Study On Human Skeletal Remains From Bronze To Iron Age In The Tombs Of Jiaerkenjiaga,Shawan,Xinjiang

The Tombs of Jiaerkenjiaga are located in Jiaerkenjiaga Village,Boertonggu Township,Shawan City,Tacheng Prefecture,Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,which belongs to the middle part of the northern foot of Tianshan Mountains.It is roughly dated from the Middle and Late Bronze Age to the Western Han Dynasty.This thesis researched on human skeletal remains collected from the Tombs of Jiaerkenjiaga in many aspects of physical anthropology,such as paleodemography,paleopathology,tooth wear,skull morphology,etc.Using a variety of statistical methods and combining with archaeological studies to analyze raw data.The results helped establish better understangding on demographics,health condition,cultural customs,anthropometrical characteristics,population origin of the ancient inhabitants from Jiaerkenjiaga in Shawan area.This study also further enriched the existing knowledge on physical anthropology of the ancient inhabitants in the northern foot of Tianshan Mountains,Xinjiang.The results of the paleodemographic study on the ancient inhabitants of the Tombs of Jiaerkenjiaga showed that the sex ratio of the population is 1.79:1,and the sex ratio is abnormal to some extent.The average age of death was 24.11 years old for all;the average age of death was 31 years old for men and 26 years old for women.The age of death in this population was mainly distributed in the mature and young stages,and the distribution pattern of death age in different stages was similar between men and women.The study on palaeopathology of the ancient inhabitants of Jiaerkenjiaga showed that many types of bone diseases and dental diseases were observed in the population.Due to the poor preservation and small number of observed samples,the regularity and extent of degenerative diseases in skeletal remains have not been thoroughly discussed.In general,the dental health of this population was relatively good.Three cases of artificial skull deformations were also found in this population.Artificial skull deformation was not a common phenomenon in the Tombs of Jiaerkenjiaga,and further studies on these deformed craniums needed to be conducted until more similar materials were found.This thesis recorded,described and briefly analyzed the tooth wear of the ancient inhabitants of Jiaerkenjiaga,focused on studying the tooth wear and molar oblique wear,then summarized the overall situation,distribution pattern and severity.Through the comparison with other ancient inhabitants,it is speculated that the ancient inhabitants of Jiaerkenjiaga were different from the people from other areas of Xinjiang in food processing and dietary habits,maybe even in the living environment.The pattern of tooth wear in this population may suggested that the diet consisted mostly of animal-based foods with a certain proportion of plant-based foods.Due to the lack of necessary data support,it was not possible to make a reliable prediction about the specific reasons of molar oblique wear.Based on the study of the skull morphology of the ancient inhabitants of Jiaerkenjiaga,combining the observation results of non-metrical and metrical morphology,it was found that the people in Jiaerkenjiaga had commonness to a certain extent,which indicated that they may be a mixed but relatively stable population.The craniofacial morphology of this population seemed to be complex,but in general it had more Eurasian elements.12 groups of ancient inhabitants related to the ancient inhabitants of Jiaerkenjiaga were selected for comparison.Calculating the root mean square values of differences between the mean arrays.Principal component analysis and system clustering were also carried out.Both methods showed that the anthropometrical characteristics of this population was complex,and its morphology was more similar to that of the Mediterranean,perhaps with some elements of the Proto-European as well.Currently,the ethnicity of the ancient inhabitants from Jiaerkenjiaga was yet to be specific,but its strong regional while multicultural archaeological background,complex anthropometrical characteristics,sporadically appear of artificial skull deformations(as local customs),all of these phenomena above showed the ancient inhabitants of Jiaerkenjiaga was a population that went through fusion on the ethnic origin and culture.