ABSTRACT
Belarus, with a population of over ten million people, is situated in central Europe, to the west of the Eastern European Plain, on the watershed of the Black and Baltic seas. Such a location has played an important role in its ethnic history, creating a potential conflict of interests between the various ethnic groups of Europe. According to anthropological analysis, it seems that Belarus had two significant migration
waves: one coming from western Europe during the Bronze Age (end of the third to beginning of the second millennium BC), and another of Slavic tribes during the Iron Age (first century BC). The most ancient human remains discovered in the country are two ancient skeletons from the Bronze Age. The first discovery was made by M.M. Cherniavsky in 1962 during excavations of the second 2,000-year-old village near Krasnosel Volkovysk in the Grodno region. In 1980 A.G. Kalechits, during excavations of settlements in the Middle Dnieper culture in the Vetka district of Gomel region, found a male skeleton. Comparison of the two skeletons revealed differences in physical characteristics and two different ‘types’ in the Bronze Age. The first skeleton was a male individual from the site of Krasnoe Selo, Grodno Voblast (in the western part of Belarus), with a height of 170-75cm and with European facial characteristics. The second skeleton, dating from the Bronze Age, was found in the Rogachev district, Gomelskaia Voblast, and was shorter (c. 160cm) with some physical traits that appeared to be Mongoloid. Further anthropological analysis has also provided an idea of the physical characteristics of
ancient ethnic groups and the manifestation of sexual dimorphism and variability through the ages. I.I. Gokhman (1966) and S.I. Krutz (1976) explored ancient populations from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages, and showed a predominance of brachycephalic skulls in Ukraine and possibly in Eastern Europe in general, a trend that seems to also continue in the mediaeval and modern populations of Belarus. The beginning of research in physical anthropology at the Academy of Sciences of
Belarus (Академии наук Беларуси) hit a milestone in 1926, when the Institute of Belarusian Culture (Институте Белоруской культуры) created the first scientific institution: the Anthropological Commission (Антропологическая комиссия). This commission served as a
basis for the Department of Anthropology at the Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The activities of the department continued until 1941, when it was interrupted by the war. Research on the physical characteristics of the modern and ancient inhabitants of Belarus resumed in 1965, when the Institute of History, Ethnography and Folklore of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus opened a Fellowship in Anthropology, and staff began conducting various studies of modern and ancient populations. I.I. Salivon undertook palaeoanthropological studies, and L. Tegako carried out research in odontology and dermatoglyphs (Salivon et al. 1976). These first studies were published as ‘Essays on the Anthropology of Belarus’ (Очерки по антропологии Белоруссии). In recent years, L. Tegako developed and implemented a comprehensive programme of research based on a set of standardized methods described in national and international textbooks. At present, comprehensive studies are continuing at the department of Anthropology and Ecology, Institute of the History of the National Academy of Sciences. Training of specialists in anthropology was originally conducted at scientific institutions in
Moscow, such as the N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. After the Republic of Belarus was established as an independent state, postgraduate courses were taught at the Department of Anthropology and Ecology at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences.
