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5. DERMATOGLYPHICS OF KAZAN TATARS

DERMATOGLYPHICS OF KAZAN TATARS

Makeeva Anna

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Makeeva Anna, e-mail: anigma1612@gmail.com.

Abstract

Kazan Tatars are the largest group of the Volga-Ural Tatars. They reside in the Republic of Tatarstan and other parts of the Volga-Ural region. The report deals only with Tatars living in Tatarstan. New archival and field dermatoglyphics materials were used (six samples). For the first time in Russia, dermatoglyphic data were analyzed in the diachronic aspect. Four samples were collected during the expedition of the Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology MSU in 1937–38 headed by S.A. Shluger, V.M. Shapkin, and I.N. Elistratov. The total sample size is 1147 (845 males, 302 females). The sample was divided with regard to four districts (northern, eastern, southern and western). Two samples were collected by the author during the 2012 expedition in Zelenodolsk district (northwest) and Elabuga district (northeast) of the Republic of Tatarstan (83 males, 80 females). Altogether 928 males and 382 females were investigated. Dermatoglyphic data suggest that Kazan Tatars are a heterogeneous Eastern European population which includes southern European and hybrid Caucasoid-Mongoloid components. The 1937–38 samples (males and females) are more Mongoloid than those collected in 2012, and the tendency is more prominent in males.The decrease of the Mongoloid component over the last 70 years can be related to extensive population immigration of Slavic people to the region caused by its industrial and agricultural development. All female samples were more heterogeneous already in 1937–38. There is also a pronounced Southern European component in one of the modern samples (Tatars of northwestern Tatarstan).

Keywords

Tatars, dermatoglyphics, Volga-Ural region, ethnic history

Цит.: Makeeva Anna DERMATOGLYPHICS OF KAZAN TATARS // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 74-74