Dental Anthropology of the Early Krasnoyarsk City Based on Materials from the Pokrovsky Necropolis, 17–18th Centuries AD

10.33876/2311-0546/2022-3/274-305

Abstract

This is the first complete presentation of the dental data on the early inhabitants of Krasnoyarsk city on the Yenisei River. One of the most representative cranial collections of Russians in Siberia of the 17th‑18th centuries AD was studied following the extended dental anthropological protocol. These are the materials from the Pokrovsky necropolis in the “big city” part of the Krasnoyarsk fortress. The sample consisted of 150 individuals of different sex and age with permanent dentition. The paper focuses on the anthropological composition of the first generations of Krasnoyarsk residents, the racial homogeneity of the urban population, and its genetic origins according to phenetic data. The statistical calculations were done for four samples — men, women, children and in total. Descriptive dental markers were used to reveal the trends of sexual dimorphism and temporal dynamics. The studied sample represents a group of mixed Eurasian origin with a pronounced European dominant. Main observations include the absence of shovel-­shaped incisors with an increased frequency of the distal trigonid crest and deflecting wrinkle of metaconid, low frequency of the Carabelli cusp and hypodontia of the third molars, pronounced reduction of the lower molars, low frequency of interroot enamel protrusion, moderate to high frequency of two–rooted upper premolars. For the intergroup comparison the sample of the Pokrovsky necropolis was combined with a sample of Christian burials in the Volga region and the Ob–Irtysh basin. Its taxonomic position is consistent with the published craniometric data.