KLUYEV N.A., SLEPTSOV I.Y., ZUBOVA A.V., MOISEYEV V.G., POZDNYAKOV D.V., ZHUR K.V., LEONOVA M.V., SHARKO F.S., PROKHORCHUK E.B., TIUNOV M.P., OMELKO V.E.
Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 2025; 53(4): 92-100
The article outlines the findings of a multidisciplinary study of an Early Metal Age burial of a woman in Treugolnaya Cave, Primorye-the first such burial in the region. The human skeleton was accompanied by funerary goods including stone and bone artifacts and ceramics. The most noteworthy specimen among the lithics is a polished knife, very similar to those from the late 2nd to early 1st millennia BC sites in Primorye. DNA analysis showed that the individual was a female member of a Mongoloid population. Her morphological features indicate an age of more than 50 years and a stature of ~153 cm. Her elongated cranium reveals an antemortem deformation. The comparative analysis suggests that the closest morphological parallel was a cranium from Rodinka II, Yakutia, associated with the Belkachi Neolithic culture. The paleogenetic analysis suggests that the most similar paleogenomes are those from China, Mongolia, and the Russian Far East. Two of the latter are Neolithic ones from Primorye (Chertovy Vorota and Boismana-2). We conclude that genetic continuity in this region was high during the Holocene. A more detailed analysis of population affinities is ongoing. A facial reconstruction was carried out. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the burial in Treugolnaya Cave dates to the late 12th-11th centuries BC.
