Reconstructing the Demography of Kalmykia’s Catacomb Population: A Study of Excavated Archaeological Materials, 1981–2008

Introduction. The publication finalizes the series of paleodemographic studies into materials from Catacomb burials discovered by archaeologists in grave mounds across the three territorial zones of Kalmykia — Sarpa Lowland, Yergeni Upland, and Caspian Depression. The current paper focuses on anthropological material from burials investigated in the Caspian Depression. Goals. The study shall introduce new anthropological material from the Middle Bronze Age once discovered in the territory of Kalmykia. Materials and methods. The work examines human bone remains from grave fields of the Caspian Depression stored at the Osteological Materials Repository of Kalmyk Scientific Center (RAS). Age and sex determination procedures have been conducted following a comprehensive anthropological program. Results. The diverse research efforts have yielded paleodemographic characteristics of the population that once inhabited the Caspian Depression, a comparative intra-group principal component analysis involving synchronous anthropological series in the territory of Kalmykia (multivariate statistics), and a discussion of summarized results of our insights into the demographic situation across Middle Bronze Age Kalmykia. The paper notes some similarities (and differences) between the identified paleodemographic indicators and those of neighboring regions (Republic of Dagestan and Rostov Oblast) on average age of death, high mortality of children, and predominance of male individuals, the two latter being typical for societies of that era. The Kalmykia-based materials are characterized by almost equal mean ages of death in the male and female groups, and a larger number of individuals aged fifty and more, with a small but evident predominance of female ones among the latter.

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