 tributaries of the Ural River in Kazakhstan. 



The brachycephalic Sarmatian crania from the Astrakhan district 

 differ greatly from those of the Volga Bronze Age. The coml)ination 

 of brachycephaly with the slanting forehead is nearer to the Mongo- 

 loid Turkish type on one side, and to the Armenoid skull on the other. 

 Because of the low facial height and the highly prominent nose, Debets 

 classified these Sarmatian crania as European ; not having sufficient 

 data to compare them with the proper Armenoid type, he places 

 them in the luirasian brachycephalic group, the Pamiro-Alpine. The 

 Sarmatian brachycephalic crania are also comparable to the round- 

 headed type of the Catacomb culture, both belonging among Eurasian 

 brachycephals. 



No analysis was possible on the fourth-fifth century Sarmatian 

 crania, because of the widespread practice of artificial cranial deforma- 

 tion. Only one late Sarmatian skull, attributed to the seventh-eighth 

 centuries A. D., was available to Debets. This was of Mongoloid type 

 with a very high face and a tendency toward dolichocephaly. It is 

 impossible to state, on the basis of this single specimen, whether the 

 length of the skull was typical for the given group, as it known that 

 the dolichocephalic Mongoloids of the Paleo-Siberian type were known 

 to penetrate into Europe, or whether it was an individual variant or 

 a case of mestization with some European stock. 



During the first half of the present millennium, the Mongoloid South 

 Siberian type appears in great mmibers near the Lower \'olga region, 

 in an almost pure form among the nomads and continuing its existence 

 among the population of the settlements of the Golden Horde. 



Debets gives the following conclusions: 



