Anthropological Diversity Of Individuals Buried In The Necropolis Of The Chudov Monastery (Preliminary Report)

Archaeological excavations carried out in the Moscow Kremlin in 2016-2017 revealed totally new archaeological data on centuries-long history of the capital city center. The value added of the palaeoanthropological source is independent information and provides a unique possibility for shaping ideas on lifestyle, physical appearance, health conditions of representatives of high social strata and clergy. The paper contains data on craniological characteristics of the group which includes 26 male skulls from burials in the Chudov Monastery. The first craniological observations obtained by examining human remains from the Chudov Monastery necropolis help confirm general patterns of craniological identity of a medieval Russian city described earlier. It would be no exaggeration to say that these 'urban characteristics' are plainly visible in the examined individuals from the Kremlin necropolis. There is similarity between the group in question and series from other Moscow cemeteries. The results of the earlier craniological studies of human remains from urban necropoliform a cluster within the medieval rural population, which, on the one hand, was formed by general urbanization processes, and on the other hand, was influenced by groups of Eastern Europe living further in the west.