| Repository of
Bioarchaeological Material |
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Head of the
Repository: Gunita Zariņa, Dr hist.
Tel: +371 26482893, email:
gunitaz@latnet.lv
Research interests: anthropology, bioarchaeology, palaeodemography,
historical demography |
A.Šveicare
Keeper of collections |
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During a period of over 50 years, anthropological material from more
than 104 sites has been obtained in the course of archaeological
excavation in Latvia. Palaeoanthropological material from 4500
individuals kept in the Repository of Bioarchaeological Material of the
Institute of Latvian History covers a period of 9 millennia in Latvia.
The oldest material comes from the burials in the Zvejnieki I and II
settlement sites (7th-3rd mill. BC). This is Northern Europe's most
extensive collection of craniological and osteological material from
this period (310 burials). Very important in the European context, for
studying changes in human morphology, physical development and
palaeodemography connected with the transition to food production, is
the palaeoanthropological material from the completely excavated Bronze
Age cemetery of Ķivutkalns (239 burials). The living conditions of the
inhabitants of Latvia during the 1st and 2nd millennium AD, and the
processes of social differentiation and urbanisation can be studied on
the basis of an extensive collection of anthropological material.
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