Антропологические материалы из Хыныслы (Азербайджанская Республика)
Anthropological materials from Khynysly (Azerbaijan Republic)

Summary/Abstract: The article examines anthropological materials from burials at the settlement of Khynysly (Shamakhi region) – ancient Shamakhi – which mainly belong to the period of Antiquity, with the exception of one female skull of the Early Bronze Age. The craniological material consists of 9 skulls of varying degrees of preservation. A female skull from an Early Bronze Age burial belongs to a representative of the Mediterranean race. The burials of the Khynysly necropolis, from which the skulls were studied, belong to the types of funerary monuments of Caucasian Albania: ground, jar, and pit. On some skulls it was possible to determine the anthropological type. In particular, the skulls from ground burials (No. 28, 49, 53) belong to the Caspian anthropological type; the male skull from pit burial No. 14 belonged to a representative of the Mediterranean race. Regarding the anthropological type of the female skull from jar burial No. 60, it also belonged to the Mediterranean race; however, it is possible that Mongoloid characteristics are also recorded on it. The female skull from the museum collection of the Scientific Fund and Exposition department of the Institute of archaeology and anthropology of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences belongs to the southern branch of the Caucasoid race; however, an admixture of the northern race is also possible. Probably, the features “alien” for the population of Albania (Mongoloid, northern) can be explained by contacts with the Sarmatians and/or Huns or their residence on the territory of Azerbaijan at the time under study. Beshik unintentional deformation was noted on some skulls from Khynysly, a tradition of which in this part of Azerbaijan dates back to the Early Bronze Age. The population of Khynysly in ancient times was mainly autochthonous in origin, and archaeological materials do not contradict this. Various pathologies were identified on the skulls, as well as discrete signs.

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