CRANIOLOGICAL MATERIALS FROM THE ALAN CEMETERIES IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS IN THE 3<sup>rd</sup> - FIRST HALF OF THE 5<sup>th</sup> CENTURIES
The paper analyzes materials from theAlan cemeteries in the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania and the Chechen Republic. Analyzing the data of palaeoanthropology and archaeology, the authors come to the conclusion that the population of the piedmont belt that left behind cemeteries including the Beslan cemetery are ancestors of the people buried in Alan necropolises located in the Middle Terek region (Bratskiye 1<sup>st</sup> kurgans and Oktyabrskiy I and Kievskiy cemeteries). The latter represent the main cultural component in formation of the population that settled in the western Caspian region, in particular, southern Dagestan, as illustrated by the remains from the Palasa-Syrt cemetery.