УДК 975.174.2

EDN XEWANM

 

Original article

 

The Baltic Trail in the Formation of the Population of Meshchera

Gavrilov A. P., Semenov A. S.

 

Abstract

Introduction. The study of Ryazan-Oka culture has been going on for more than 100 years. Its main range is the middle Oka, with a significant tendency to dominate in the Volga-Oka interfluve since the early centuries AD. until the middle of the VII century. This work continues the authors’ research and raises questions about possible connections between the Mordovian and Russian Meshchera population within the Republic of Mordovia, Ryazan and Moscow regions with the population of the Eastern Baltic.

Materials and methods. This work is one of the first to study the DNA of the Ryazan-Okа people and their descendants in the context of migration and ethnic processes. The team of authors sets itself the task of finding a mechanism for using DNA research in archаeology culture and correlating ethnic processes in this period of the history of our country.

Research results and discussion. DNA analysis of the modern Mordovian and Russian Meshchera population made it possible to identify the branch R1a-CTS3402-YP237, connecting this population with the area of ​​the Eastern Baltic tribes at the beginning of our era. The work carried out showed that although there is and cannot be an equal sign between such concepts as a haplogroup-ethnic group, a linguistic group or an archaeological culture, аt the same time, identifying direct paternal lines makes it possible to correlate them in the context of archaeological material, as well as to identify the descendants of archaeological cultures today, which allows us to take a new look at migration processes in the territory of central Russia and the history of the formation of its peoples.

Conclusion. The first study conducted shows the possibility of connections between the ancient population of the Eastern Baltic and the Shokshan group of the Mordovian population and the inhabitants of the Moscow Region and Ryazan Meshchera, including the group of Kurshaks. This suggests a more significant role for the autochthonous population of the Middle Oka in the first millennium AD. in the composition of its modern population.

Keywords: DNA, Y-haplogroup, culture of Ryazan-Oka burial grounds, Shilovo, Goths, ancient burials, Finno-Ugric, Proto-Slavs, Balts, Meshchera

Acknowledgments: the “DNA History of Russia” project thanks the “Heart of Meshchera” project and personally A. Artyukhin and Y. Belousov for their crucial contribution to financing the research program, as well as V. Savransky, K. and O. Neverova, V. Krupnov, N. Makogonova, K. Smetanin, M. Voinov, A. Molokova, S. Kovaleva, A. Simonov, M. Komova, A. Sheremetyeva, O. Mokrushina, E. Oleinikova, N. Lipatnikova, O. Tinyaev, G. Tsvetkov for assistance and support during the research process. We also thank all representatives of the families who underwent DNA tests and allowed their data to be published.

For citation: Gavrilov AP, Semenov AS. The Baltic Trail in the Formation of the Population of Meshchera. Bulletin of the Research Institute of the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia. 2024;16(4):163—180. EDN XEWANM

 

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The article was submitted 18.04.2024; approved after reviewing 27.06.2024; accepted for publication 03.07.2024.

 

Information about the authors:

Alexander P. Gavrilov, professor in the section “Historical Sciences” Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (21/1 Sadovaya-Spasskaya Str., Moscow 107078, Russia); Head of Department of the Museum Historical and Cultural Complex of the Shilovsky Municipal District of the Ryazan Region, museum01@mail.ru

Alexander S. Semenov, project “DNA History of Russia” (43 Leninsky Prospekt, Moscow 119334, Russia), Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, semyonov1980@mail.ru

 

Contribution of the authors:

Gavrilov A. P. — concept development, archaeological data, conclusions;

Semenov A. S. — organization of sample analysis, statistical data processing, conclusions and scientific editing of the text.

 

Conflict of interests: the authors declare no conflict of interests.

 

The authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.