Reinis Lazda

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Facial reconstruction of a 4,400-year-old Corded Ware man from Latvia Around the 3rd millennium BC, a new wave of migrants arrived in the Baltic region - the Battle Axe culture, whose bearers likely spoke one or several Indo-European languages. Sites of the Corded Ware and boat-shaped axe cultures in Latvia are known mainly along the seacoast. The burial ground at Krejči, located in eastern Latvia, contains six burials (Zagorskis, 1961). The Battle Axe culture was rather a supra-cultural phenomenon that united different peoples, as it covered a vast territory and often overlapped with other archaeological cultures. Its bearers mixed with the local population, while part of the latter was pushed northward. The male skull from Burial XXIII (the reconstructed individual) is characterized by large horizontal diameters, considerable height, and mesocrania. Notable features include well-developed muscular relief, a relatively sloping forehead, and a pronounced nasal root. The face is very high (133 mm), broad (140 mm), sharply orthognathic, and strongly profiled (nasomalar angle 138°). The angle of the nasal bones is very large (42°), the nasal bridge is high (simotic index 50), and the nasal dorsum is straight. Such traits as a strongly projecting nose, a high nasal bridge, and a well-profiled face give the skull a distinctly Europoid appearance. It is a very massive, mesocranial skull with clearly expressed Europoid features. Cranial vault from burial XII, probably belonging to a male, is small and mesocranial. Due to its fragmentary condition, little more can be said. However, the mesocrania, strongly developed glabella, pronounced supraorbital ridges, sloping forehead, and marked muscular relief suggest a similarity to the male skull from burial XXIII. Differences in horizontal diameters between the two skulls may reflect individual variation. The female skulls from the Krejči burial ground are broadly similar, with relatively large cranial vaults, weak glabellae, slightly sloping foreheads, and little muscular relief. Their faces are broad but weakly profiled, with low nasal bridges, small nasal bone angles, overall gracility, facial flatness, and weak nasal projection-traits suggesting Mongolid affinities, unlike the clearly Europoid male skull. This brachycranial, gracile type closely resembles Comb-Ceramic populations from Estonia (especially Tamula) and parallels finds from Karavaikha and Modlona. Since the Krejči site is mainly associated with Comb-Pit Ware ceramics, such Mongolid-associated traits in eastern Latvia are linked to this cultural horizon. By contrast, the Europoid type in the eastern Baltic is tied to incoming Battle Axe (Corded Ware) groups of the early 2nd millennium BC, though this link is only weakly reflected at Krejči, where just a single ceramic fragment and some domestic animal remains point to their presence. (Denisova, 1960) Overall, the male individuals at Krejči shows a strong Europoid type associated with Corded Ware culture, while the rest represent a somewhat flat-faced, likely convergently Mongolid-leaning Comb-Ceramic-associated EHG/BHG females.