Paleodemographic Data on the Medieval City of Polotsk (Based on Excavations of the Upper Castle Necropolis)

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2025-4/314-330

Authors

Keywords:

paleodemography, survival indices, age cohort, infant mortality rate, life expectancy, peak mortality, final age cohort

Abstract

Excavations on the Upper Castle site were conducted from 2019 to 2022 under the general direction of I.V. Magalinsky as part of the rescue archaeological research. Analysis of the archaeological material revealed that the burial ground dates to the 11th–13th centuries. A total of 145 individuals were found in both regular and irregular burials at the Upper Castle necropolis. Sex estimation identified 38 male, 55 female, and 51 subadult skeletons (aged under 15). One skeleton belonged to an individual aged 16–18, whose sex is unknown. We conducted a paleodemographic analysis using J. Angel's (Angel 1969) methodology. The peak mortality rate in the group occurred in the first, childhood age cohort (0–5 years). Adults, both men and women, most often died at the age of 40–45. The infant mortality rate in the Polotsk group was 35.17%. This means that one-third of the population died in childhood, before reaching the age of 15. This figure is consistent with the relative demographic stability of the group. Almost 50% of children died before age 5, and 18% died before age 1. The final age cohort is not representative; only 2.76% of the population survived to age 50. The average life expectancy of the Polotsk group was almost 24 years, which is comparatively low. The average age at death for adults, both men and women, was low compared to other groups from Russia and Belarus, at approximately 34 years. The Upper Castle group exhibited an abnormal ratio of adult women to men, with 18% more women identified.

Author Biographies

  • Svetlana Borutskaya, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University

    Borutskaya, Svetlana B. — Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, Researcher of the Department of Anthropology of the Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russian Federation). E-mail: vasbor1@yandex.ru ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0753-151Х

  • Olga Emelyanchik, Euphrosyne of Polotsk State University

    Emelyanchik, Olga A. — Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, Docent, Associate Professor. Euphrosyne of Polotsk State University (Novopolotsk, Republic of Belarus). E-mail: emeljanchik@psu.by ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8813-4411

  • Sergey Vasilyev, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology

    Vasilyev, Sergey V. — Doctor of History, prof. Chief Researcher, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Moscow, Russian Federation). E-mail: vasbor1@yandex.ru ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0128-6568

    For Citation: Borutskaya, S. B., O. A. Yemelyanchik, and S. V. Vasilyev. 2025. Paleodemographic Data on the Medieval City of Polotsk (Based on Excavations of the Upper Castle Necropolis). Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 4: 314–330.

    Funding: The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Basic Research Foundation grant 23-48-10011 «Bioarchaeological Reconstruction of the Lifestyle and Physical Characteristics of the Medieval Population of Belarus and the European part of Russia».

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Published

14.12.2025

Issue

No. 4 (2025): Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik antropologii)

Section

Physical anthropology