BALABANOVA M.A. Age and Gender Specificity of Nomads of the Volga-Don Region Based on Materials from Medieval Burial Grounds
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2025.5.3
Maria A. Balabanova,
Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor, Department of Russian and World History and International Relations, Volgograd State University, Prosp. Universitetsky, 100, 400062 Volgograd, Russian Federation,
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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1565-474X
Abstract. Introduction. The article presents the results of a demographic analysis of medieval nomads of the Volga-Don region, which are brought into scientific discourse for the first time. Material and methods. The research material was four cultural-chronological series: early Turkic, Khazar, pre-Golden Horde, and Golden Horde times. The first two groups were formed from anthropological materials of separate burial grounds; their numbers were 59 and 154. The other two groups were obtained as a result of excavations of individual burial grounds: the nomadic burial ground of Sarkel-Belaya Vezha (46 skeletons) and the burial ground of Bakhtiyarovka (121 skeletons). The age and sex structure and demographic indicators were determined based on mortality tables. The calculation of paleodemographic parameters was performed using the computer program of D.V. Bogatenkov, PDemography 3R Acheron, built on the basis of MS Excel. Analysis and discussion. The results of the study demonstrated for all studied groups of medieval nomads violations from the normal distribution associated with the deformation of the sexual structure towards the predominance of men over women and a significant reduction in children of all ages in burials under kurgans. Comparative analysis of demographic indicators such as the average age of survival of the adult population and the proportion of the cohort of young people (15–35 years old) and people over 50 years old demonstrated similarities both among themselves and with the urban Golden Horde series. Results. The violations of the age and sex structure of the medieval nomads revealed as a result of the study can be associated with their Turkic origin and nomadic way of economy, which involves the use, in addition to inhumations, of other types of burials (air, on-ground, etc.), which were noted by ethnographers and travelers among the Turkic nomads of the modern era of Siberia and Central Asia. Funding. The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 24-28-00772, “Anthropological Study of Polyethnic Medieval Societies in the Lower Volga Region”, https://rscf.ru/project/24-28-00772/.
Key words: nomads, age and sex structure, demography, Golden Horde, Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians, steppe, nomadic way of economy.
Citation. Balabanova M.A. Age and Gender Specificity of Nomads of the Volga-Don Region Based on Materials from Medieval Burial Grounds. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 4. Istoriya. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. History. Area Studies. International Relations], 2025, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 34-51. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2025.5.3.
Age and Gender Specificity of Nomads of the Volga-Don Region Based on Materials from Medieval Burial Grounds by Balabanova M.A. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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