Anthropological materials from Khoshbulaq (Azerbaijan Republic)

Abstract

Craniological materials from Dashkesan district are being introduced into scientific circulation. The novelty of this article is that an attempt was made to study and combine anthropological materials from this mountainous region of Azerbaijan, as well as paleopathological studies were conducted, which revealed interesting features of the ancient population. In total, four skulls were studied: three male (kurgan no. 4. burial 3, stone box no. 8, burial 21) and one female (grave no. 2). The paleoanthropological material belongs to the Late Bronze - Early Iron period (Khojaly-Kedabek archaeological culture) and dates from the end of the 2^nd – beginning of the 1^st millennium BC. Probably, the male skulls from kurgan no. 4, burial 3, stone box no. 8 and the female skull from grave no. 2 belonged to representatives of the southern branch of the Caucasian race and belonged to the Caspian anthropological type. The male skull from stone box no. 8 belonged to a representative of a mixed anthropological type (Caspian + Caucasian). A symbolic trepanation is marked on the female skull from grave no. 2. Of the pathologies on the skulls, the following were noted: button osteoma, porotic hyperostosis, traces of exposure to cold stress, trauma (compression fracture) on the frontal bone, os bregmaticum, os lambdoidea, multiple button osteoma (osteomatosis of the skull, possibly Gardner syndrome), lifetime loss and abrasion of teeth, severe abscess.