Craniological data on migrations from the West to Eastern Europe in the Post-Catacomb period

Abstract

In the article the craniology of the post-Catacomb and Middle Volga Abashevo populations in the context of cranial metric characteristics of Neolithic and Bronze Age groups of continental Europe is discussed. The data on 2100 male skulls belonging to 95 samples was analyzed by means of Mahalanobis distances (D²) matrix. The results reveal high level of similarity between the post-Catacomb series and Catacomb East-Manych, Eastern Caucasus (Gintchi) and Fatyanovo-Balanovo samples. Basically these results are in line with archaeological reconstructions of cultural processes in Middle and Late Bronze Age. The most western series, which displays morphologic similarity with the Babino sample, is the Globular Amphora series, while the Corded Ware sample from the Baltic region is similar to the Lolino culture sample. We suggest that the series of skulls from the Pepkino kurgan may be unrepresentative for the Middle Volga Abashevo population, since analogies to its cranial metric profile can be traced only in the late Fatyanovo and Balanovo samples and in one local Yamnaya sample, but are absent in other European populations, including Bell Beaker sample, which is in contradiction with archaeological data.