Аннотация:The purpose of this study was to get a better insight of lifestyle in Medieval Slavic populations by examination of skeletal remains.
The populations of two settlements of XII – XIII centuries in the Middle Danube were studied. One of the group is the urban population, another is rural one. Fortified settlement Duplyaya was situated on the left bank of the Danube, 10 km north of the mouth of the river Caras. Rural settlement Omolitsa is also on the left bank of the Dunab near the Belgrade. The total number of burials uncovered - at least 150 individuals. Both settlements are well dated by coins.
The analysis showed that there are differences in the frequencies of the markers of stress, pathological bone changes in the urban and rural groups. Urban populations are more affected by a variety of infectious and systemic diseases, such as oncology, while the injury rate is practically the same. Indicators of cranial trauma are about the same in both groups, but in the urban group more diverse types of injuries. Differences might be the result of different lifestyles of the rural and urban populations. Anthropological characteristics of the two groups also differ, though the group belong to the same type of the southern Slavs. The urban population has a more massive skull, less protruding nose. To visualize differences between the groups composite “craniology portraits” according of Galton’s method were made.