For some reason the title of the article incorrectly places the individual in the early bronze age, but the article is quite clearly referring to an iron age male from the Uyuk-Sagly culture in modern day Tuva [1]:
Grave 2, in which the skeleton was discovered, was excavated in mound 12, one of the Dogehe-Baary group of mounds, situated on the high right-bank terrace of the Biy-Khem (the Bolshoy, or Big, Yenisei), 5 km upstream from its confluence with the Kaa-Khem (the Maly, or Small, Yenisei). The burial dates from the early stage of the Uyuk-Sagly culture, 6th – 4th centuries BC (Chugunov, 1998).
The article itself is quite technical so I won’t dwell too much on it, but the conclusion at the end of the article summarizes it quite nicely:
A comprehensive examination of the abnormal skeleton from an early nomadic burial associated with the UyukSagly culture (Tuva, 6th – 4th centuries BC) has made it possible to diagnose the condition as pituitary dwarfism. The sex of the individual was tentatively determined as male, although secondary sexual characteristics are quite indistinct in such a condition. The individual’s peculiarities possibly included a clumsy gait, limping, a barrel-shaped chest, scoliosis, permanent pain in the joints, and their reduced mobility. All this, along with the underdevelopment of apophyses of the upper and lower limb bones must have caused decreased mobility and, as a likely result, obesity. The cranium exhibits healed injuries, suggesting that the individual was the target of aggression. In fact, he could have died following a brain injury. His age at death, however, was no less than 45. Such a long life span for pituitary dwarfism complicated by epiphyseal dysplasia is unique even at the present level of medicine.
Various estimations of body size were provided in the article, based on the left side bones and right side bones respectively. The first value with Manouvrier's method is body length estimated for males, the second value refers to females.
Taking the averages would mean a height inbetween 124 cm and 131 cm, however it might also go up to 138.4 if we taken the largest height estimation. Looking at his skull you can see that it is proportionate, lacking one of the common characteristics of the most prevalent form of dwarfism, achondroplasia.
Interesting to note that this male lived to at least 45 years old. Unfortunately he seemed to have been a target for violence, indicated by his injuries. The targeting of violence reminds me a bit of a Yamnaya grave which contained a disabled male who had been tortured before being killed. I can’t really be sure if the context would be similar, especially as the Sagly little person got buried in a proper barrow whereas the disabled yamnaya male did not receive such honours [2].
I wonder what his social status must’ve been within his society. One one hand he managed to live quite long, wasn't a victim of infanticide and was buried underneath a mound, which might indicate he he came from a family of higher standing. On the other hand, the article suggests he may have been a victim of repeated violence and possibly died from violence.
The giant of Edirey
On the other side of the spectrum we have a male buried in Edirey-3, an iron age burial site near the village of Edirey, in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan. The burial dates to roughly the 8th century BC and was part of the Tasmola culture. This male also had pituitary issues, however instead of having a deficiency he had an excessive production, leading to acromegaly, and probably gigantism as well. These two conditions are caused by the same growth hormone issues and are often conflated, but they are considered to be two different conditions. Gigantism occurs when there is an overproduction of human growth hormone during childhood leading to excessive growth in height, whereas acromegaly occurs in adulthood and refers to the excessive growth of hands, feet and the jaw.
This male stood at an imposing figure somewhere in between 200-215 cm [3], an indicator he probably had excess human growth hormone production during his childhood as well. However these heights can also be reached without having growth hormone issues at all, so it may be possible that he only suffered from acromegaly rather than both, but I find that highly unlikely. His age would have been between 30 and 45 years.
Luckily his skull was remained quite well, and when looking at his jawline you can clearly see the excessive growth [4]:
Here is his skull compared to that of a male skull from the Bidaik cemetery, being quite typical for the Tasmola culture and described as having a “fairly large size”. The difference between the two is immediately noticeable however.
In addition, the same article also provided a detail of his grave:
I expected this giant to be buried with a giant club, or at least an akinakes adjusted to his size. However the burial goods only contain some arrowheads, a knife which must’ve looked absolutely tiny in his hands, and a large bronze mirror. Perhaps he was more of a gentle giant?
If you enjoyed this post you might find these two older posts of mine interesting:
- A look at Kumsay: The graveyard of Giants
- The Tarim mummies were not a people or a tradition, but a natural phenomenon.
References:
Aristova, E.S., Chikisheva, T.A., Seidman, A.M. et al. Pituitary dwarfism in an early bronze age individual from tuva. Archeol.Ethnol. Anthropol. Eurasia 27, 139–147 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1563011006030133
Murphy, E., & Khokhlov, A. (2016). Biocultural Analysis of the Prehistoric Populations of the Volga Region. In D. Anthony, D. Brown, A. Khokhlov, P. Kuznetsov, & O. Mochalov (Eds.), A Bronze Age Landscape in the Russian Steppes: The Samara Valley Project.
(pp. 149-216). Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, UCLA.
Beisenov, A. - Археолого-антропологические данные из могильника Едирей-3. Караганда, 2007 (Archaeological and anthropological data from the Edirei-3 burial ground. Karaganda, 2007)
Beisenov A.Z., Ismagulova A.O., Kitov E.P., Kitova A.O. Население Центрального Казахстана в I тыс. до н.э. Алматы. (The population of Central Kazakhstan in the 1st millennium BC Almaty. 2015.) Page 44
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