A Comprehensive Paleoanthropological Study of Don Cossack Skeletal Remains from the 19th to the First Half of the 20th Centuries

This study is a review intended to draw the attention of researchers to the high informative value of series of human skeletal remains dating to the modern and contemporary periods, as well as to provide preliminary paleoanthropological characteristics of the Don Cossacks based on multiple trait systems. Skeletal remains recovered during preservation and rescue excavations at the Alitub-IV site (Alitub village, Aksai District, Rostov region) were studied. The burials belong to the Cossack population of the hamlet and date to the mid-19th to the first half of the 20th century (136 skeletons in total). A comprehensive paleoanthropological study of the remains was conducted, including both metric techniques and recording of discrete-varying traits (DVT) of the skull and postcranial skeleton, as well as analysis of dental morphology and pathological conditions. Male and female skulls are characterized by average sizes and proportions of the braincase and facial skeleton, a sharp profile in the horizontal plane, and pronounced protrusion of the nasal bones. The specifics of the studied group lie in the small altitudinal diameter of the braincase in male skulls. Facial profiling indicates that this population belongs to the large Eurasian race, without admixture from eastern gene pools. Based on conventional indicator values of skeletal size, the male portion of the sample has average body size; according to the basic proportions of the long bones, it is distinguished by a relatively shortened forearm. The reconstructed body length was 167–179 cm for men and 155–157 cm for women, which fits well with the data of Viktor Bunak (1922). Most frequencies of discrete-varying traits of the skull fit well within the range of their variability in Eastern European populations (with certain specifics, expressed in increased frequencies of foramina in the ocular region, temporal and occipital bones, intercalary bones in the pterion area, and the posterior fontanelle). A specific increase in the frequency of anatomical anomalies of the postcranial skeleton is scattered across its various parts, but most deviating traits are located in the tarsal bones. The dental nonmetric traits of the Alitub population, according to preliminary data, are very similar to those of previously studied Cossack groups, but are distinguished by more reduced first lower molars.