The Pyany Bor Culture Population of the Lower Kama Region According to Osteometric Data (Stariy Chekmak Burial Ground)

The paper deals with results of the study of the anthropological materials from the Stariy Chekmak burial ground by means of the osteometry according to the methods adopted in Russian anthropology. Characteristics were given to the absolute and relative values of the long bones of skeleton (the male part of the sample shows mainly average values, whereas the female part – small ones). Besides, the group was characterized according to the length of the part of extremities. The male part of the sample demonstrated elongation both to the femoral bone and the radius relatively to the humerus in proportions, while the female part – shortening of the humerus relatively to the femoral bone (on the whole, their lower extremities tends to elongation relatively to upper ones). It seems impossible to determine the type of proportions because of lack of observations. The body length of the buried has also been reconstructed (the male turn to be medium and higher than the average; the female turn to be short). Further, the features of the postcranial morphology of the Stariy Chekmak cemetery group, together with another Piany Bor sample from the Novo-Sasykul burial ground, were analyzed against the Early Iron Age and the Middle Ages populations. The results of the intergroup analysis turn to the conclusion that the Pyany Bor male series of the Kama basin population demonstrates one of the most gracile variants of addition in the complex of massiveness among all the materials used for comparison.