Skeletal Remains from Buston VI – a Sapalli Culture Cemetery in Uzbekistan

Skeletal Remains from Buston VI – a Sapalli Culture Cemetery in Uzbekistan

N.A. Avanesova, N.A. Dubova, and V.V. Kufterin.

Human skeletal remains from a Bronze Age cemetery at Buston VI, southern Uzbekistan, are described. The burials date back to the Molali and Buston stages of the Sapalli culture and are relevant for reconstructing the culture of the Northern Bactrian agriculturalists. Results of the demographic, craniometric, osteometric, and paleopathological analysis suggest that the Buston population was intermediate between the Bronze Age populations of the steppes and the southern agriculturalists. The southern tendency, linking Buston VI with the Neolithic groups of Southwestern Central Asia, is much more distinct. The steppe component was likely introduced by the Andronovo tribes. In terms of the totality of demographic patterns, skeletal constitution, and dental pathology, the group is close to that represented by the skeletal series from Sapallitepa, Uzbekistan.

Keywords: Population history, Bronze Age, Southwestern Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Buston VI, Sapalli culture,
craniometry, osteometry, paleopathology.