The staff of the Institute of Humanities Research and Issues of Small Indigenous Northern Peoples, affiliated with the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, teamed up with their French colleagues to study ancient Yakut burial sites in order to find out how the incorporation of Yakutia into the Russian state in the 17th century influenced the culture of the Yakut nation and its gene pool, as per the press service of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The project was implemented in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) from 2002 to 2018. Most excavation sites were located far away from major cities and in areas primarily populated by the natives where Russian settlers exerted minimal influence. This allowed scientists to collect authentic data about the old lifestyle.

Experts studied graves dating before the 17th century and compared them with newer burial sites; it turned out that the material and cultural lifestyle of Yakut people changed greatly following the territory’s incorporation into the Russian state and the conversion to Christianity.

“Earlier, deceased persons were buried with multiple artifacts, including clothing, tableware, ornaments, jewelry and even weapons; however, these customs began to gradually fade following unification with Russia. Instead, people began to be interred wearing baptismal crosses,” Deputy Yakutarkheologiya LLC Director Nikolai Kiryanov, Ph. D. (History), who headed the Fedoseyeva Museum of Arctic Archeology in Yakutsk during the above-mentioned research project, noted.       

Funeral rites changed following the arrival of Russian settlers; moreover, local residents started building Russian-style food warehouses. They also began to wear additional metal ornaments, primarily copper adornments.

During the project, specialists collected DNA samples for specifying genetic health disorders, mortality factors, blood bonds, eating habits and methods for treating the region’s residents.

By studying collected artifacts, scientists learned that contemporary Yakuts were descended from two main migration waves that reached Yakutia in the 9th – 14th centuries. Since then, the genetic image of Yakut people remains virtually unchanged, and their interaction with Russian settlers since the 17th century did little to change it. 

“Although Yakutia has been part of Russia for over 400 years, its population managed to preserve its own ethnic identity and gene pool. It is precisely the striving of Yakut people to continue marrying members of their own nation and to avoid mixing with outsiders that made it possible to preserve such a stable gene pool,” Nikolai Kiryanov noted. Fedoseyeva Museum of Arctic Archeology