Toropova E.V., Buzhilova A.P.

Key words: Staraya Russa, Old Russian town, усадьба, children’s burials, paleoanthropology, paleopathology, scurvy.
In Old Russian towns, anthropological materials are usually encountered in necropolises or in layers of wartime wreckage. When found elsewhere in the occupation layer, they usually signify emergencies accompanied by loss of life. In the light of the above, the 2010 find of two well-preserved children’s burials under a nondomestic log building from the first third of the 13th c. is of much interest. The article gives the archaeological context of the find and offers an anthropological analysis and interpretation. The anthropological analysis suggests acute scurvy, probably resulting from starvation, as the possible cause of death. The finds from Staraya Russa are a vivid illustration to the first Novgorod chronicle, which tells of two cases of famine resulting from crop failures after spring frost: in 1215–1216 and 1228–1230.