Cranial deformation in the northwestern Caspian Sea region in the Bronze Age: Siberian parallels

Abstract

AbstractThis research examined the occipitoparietal deformations of the Early Bronze Age skulls from the southern European part of Russia and the similarities between those deformations and head modifications among the population of the Okunev culture in Southern Siberia. The study objects used were 3D models of neurocrania from 41 individuals retrieved from Early Bronze Age graves in the northwestern Caspian Sea region and 64 individuals from the Okunev graves. Analyses, of the skull shape variations, included geometric morphometrics, generalized Procrustes analysis, and principal component analysis with visualization of morphological changes as heat maps. Statistically significant differences between the subgroups were tested by performing dispersion analysis (ANOVA) using the Geomorph package. The samples of Early Bronze Age skulls from the southern European part of Russia showed differences between deformed and non‐deformed skulls, as well as differences in the location of the deformed regions in both males and females. The differences between chronological groups turned out to be stronger than the difference between undeformed and deformed skulls in the Okunev samples. The next analysis focused only on the Okunev deformed skulls involving a study and assessment of the differences in the types of deformation between the early and late subgroups. The final analysis demonstrated similarities between the Bronze Age male deformed neurocrania from the northwestern Caspian Sea region and those from the early Okunev culture. The study confirmed the occipitoparietal flattening on the Bronze Age skulls from the southern European part of Russia using geometric morphometrics. This skull deformation finds analogies among deformed male neurocrania from the early chronological horizons of the Okunev culture. The similarity of head modifications in populations from different geographical regions indicates contact between these populations. This is confirmed by archaeological data and nonmetric cranial traits.