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5. THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GENE POOL OF RUSSIA AND THE CONTIGUOUS COUNTRIES

THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GENE POOL OF RUSSIA AND THE CONTIGUOUS COUNTRIES

Sheremetyeva Valentina

Department of Anthropology, Biological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

Sheremetyeva Valentina, e-mail: sheremetyeva_v@mail.ru.

Abstract

Wide opportunities of the geographic method in physical anthropology have been demonstrated by many Soviet anthropologists such as V.V. Bunak , A.I. Yarkho, G.F. Debetz, M.G. Abdushelishvili, V.P. Alexeyev, T.I. Alexeyeva , Yu.G. Rychkov, O.I. Ismagulov, I.M. Zolotareva, etc. Owing to Russia’s vast territory, its population is quite diverse in terms of race (two of the 3-5 geographic races – European and Asiatic) and language (six linguistic families). A three-digit number of ethnic groups and scores of anthropological types and linguistic subgroups contribute to a huge genetic diversity. Different attributes of the gene pool and all the variation accumulated over the previous phases of development will be discussed in the multivariate space and in the geographic context of northern Eurasia. The principal component analysis was based on the correlation matrix of independent traits (morphological and genetic) co-varying with economic and cultural attributes. Data were subdivided according to two chronological stages spanning the time from the Paleolithic to the present, and integrated patterns of genetic variation were assessed based on the covariation of independent traits (“historical correlation”). A correlation between the age of the trait and its distribution area has been established. A marked difference between the gene pools of modern populations of northern Eurasia living west and east of the Urals, reflected in both genetic and morphological traits and prevailing over most part of ancient history (two chronological stages – 26–16 and 15–12 thousand years ago), is unrelated to recent changes in ethnic structure. The results are presented as distribution maps of single traits and of the first principal component.

Keywords

Northern Eurasia, genetic polymorphisms, principal component analysis

Цит.: Sheremetyeva Valentina THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GENE POOL OF RUSSIA AND THE CONTIGUOUS COUNTRIES // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 80-81