NEW CRANIOMETRIC EVIDENCE ON THE ORIGIN OF THE KARELIANS (the Kylalahti Kalmistomäki Burial Ground)

In 2006–2007, the expedition from Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, St. Petersburg excavated 52 inhumation burials at a 13th-14th- century cemetery in Kylalahti Kalmistomäki, Karelia. The burial goods are unusual for Karelia, eastern Finland, or other parts of northwestern Russia. The skeletal remains provide the first chance of assessing the biological affinities of the medieval “Korela.” The group displays a trait combination similar to that observed in modern Karelians and opposing them to other recent Eurasian populations. The same combination is observed in Mesolithic and Neolithic crania from the Eastern Baltic. The Kylalahti Kalmistomäki series supports the hypothesis stating that features of the early inhabitants of Europe have survived in certain populations of northwestern Eurasia up to the present time.