Ancient human osteologic finds in Eastern Europe, and in the world as a whole, are extremely rare. At the same time, unique osteological materials of the Paleolithic Era are hold in the osteological collections of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography RAS. Based on the study of such materials, the most ancient stages of the history of the formation and development of modern man are reconstructed. The specificity of the adaptation processes that took place in the Upper Paleolithic Era, the influence of the economy and the way of life on the biological characteristics of people, injuries and human diseases in ancient communities are studied. Attention to Upper Paleolithic materials of adult individuals which are mainly good preserved is constant in research and publications. An example of which is the study of such a famous monument as Kostenki 14 (Markina Gora). However, until recently, the fragmentary scattered single bone remains of Upper Paleolithic people from various monuments remained virtually out of sight of anthropologists. Now they are being introduced into a wide scientific community. In recent years, with the development and introduction into systematic scientific use of objective instrumental methods of natural science analysis, the possibilities of anthropological science have significantly expanded. An example of this is the important and significant results of studying fragmentary Pleistocene human remains, for example, from the Denisova Cave. At present, bone remains are investigated using modern non-destructive classical and new instrumental techniques: microfocus X-ray, micro-computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging; extraction and study of bone DNA; microelement analysis; 3D digital laser scanning, 3D modeling. Similar areas of joint research are developing in the Department of Anthropology of the MAE RAS. In the album, we plan to continue to post scientific and illustrative materials on the results of such research.

09.02.2019