Scientists have recently come close to deciphering the human genetic code. This in many ways allowed a new look at the history of the Russian ethnos, which turned out to be more ancient and not as homogeneous than previously thought.
In the mists of time
The human genome is a changeable thing. In the course of the evolution of mankind, its haplogroups have repeatedly undergone mutations. Today scientists have already learned to determine the approximate time when this or that mutation arose. So, American geneticists found out that one of these mutations occurred about 4.5 thousand years ago on the Central Russian plain. A boy was born with a set of nucleotides different from his father - he was assigned the genetic classification R1a1, which arose instead of his paternal R1a.
This mutation, unlike many others, turned out to be viable. The genus R1a1 not only survived, but also settled on a significant part of the Eurasian continent. Currently, approximately 70% of the male population of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are carriers of the haplogroup R1a1, and in old Russian cities this number reaches 80%. Thus, R1a1 serves as a kind of marker of the Russian ethnos. It turns out that the blood of an ancient boy who lived in the late Neolithic era flows in the veins of most men in modern Russia.
Approximately 500 years after the origin of the haplogroup R1a1, migration flows of its representatives spread to the east - beyond the Urals, to the south - to Hindustan, and west - to the territory of modern European countries. Archaeologists also confirm that the inhabitants of the Central Russian plain have gone far beyond the limits of their original area. Analysis of bone remains of burials in Altai of the 1st millennium BC e. showed that, in addition to the Mongoloids, there were also pronounced Caucasians.
No Tatar
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In one of the issues of the popular science publication The American Journal of Human Genetics, an article was posted about the research by the Russian-Estonian team of scientists of the gene pool of the Russian people. The findings of the researchers were quite unexpected. The first is this: the Russian ethnos is heterogeneous by its genetic nature. One part of the Russians living in the central and southern regions of the country is close to the neighboring Slavic peoples, the other part - in the north of Russia - is genetically closely related to the Finno-Ugric peoples.
The next conclusion is more interesting. Scientists have never been able to find the notorious Asian element in the Russian genome. There is no Tatar-Mongolian set of genes in any noticeable amount in any of the Russian populations. It turns out that the fixed expression: "scratch a Russian - you will find a Tatar" is wrong.
The head of the laboratory of genomic geography at the Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Oleg Balanovsky, considers the Russian gene pool "almost completely European", and calls its differences from the Central Asian "really great", as if they are two different worlds.
Academician Konstantin Skryabin, head of the genomic direction at the Kurchatov Institute Research Center, agrees with Balanovsky. He says the following: "We have not found any noticeable Tatar contributions in the Russian genome, which refutes theories about the destructive influence of the Mongol yoke." In addition, Siberians, according to the scientist, are genetically identical to the Old Believers - they have the same "Russian genome."
The researchers also pay attention to a slight difference in the genotype between Russians on the one hand and neighboring Slavic peoples - Ukrainians, Belarusians and Poles - on the other. The difference between the southern and western Slavs and the inhabitants of the Russian north is more pronounced.
Special markers
According to anthropologist Vasily Deryabin, the Russian genotype also has its own distinct physiological markers. One of them is the predominance of light shades of eyes in Russians: gray, blue, gray-blue, blue. We have 45 percent of them, while in Western Europe it is less - about 35 percent. There are many among Russians and fair-haired. According to anthropologists, no more than 5 percent of Russians have natural black hair. In Western Europe, the chance of meeting a black-haired person is 45%.
Contrary to popular belief, there are not so many snub-nosed Russians among Russians - about 7%, in about 75% of cases the nose is straight. Also, among Russians, epicanthus is not found - a fold typical of representatives of Mongoloid peoples at the inner corner of the eye.
For the Russian ethnos, the prevalence of I and II blood groups is characteristic; among Jews, for example, the IV group is more common. Biochemical studies have also shown that in the blood of Russians, as, indeed, of other European peoples, there is a special gene PH-c, but in Mongoloids it is absent.
The northerners are closer
Research Institute of Molecular Genetics RAS and Institute of Anthropology named after D. N. Anuchin Moscow State University conducted a deep study of the gene pool of the Russian people, during which a difference in genotype was established between the Russians and our northern neighbors Finns - it was thirty conventional units. But the genetic differences between the Russian ethnos and the Finno-Ugric peoples (Mordovians, Mari, Vepsians, Karelians, Komi-Zyryans, Izhorians), who traditionally lived in the north of our country, correspond to only three units.
Scientists are talking not just about the genetic unity of Russians with the Finno-Ugric people, but about their common origin. Moreover, the specificity of the structure of the Y-chromosomes of these ethnic groups is largely identical to the peoples of Hindustan. But this is not surprising, given the direction of the settlement of the genetic ancestors of the Russian people.
Taras Repin