Antropology of ancient world

Topic of racism is still very alive in today's world. This article is meant as reflection on question of how racism was understood in ancient cultures. Ancient people, Greeks, Romans, founders of modern Europe and its system of values were in constant contact with nationalities, which were different in many ways, including skin colour. Our aim is to understand, how they saw people of different skin colour – if they condemned dissimilarity or were without prejudice. Based on (not only) literary point of view of ancient authors, this paper tries to answer old question, whether racism against blacks was born already in ancient Rome and the most glorious civilization of Europa's history was based on racial segregation, or the idea of superiority based on colour of one's skin is really modern past's invention.

Recent studies show that, in the 3rd millennium BC, the highlands in the basin of the upper reaches of the Khovd (Kobdo) River constituted a ritual zone, which was of particular importance for the population inhabiting the western foothills of the Mongolian Altai Mountains. Its cultural singularity was due to the so-called Chemurchek cultural phenomenon — a set of characteristics of West European origin, which appeared there no later than 2700–2600 BC. Three large-scale ritual complexes-‘shrines’ attributed to this period were discovered in the area of Lake Dayan Nuur. Excavations conducted by the expedition of A.A. Kovalev and Ch. Munkhbayar revealed that these structures constituted fences consisting of vertical stone slabs, decorated all-over on the outside with theimages of fantastic anthropomorphic creatures and animals. The excavation of Hulagash 1 (one of these sanctuaries),
radiocarbon dated to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, revealed a single grave in the centre of the structure, synchronous with the time when the complex was used. The grave belonged to a man of advanced
age, whose body was wrapped in a wide piece of cloth. The significance of this man being buried in the centre of the ritual site remains unclear. This person could have been sacrificed during construction or, conversely, he could have had a special status. Craniometrical measurement and dentological investigation of the scull from the
Chemurchek sanctuary Hulagash were conducted; its graphic reconstruction was performed. Its anthropological type shows a significant Mongoloid component. Intergroup comparison revealed its significant morphological differences from markedly Caucasoid groups, including the Afanasievo culture of South Siberia and Central Asia.
This excludes the morphogenetic continuity of the Chemurchek phenomenon from the antecedent Afanasievo population.
The individual from Hulagash bears the greatest anthropological similarity to the Neolithic-Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age populations of the Circumbaikal region (Serovo and Glazkovo cultures) and the Barnaul-Biysk Ob area (Itkul and Firsovo XI burial grounds dating back to the pre-Bronze Age; Early Bronze Age burial grounds of the Elunino culture). This is obviously a manifestation of a shared anthropological substrate, since the anthropological component of the Baikal type (which the population of the Elunino culture included) was recorded in the Neolithic-Eneolithic materials from the northern foothills of the Altai Mountains. Remarkable morphological similarities between the individual from Hulagash and the bearers of the Elunino archaeological culture reinforce the assumption that there is a cultural affinity between the Chemurchek and Elunino populations of the Early Bronze Age.
Key words: Early Bronze Age, Chemurchek cultural phenomenon, Elunino culture, Western Mongolia, paleoanthropology.
На чемурчекском ритуальном комплексе середины III тыс. до н.э. в Монгольском Алтае обнаружена могила с погребением мужчины старческого возраста. Череп его исследован по краниометрической и одонтологической программам, выполнена графическая реконструкция. Выявлены морфологические
особенности, сближающие погребенного с представителями популяций монголоидного расового ствола. Антропологическое сходство найденного на чемурчекском святилище индивида и носителей елунинской культуры подкрепляет мнение о наличии общности этих культурных образований.

In occasione del trentennale del Centro dipartimentale A.M.A. (Antropologia e Mondo Antico) dell’Università degli Studi di Siena, i dottorandi del curriculum in “Antropologia del mondo antico” del dottorato in “Scienze dell’Antichità e Archeologia” promuovono un ciclo di seminari incentrati sulle diverse tematiche che hanno forgiato l'identità del Centro, rendendolo un punto di riferimento culturale e accademico nel panorama nazionale e internazionale. Il presente CFP, rivolto a giovani studiosi (laureati magistrali, dottorandi, dottori di ricerca sotto i 35 anni), oltre a promuovere l'incontro e il confronto tra antichisti di diversa formazione e interessi, offrendo loro la possibilità di presentare il frutto delle loro attività di ricerca, mira a raccogliere studi e proposte nuovi sulle più importanti tematiche da anni all'attenzione del Centro A.M.A. Tra le finalità vi è, infatti, quella di saggiare il terreno sulle attuali linee di ricerca in relazione agli argomenti proposti. Alla base vi è, altresì, il desiderio di promuovere con intento dialogico il confronto tra prospettive diverse (antropologiche, filologiche, storiche, archeologiche, semiotiche etc...), con lo scopo di rafforzare il tessuto epistemologico degli studi sul mondo antico, nel Centro e fuori.