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Iron Age Nomads of Southern Siberia in Craniofacial Perspective

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Iron Age Nomads of Southern Siberia in Craniofacial Perspective ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE Vol. 122(3), 137–148, 2014 Iron Age nomads of southern Siberia in craniofacial perspective Ryan W. SCHMIDT1,2*, Andrej A. EVTEEV3 1University of Montana, Department of Anthropology, Missoula, MT 59812, USA 2Kitasato University, School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan 3Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 125009, Mokhovaya St., 11, Russia Received 9 April 2014; accepted 24 July 2014 Abstract This study quantifies the population history of Iron Age nomads of southern Siberia by ana- lyzing craniofacial diversity among contemporaneous Bronze and Iron Age (7th–2nd centuries BC) groups and compares them to a larger geographic sample of modern Siberian and Central Asian popula- tions. In our analyses, we focus on peoples of the Tagar and Pazyryk cultures, and Iron Age peoples of the Tuva region. Twenty­six cranial landmarks of the vault and facial skeleton were analyzed on a total of 461 ancient and modern individuals using geometric morphometric techniques. Male and female cra- nia were separated to assess potential sex­biased migration patterns. We explore southern Siberian pop- ulation history by including Turkic­speaking peoples, a Xiongnu Iron Age sample from Mongolia, and a Bronze Age sample from Xinjiang. Results show that male Pazyryk cluster closer to Iron Age Tuvans, while Pazyryk females are more isolated. Conversely, Tagar males seem more isolated, while Tagar fe- males cluster amongst an Early Iron Age southern Siberian sample. When additional modern Siberian samples are included, Tagar and Pazyryk males cluster more closely with each other than females, sug- gesting possible sex­biased migration amongst different Siberian groups. This is evident in modern female Tuva, who cluster with modern female Kalmyk, while modern Tuvan males do not. Male and female Iron Age Tuvans are not closely related to modern Tuvan peoples living in the region today, resulting from the influx of the Xiongnu beginning in the Late Iron Age. Both male and female Pazyryk and Tagar crania appear more similar to Central Asia groups, especially the Kazakh and Uzbek samples. However, there is evidence that Tagar females have a common origin with the Yakut, a modern nomadic population that resides in northeastern Siberia. These results would suggest variable genetic contribu- tions for both sexes from Central and East Asia. Key words: craniofacial variation, Pazyryk, Tagar, Tuva, geometric morphometrics Introduction including canonical variate analysis (CVA) and Mahalano- bis distances between ancient and modern groups from The cultures of southern Siberia, and specifically the southern, western, and eastern Siberia, as well as compara- people of the Altai during the Bronze and Iron Ages, have tive ancient and modern samples from Central Asia, Mongo- previously been studied by physical anthropologists using lia, and western China. traditional craniometric data (Chikisheva, 2000a, b, 2008), The Tagar people are associated with the Late Bronze Age/ however, they have not been examined using geometric Early Iron Age archaeological culture of the same name, morphometrics (GMM). This study investigates two of the which flourished in the Minusinsk Basin along the Upper better-known cultures of the Altai during this time period, Yenisei River from the 7th–2nd centuries BC (Chikisheva, the Tagar and Pazyryk cultures (Figure 1). Although each 2000a). The Minusinsk Basin is located in Khakassia, which cultural tradition has been examined archaeologically, paleo­ is bordered by the Republic of Altai and the Republic of genetically, and anthropologically, their relationship to one Tuva in the Russian Federation. The Tagar people were another has yet to be fully explored. Here, we present results thought to have been semi-nomadic pastoralists who raised from a craniofacial study that examines population history livestock, such as horses, goats, and sheep. However, based and structure by using exploratory multivariate analyses, on recent archaeological evidence discovered in places such as Mongolia and Kazakhstan, the development of nomadic pastoralism on the eastern steppe was highly complex and * Correspondence to: Ryan W. Schmidt, Ph.D., Kitasato University, School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy, 1­15­1 Kitasato, perhaps included agriculture, in addition to the pastoral Minami­ku, Sagamihara­shi, Kanagawa 252­0374, Japan. economy that epitomizes peoples of the Altai (Di Cosmo, E-mail: [email protected] 1994; Spengler et al., 2014). The production of cereal has Published online 18 November 2014 been speculated among Tagar peoples due to a large number in J­STAGE (www.jstage.jst.go.jp) DOI: 10.1537/ase.140724 of bronze sickles found in associated archaeological sites © 2014 The Anthropological Society of Nippon 137 138 R.W. SCHMIDT AND A.A. EVTEEV ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCE Figure 1. Map showing the extent of of the cultural influence of Pazyryk, Tagar and some adjacent groups in southern Siberia in the 6th–3rd centuries BC. (Murphy et al., 2013; Svyatko et al., 2013). The Tagar people 2004). AlThough the Scythians may have played a role in also had one of the largest bronze-smelting centers in ancient Tagar development, there is abundant evidence to suggest Eurasia. that peoples of the Tuva region and peoples of the Pazyryk The Pazyryk culture is contemporaneous with the Tagar culture formed via a largely autochthonous component culture, which flourished in the Altai Mountains of southern (Chikisheva, 2008). Siberia and eastern Kazakhstan from the 6th–3rd centuries Therefore, the Altai region has been one of contact, con- BC (Rudenko, 1970). More recently, Pazyryk burial sites flict, and trade since early times. The genetic diversity of the have been found in the Mongolian Altai (Jordana et al., region suggests extensive contact over the course of the last 2009). The Pazyryk people are well known due to the excep- several millennia (Gonzalez-Ruiz et al., 2012). Recent an- tionally well­preserved mummified remains found in stone cient DNA studies indicate the Scythian peoples to have a tumuli of the Ukok Plateau. These burial mounds were in- mix of both Western and Eastern Eurasian DNA types tended for high­ranking members of society, such as chiefs, (Voevoda et al., 2000; Clisson et al., 2002; Ricaut et al., priests, and elders, and included concubines, horse remains, 2004b; Chikisheva et al., 2007; Keyser et al., 2009; Pilipenko and precious artifacts. Archaeologists know that extensive et al., 2010). Nevertheless, the history and origins of these trading networks existed among these nomads as textiles, people remain relatively obscure. Physical anthropologists mirrors, and silk from places such as China, and even Iraq, have suggested the appearance of these peoples, based on have been found among the burials (Chikisheva, 2000a, b). craniofacial traits, to be unlike others in the Altai region Some of the more famous remains include a man and woman during the Bronze and Iron Ages (Rudenko, 1970; Kozintsev with extensive tattooing on their bodies, which depicted et al., 1999; Moiseyev, 2006). Most of the populations resid- elaborate animal motifs. The woman, known as the “Siberi- ing in the Altai during that time possess a more European- an Ice Maiden,” is considered a priestess by archaeologists like appearance relative to populations now residing in the because of the items with which she was buried. region of southern Siberia (Kozintsev, 2009). However, the Some Iron Age nomadic peoples of the Altai, especially Tagar and Pazyryk, when compared to other Bronze Age and Tagar people, have been described as being part of the Early Iron Age samples from the Altai, evidence greater ad- Scythian tradition, though Scythian is a general moniker mixture from Eastern Eurasian populations (Chikisheva, applied to all those tribes who shared economic, cultural, 2000b). Therefore, morphological features more representa- and perhaps linguistic traditions. These mobile equestrian tive of Western Eurasian populations may have appeared as tribes migrated east from the European steppe beginning in early as the Neolithic and the Bronze Age with more recent the 7th century (Ricaut et al., 2004a). Other known tribes admixture occurring during the Late Iron Age in southern that belonged to the Scythian tradition include Sauromatians Siberia (Chikisheva, 2000b). These data have raised ques- of the Lower Volga and southern Urals and the Saka of the tions about the origins and migration routes possibly taken Kazakhstanian steppes and the valleys of Tian Shan and Pa- by the Altai Iron Age nomads. In this study, we use newly mir mountain ranges of Central Asia. The Tagar people pro- acquired craniofacial data analyzed in a GMM framework in duced artwork of animal motifs that were similar in nature to an attempt to tease out the possible origins and interactions works produced by the Scythian tribes. The Scythians are of these Early Iron Age nomads. well known in historical texts and are one of a large number The analysis of ancient populations through the investiga- of tribes to have emerged from the Pontic-Caspian steppe tion of craniofacial variation is an effective and informative and migrated eastward to the Altai from around 2000 BC. way to understand modern population structure and infer The end of the Scythian period was probably the result of the relationships in the past (Howells, 1973, 1989; Hanihara, westward expansion of Turko­Mongolic nomadic peoples 1996). Although morphological variation is subject to devel- from East Asia known as the Xiongnu (Lalueza­Fox et al., opmental and environmental processes that might confound Vol. 122, 2014 ANCIENT NOMADS OF SOUTHERN SIBERIA 139 population history, studies have suggested that the majority of ordinate data were collected using a Microscribe portable cranial traits for populations not residing in extreme climates digitizer by the first author. Male and female adult crania (such as the Arctic) fall under a model of neutral evolution from 201 ancient crania and 260 modern crania are included and are not greatly influenced by selection (Relethford, 2004, in the analyses.
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