Browse Articles By Category: Anthropology RSS

AINU PEOPLE

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 13:01:00 +0300

The Ainu are a small people currently living in the north of the Japanese archipelago, on the island of Hokkaido. Their total number is approximately 16 thousand people, and the Ainu proper (without Japanese admixture as a consequence of marital relations, especially frequent over the past century), make up less than 1 . The Ainu are one of the oldest aboriginal ethnic groups in the Far Eastern region. The initial stages of their history date back to the VI-V millennium BC. The cultural traditions of this era reached the developed Neolithic (IV-I millennium BC) and were called "dzemon" (rope pattern; according to the ornaments characteristic of ceramics of that time). Most reliably, the identity of the aboriginal population of Japan is determined by archaeological and anthropological data. Until about the turn of our era, when the migration flows that later formed the Japanese people began to enter Japan from the mainland, the territory of the archipelago was inhabited by native speakers of the Jomon culture, whose economic basis was in the coastal zone of sea St. John's wort and fishing, in mountain and forest areas - hunting, as well as gathering, in particular marine mollusks, about as evidenced by the shell heaps. Ainu hunters and fishermen lived in characteristic semi-underground dwellings. In general, these occupations and cultural features were preserved among the Ainu until the 20th century. The monuments of Dzemon have also been recorded by archaeologists in the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. In addition, the former area of settlement of the Ainu included the south of Kamchatka; until the beginning of the XX century, the Ainu lived in the lower reaches of the Amur River, surrounded by Tungus-Manchurian and Paleoasiatic populations. This circumstance, which is a large collection of historical, archaeological, anthropological, ethnographic and linguistic facts, sharply refutes the anti-scientific conjectures of some modern Japanese publicists who are trying to s ... Read more

EVENS

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 22:06:00 +0300

Among the 26 small peoples of the Soviet North, there are two peoples who bear almost the same name: Evenks (about 25 thousand people) and Evens (about 9 thousand people). They have a lot in common in language, culture, lifestyle and customs. They are spread almost all over Eastern Siberia. Evens live in the northern and north-eastern regions of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in the Magadan Region, the Okhotsk District of the Khabarovsk Territory, and in Kamchatka. Approximately half of all Evens are concentrated in Yakutia. Before the October Revolution, the Evens were called Tunguses and Lamuts. The latter name did not apply to all even groups. Russian old-timers in Yakutia called lamuts hunters-reindeer herders from the mountainous regions in the upper reaches of the Yana and Indigirka, and reindeer herders of the polar tundra were called Tunguses, which surprised travelers who did not see the difference between the two. It was also puzzling that the name "lamut" was more suitable for the latter due to their greater territorial proximity to the sea. The word "lamut "is derived from the Evenk" lamu " - "sea". But it is necessary to take into account the existence of different migration waves of Tungus from Central Yakutia. Tunguses who came out to the Okhotsk coast found rivers rich in chum salmon there, and connected their lives with the sea, spending the winter in the mountains, and the summer on the seashore. The western neighbors of these Tunguses, having migrated from the sea in the XVII century, called them lamuts (Evenk, "lamunkan"). "Any even, even from the middle reaches of the Yana River," writes the Yakut ethnographer S. I. Nikolaev, " still continues to call himself lamut ("pomor"), since he still considers himself a resident not only of Yana, but also of the Okhotsk coast"1 . The uncertainty of using the ethnonym "lamuts" is also explained by the fact that the Okhotsk Tunguses, living near the sea, did not call themselves lamuts: ther ... Read more

COMPOSITION OF CARRIERS OF THE IRMEN CULTURE OF WESTERN SIBERIA ACCORDING TO ODONTOLOGICAL MATERIALS

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:48:00 +0300

The article is devoted to the problems of forming the composition of carriers of the Irmen culture of the Late Bronze Age of Western Siberia (XIV-X centuries). Materials from 23 burial grounds in the Kuznetsk basin, Barabinsk forest-steppe, forest-steppe Altai, Tomsk and Novosibirsk Ob region were studied. The results of the analysis allow us to conclude that the Irmen population was formed on the territory of the Novosibirsk Ob region and the Baraba forest-steppe on the basis of the interaction of Fedorov and autochthonous populations. Odontological data exclude the possibility of the Karasuk component entering its composition. Karasuktsy were formed on the Okunev basis, which caused increased frequencies of the Carabelli tubercle and the metaconid knee fold. These two features are practically absent in the native Irmen traditions, but the gracile component introduced by the Fedorovites is clearly represented. Keywords: Western Siberia, Irmenskaya, Karasukskaya, Okunevskaya, Fedorovskaya cultures, dental non-metrics, odontology, Bronze Age, A. A. Zubov system, ASUDAS. Introduction The Irmen culture of the Late Bronze Age dates back to the XIV-X centuries BC [Chicha..., 2009, p. 72]. Its monuments were discovered in the Omsk Irtysh region. Barabinsk forest-steppe, Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Barnaul-Biysk Ob region, Kuznetsk basin, Achinsk-Mariinsk forest-steppe. Based on differences in the appearance of objects of material culture and funerary rites, Irmen monuments are divided into two territorial groups: south-western (Omsk Priirtyshye, Barabinsk forest-steppe, Barnaul Priobye) and north-eastern (Tomsk and Novosibirsk Priobye, Kuznetsk basin) [Stepanenko, 2012, p.11]. According to archaeologists, the Irmen traditions were formed as a result of the synthesis of Andronovo (Fyodorov) and autochthonous traditions (Chlenova, 1955; Troitskaya, 1974; Molodin, 1985; Matveev, 1993; Zakh, 1997; etc.). Although this concept is generally not objectionable, there are a number of s ... Read more

CRANIOLOGICAL MATERIALS FROM AN EARLY METAL AGE BURIAL SITE ON BOLSHOY OLENIY ISLAND IN THE BARENTS SEA

Sat, 21 Dec 2024 12:41:00 +0300

New craniological materials from the burial ground of the Early Metal Age on Bolshoy Oleniy Island in the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea are being introduced into scientific circulation. This is the only current craniological series from the Far North of Europe and the Trans-Urals. As a result of the analysis of canonical correlations of 27 groups of the ancient population of Northern Eurasia, its specificity is established. The greatest similarity is noted with the Asian series of Western Siberia and Altai of the Neolithic - Early Iron Age. The population that left the burial ground belonged to an ancient protomorphic anthropological community, different from both the "classical" Mongoloids of Eastern Siberia and Central Asia, and from the Caucasoids of Eastern and Western Europe. Probably, the main distribution area of this community in ancient times included most of the tundra zone of Northern Europe and the taiga zone of the Urals and Trans-Urals. Key words: paleoanthropology, craniology, Northern Eurasia, Kola Peninsula, Early Metal age, Ural-speaking peoples. Introduction The burial ground on Bolshoy Oleniy Island in the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea is a unique archaeological site of the Early Metal Age in Northern Eurasia. Its high scientific significance is determined by the extremely rare for the Arctic good preservation of organic materials: bone and horn products, wooden structures, bone remains of ancient people. Bolshoy Oleniy Island is located in the northern part of the Kola Bay, 6 km south of the entrance to the Barents Sea, separated from the mainland by Catherine Island and two narrow straits (Fig. 1). Its base is composed of gneiss and granite. In some places there are deposits of pebbles and sea sand. The largest sand deposits (approx. 1000 m 2) are located in the southern part of the island, on the saddle between two gneissogranite elevations. A burial ground was found in these deposits. Archaeological study of the area began in 1925 with the discov ... Read more

ETHNOCULTURAL FUNCTIONS OF THE NAME IN TRADITIONAL JAPANESE SOCIETY

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 14:12:00 +0300

Novosibirsk State University 2 Akademika Lavrentieva Ave., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia E-mail: janefr@mail.ru The article discusses the rites and rituals associated with the main stages of a person's life path in traditional Japanese society. In the ritual schemes of birth, pubertal initiations, and burial, a significant place was occupied by manipulations with the personal name. The act of first naming ("evening of the seventh day") symbolized the entry of a new person into society and gave him a certain status. Initiation rites, which included a change of name, hairstyle, and clothing, usually occurred in adolescence, but in aristocratic families they were often performed at an earlier age. The new name "built" the teenager into the family hierarchy. Significant events at the time of maturity were accompanied by a change of personal name or adoption of a pseudonym. Finally, the funeral ritual provided for the last change of name to a posthumous one, which determined the status of the deceased in the other world, including him in the cohort of ancestors. This tradition goes back to the first legendary Japanese emperors and exists thanks to Buddhism to this day. Introduction Ideas about the life and life path of traditional Japanese society were determined by the idea of internal human evolution. As the individual progressed from birth to old age, the personality became structurally more complex, and there was an increase in signs and attributes that determine social age. In traditional Japanese society, the path of life was quite clearly divided into the stages of childhood, entering adulthood, maturity, old age, and death. The boundaries between them were overcome with the help of scrupulously observed various ritual and ceremonial actions aimed at the individual on the part of society. It was the social legalization of the individual, the set of social stages it passed through, that determined the essence and position of a person in society. The strictly regulate ... Read more

SOME ODONTOLOGICAL MATERIALS ON THE PROBLEM OF THE ORIGIN OF THE KOREAN PENINSULA POPULATION

Sat, 14 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0300

UDC 572.77 Lomonosov Moscow State University Leninskie Gory, MSU 1, building 12, Moscow, 119899, Russia E-mail: archpmk@mail.ru, vyu@sumail.ru In line with the main hypotheses about the origin of the population of the Korean peninsula, odontological materials on different historical epochs of Korea are considered from the collections of the Museum of Busan State University, Yeongnam University, Jeonam State University, the Department of History of Archeology and Arts of Chungbuk State University, the Museum of Anthropology of Moscow State University and the Laboratory of the Baikal Region Research Center. Irkutsk. The results obtained can be considered as confirmation of hypotheses about the northern connections of the population of the Korean Peninsula in the late periods of its settlement history. Keywords: Korean Peninsula, population, ancient connections, odontology. Introduction In the previous publication devoted to the problems of ethnogenesis of the Korean people, we considered the main hypotheses about the origin of Koreans (mestizo, autochthonous, and northern) and the existing anthropological data that allow us to judge the validity of each of them [Pan Min-kyu, Baholdina, 2008]. This report presents original author's and comparative materials on the odontology of the ancient and modern populations of the Korean Peninsula, which may be of interest in terms of studying this issue. The scientific value of odontological materials is primarily determined by the high degree of genetic determinism of odontology features. In addition, these materials reflect to some extent the cultural evolution of fossil populations. This area of anthropological research is rapidly developing, including due to the inclusion of new features in odontological programs, a deeper study of their nature, and the accumulation of experience in successfully applying odontological data in the practice of ethnic odontology [Zubov, 1973; Scott and Turner, 2004]. The odontological study of K ... Read more

THE PROBLEM OF THE ORIGIN OF THE POPULATION OF THE KOREAN PENINSULA (according TO anthropology)

Sat, 14 Dec 2024 12:29:00 +0300

UDC 572 Pan Min Kyu 1, V. Y. Bakholdina 2 1 Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea E-mail: archpmk@mail.ru 2 Lomonosov Moscow State University Leninskie Gory, MSU 1, building 12, Moscow, 119899, Russia E-mail: vyu@sumail.ru The problem of ethnogenesis of the Korean people is the subject of lively scientific discussions. Based on the available data, it is possible to assume ancient contacts of the indigenous population of the Korean Peninsula with the inhabitants of vast regions of Central, East and South-East Asia. None of the existing hypotheses regarding northern migrations, the autochthonous origin of Koreans, or any southern connections can be completely rejected at present. At the same time, there is no specific similarity between Koreans and modern Evenks, which does not allow us to talk about the existence of ancient ethnogenetic relationships between them. According to Mikhail Vorobyov, a leading Russian expert on Korean history, "the ethnic history of the Korean Peninsula is one of the darkest pages in the history of the region" [1997, p.93]. The problem of the origin of Koreans began to be discussed in the scientific literature at the end of the XIX century, when Korea became more open to the outside world, as a result of which there was a noticeable increase in international interest in the country and its population. Initially, the study of Korean ethnology and anthropology was conducted by European and American researchers. The first book on Koreans and their culture was published in 1874 in France [Dallet, 1874] and again published recently in Korean translation [Ahn Yeun-ryol, Choi Seok-woo, 2001]. C. C. Dalle noted a greater similarity of Koreans with Japanese than with Chinese. He also suggested that the Koreans were descended from northern, possibly Siberian, Mongoloids. The first descriptions of the anthropological type of Koreans belong to E. Oppert [Oppert, 1881] and E. Baelz [Baelz, 1901, 1907]. E. Oppert believed that the anthropological ... Read more

THE NEW JAPANESE NATIONALISM: MYTHS OR REALITY?

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 17:30:00 +0300

On December 18, 2001, a very remarkable event occurred in the South China Sea, indicating a radical shift in Japanese national consciousness over the past 50 years. For the first time since Japan's surrender in World War II, the country's navy was again ordered to open fire on a foreign ship that invaded its territorial waters. The order was carried out - the foreign ship was attacked and sank, and its crew was killed [Asahi Shimbun, 12/20/2001]. Such behavior of the Japanese military seamen and officials who gave them such an order was impossible to imagine a decade ago, because it would certainly have caused an explosion of indignation of the Japanese public, mass protests against the violation of the Constitution, etc. However, this time the Japanese not only did not strongly condemn the use of armed force by Japanese military personnel, but also tacitly they supported their actions, thus demonstrating a rapid surge of patriotic feelings, and in fact demanding that violators be punished at all costs. A similar rise in nationalist sentiment in the country was recorded in October 2002, after the DPRK authorities officially announced the presence in North Korea of several nuclear warheads and launch vehicles capable of reaching the territory of the Japanese Islands [Yomiuri Shimbun, 23.10.2002]. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that the DPRK does indeed have six nuclear warheads and their delivery vehicles [Washington Post, 9.06.2005]. Then the Minister of National Defense of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba, for the first time in the country's recent history, issued an official warning to the leadership of the DPRK that Japan, if necessary, would launch a series of pre-emptive strikes on the territory of North Korea [Asahi Shimbun, 15.02.2003]. The Japanese side officially repeated a similar militant statement in London on September 15, 2003, when the head of the National Defense Department of Japan stressed that the country's Constitution allows preemp ... Read more

JAPANESE WRITERS OF THE XX CENTURY ABOUT THE ABORIGINES OF SAKHALIN

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 07:57:00 +0300

The unique way of life, worldview and folklore of the indigenous population of Sakhalin - the Nivkhs, Uilta and Ainu 1-attracted the attention of Russian travelers and writers: among them Vladimir Korolenko, Anton Chekhov, Vlas Doroshevich, and later representatives of Soviet literature - Lev Alpatov, Viktor Vazhdaev, Nikolai Kostyrev and many others. Interest in the indigenous population of the Far East is also noted in Japanese literature. The territorial proximity of Japan to Sakhalin, the controversy over the ethnogenesis of the small Sakhalin peoples (attribution of the Nivkh and Ainu to the Mongoloids or the kinship of the Nivkh and Uilta languages with Tungus-speaking groups, etc.), the peculiarities of their cultural traditions and folk crafts only contributed to the growth of the number of Japanese writers ' appeals to these ethnic groups. "FANTASTIC DREAMS" BY TAKUBOKU ISHIKAWA One of the first references to the indigenous peoples of Sakhalin in Japanese fiction belongs to Takuboku Ishikawa (1885-1912). The poet, who repeatedly wrote in his poems about the worship of Russia, for a long time only hoped to be on Sakhalin. This secret dream he laid out in the thin notebooks of his "Diary written in Latin" (April-June 1909, publ. 1948). The "Diary", which was not intended for publication by the author, captures the" unrealizable, fantastic dreams "of the poet -" Tsunami and Hakodate... a trip <...> to Sakhalin, in the northern regions of Sakhalin in Russia... meetings with state criminals..."2. For the first time, the toponym "Sakhalin" appears in a story about a friend of the poet, Kyousuke Kindaichi (1882-1971), a specialist in the aborigines of Sakhalin, the author of the books "Study of the Ainu" (1925), "Ainu: Life and Legends" (1941), and others. "In the bathroom," Takuboku Ishikawa recalled, " I ran into Kindaichi. He just got a call... They said that his trip to Sakhalin was resolved. And Kindaichi was surprised, and I couldn't help but be surpri ... Read more

STRONGHOLDS OF THE RUSSIAN LAND

Sat, 20 Oct 2018 19:15:00 +0300

by Yuri MORGUNOV, Cand. Sc. (Hist.), RAS Institute of Archeology One of the most viable south Russian defense lines appeared on the banks of the Sula, the Dnieper's left tributary, in the 11 - 13th centuries. Our scientists have traced its development stages from a string of small settlements to a network of extensive fortification complexes. Take, for one, the site of an ancient settlement in the Sampsoniyev Island isolated area near the settlement of Sencha (in our days in Poltava Region, Ukraine). Various artifacts discovered there may tell us how the local population had survived - confronted as it was with constant threats from the outside - by building border fortifications. стр. 75 Southern border of Rus at the start of the 12th century. During the closing decades of the 10th century Kievan Prince Vladimir I (980 - 1015) focused his attention on the need to protect the southern borders of his territory as a result of an upsurge in the Petchenegs' military activity. First, wooden-and-ground long walls were built, i. e., something like what was described as "dragon's ramparts" stretching "from sea to sea", widely used then. In our days the total length of what has remained of them in the area of the Dnieper's middle reaches exceeds 1,000 km. The key spots of this barrier were under the control of the residents of large open (not fenced in) settlements. And "the best men", who had migrated from Old Rus areas spared by marauding raids of their aggressive neighbors, settled on the uninhabited steep open bank of the Sula. According to the 988 chronicle, in the period of the intensified raids by Petchenegs that followed, Russian military builders switched to more progressive construction methods of the times: they started fortifying weak defense spots by fortress structures, a method that was used for many centuries to come. Their efforts must have yielded fruits, for in the early 11th century the enemies retreated fr ... Read more