DENTAL REMAINS FROM MOUND 20 AT NOIN ULA, MONGOLIA

The morphology of the preserved enamel caps of seven permanent teeth found in a Xiongnu burial at Noin Ula, Mongolia, suggests that the buried individual was a young woman. Highly diagnostic descriptive traits form a very rare combination which occurs in certain ancient and modern populations of the Caspian–Aral region and in the northern Indus–Ganges interfluve. The Parthian woolen cloth found in the grave makes it likely that the woman was of northwestern Indian origin and was associated with the Parthian culture. The history of contacts between the Xiongnu and countries such as Parthia and China demonstrates that cultures of northwestern India and Kashmir influenced those of the inner regions of Central Asia. Finds from Noin Ula mound 20 support the view that certain natives of this part of the Parthian state were incorporated in the Xiongnu society at the turn of the Christian era.