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The purpose of this article is to systematize and define the role of the animal world in the mythology of Yakut shamanism and its attributes. The topic of shamanism was studied earlier mainly from an anthropocentric point of view. At present, it is interesting to consider the role of animal images in the shamanic cult and the way their communication with the shaman takes place. The sources of the study were archival and published ethnographic and folklore materials on traditional Yakut beliefs. With their help the plots in which animals appear as patron spirits, spirit-helpers and symbolic images were revealed. The animal image of the shamanic patron spirit – “iye-kyyl” (mother-beast) which participates in the “birth” of the shaman was considered. We also paid attention to animals acting as helper spirits directly in contact with the shaman: they ensure his mobility in supernatural spaces and share their powers and abilities with him. The material use of animal images for magical and apotropaic purposes in the shaman’s paraphernalia is touched upon. The methodological basis of the study is the actor-network theory and the symbolic approach. As a result of the study, we conclude that in Yakut shamanism animal images play a significant role of intermediaries between shamans and supernatural spaces. The study reveals the ideas that spirits act in an active capacity: they do not simply carry functional roles, but are themselves the initiators of the supernatural spaces.

In the paper, the finds of fragments of bows from the “Old Buryat” burials of the 17th–18th centuries from the Baikal region are analysed, and an attempt is made to determine their genesis from the data on their technological features. On the basis of the conventional method of weapon-analysis classification, two types were distinguished by the set of the reinforcing onlays. To understand the missing structural elements, the data is drawn in on more recent fully preserved items produced locally in the 19th — early 20th c. from the museum and private collections from the territory of the Baikal region, since a genetic affinity can be traced between them and the earlier products by the available onlays. This allows one to speak about similar morphological and metric characteristics between the Buryat bows of the 19th — early 20th c. and the objects from the “Old Buryat” burials. In the result of the conducted analysis, the relationship between the distinguished type 1 and items of the 12th–14th cc. of the population of the Ust-Talkinskaya Culture of the Cisbaikalia region has been established by the onlays used and the structure of the wooden base (in comparison with the products of the Buryats of the 17th–18th cc. associated with the bows of the 19th — early 20th c.), on the basis of which it was concluded that the design evolved in the Mongolian period from a local prototype. The type 2 is also associated with ‘Mongolian type’ bows by the presence of the median frontal remiform onlay, although it has the features of Yakut’s ‘Central Asian’ bows (the end frontal straps made of staghorn with a wide and a narrow areas). In the course of the study, it has been revealed that the design of the objects of the 19th — early 20th c., predominantly Transbaikalian bows of the Selenga Buryats, has features of both the type 1 as well as the type 2, and it evolved from a local basis as a result of the synthesis of the elements of these types, thus combining the features of the northern and local workmanships. In the result, the structures appeared, which were reinforced with long end straps made of staghorn, with a long wide area creating transitional zones, and a short narrow one reinforcing the rigid limb tips. In the Cisbaikalia region, modifications of the type 1 bow were further developed by means of combining materials in the onlays of the transitional zones. All of the recorded bows, in terms of the shape of the ends and transitional zones, are much closer to the Mongolian bows of the 12th–14th c. from the rock burials of Mongolia, than to the Manchurian-Mongolian bows widespread in Central Asia since the 17th c.

Aim. To study the contribution of the Ala54Thr genetic polymorphism of the FABP2 gene to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus among the Yakut population. Materials and methods. The study included participants who filled out a questionnaire approved by the Local Committee on Biomedical Ethics at the Yakut Science Centre of complex medical problems and voluntarily signed an informed consent to conduct a genetic study. The sample consisted of 181 patients of the endocrinological department of the Republican Hospital No. 2 of the State Budgetary Institution “Center for Emergency Medical Care“ with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. The comparison group was a sample of 336 volunteers without chronic diseases of the Yakut ethnicity. For molecular genetic analysis, genomic DNA samples were isolated from whole blood. Single nucleotide polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction followed by analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphism. Results. Study showed that polymorphism in the FABP2 gene has an impact on anthropometric parameters and blood biochemical parameters. The risk of developing type 2 diabetes was 1.7 times higher in carriers of the Ala/Thr genotype (odds ratio 1.755, 95% confidence interval – 1.212–2.542; p0.005) compared with carriers of other genotypes. When comparing the average biochemical values, the levels of aspartate transaminase, alanine aminotransferase, glucose and total bilirubin in homozygous carriers of the Ala/Ala genotype were significantly lower than in carriers of other genotypes (р0.05). Carriers of the heterozygous Ala/Thr genotype (р0.05) had the highest level in terms of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase. The highest indicator of the average level of HbA1c and an indicator of total bilirubin were carriers of the Thr/Thr genotype (р0.05). Conclusion. The high prevalence of the negative Thr allele among the Yakut population is probably associated with living conditions in the North, as well as in the traditional type of diet.

The article traces the dynamics of representations of the historical past of Yakutia in the publications of the monthly literary, artistic and socio-political magazine “Siberian Lights”. This issue is considered in the context of the processes of constructing the Soviet policy of memory throughout the entire period of the existence of the USSR. The relevance of the study is due to the increased attention to the specifics of historical knowledge presented in the public space, to its structures, interpretations and use for political and ideological purposes in the past and present. The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that until now the history of journal representations of the past of Yakutia in the context of state policy has not become the subject of independent scientific research. The study made it possible to identify the contexts that determined the specifics of creating journal representations of the history of Yakutia. The author established and characterized five stages of this representation. It is shown how the meanings and techniques of the politics of memory that were behind the approaches to the description and characteristics of the past of Yakutia changed. It is proved that the differences between approaches to representations were determined by the tendencies of strengthening and weakening the political and ideological control of the state in the field of memory politics and nation building.

The object of the study is the indigenous population of the North and the Arctic of the Russian Federation. The subject of the study is changes in nutrition during transition from the traditional to modernized lifestyle. The purpose of the study is to consider the risk to the health of the northerners in the quantitative and qualitative changes in the consumption of flour and starch-containing products. The consumption of bread products and starch by the population of the northern regions of the Russian Federation in the 19th – 20th centuries and in the 2010s – 2020s was estimated. Estimates of the frequencies of the amylase genes AMY1, AMY2B, AMY2A in the populations that differ in geographic localization and type of management are systemized. In the 20th century, percapita consumption of bread in Russia decreased from 700 to 260 g/day, among the indeginous northerners — from 300 to 250 g/day. The inclusion of pasta products and potato in the diet of the northerners changed the volume and structure of the consumed carbohydrate foods. The intake of high glycemic load starch increased from 100 to 250 g/day. Replacing the dried crusts with pasta and potato meals eased mastication of food, thus inducing a reflectory rise in serum glucose at ingestion and increasing the risk of developing chronic carbohydrate metabolism disorders. High-latitude populations are distinct in the prevalence of the genotypes that determine low activity of the polysaccharidase enzymes necessary for starch digestion. The ample production of amylase and less prominent blood glucose upswing in response to the consumption of starchy foods are determined by the number of successive copies of the amylase genes on the AMY locus. For the AMY1 gene, a negative correlation was found between the gene copy number and the geographical latitude of the population area (rSp = -0.19), for the AMY2A gene rSp = -0.33 (p < 0.001 in both cases). In addition, in the Arctic groups there is a high frequency of deletions of the AMY2A gene, which also lead to insufficient synthesis of pancreatic amylase. In the European populations, AMY2A deletions occur in 10–11 %; among the Khanty, Mansi, and Selkups — in 28 %; among the indigenous population of Chukotka — in 52 %. Changes in the “Arctic diet” in the 20th century led to a sharp increase in the starch consumption. With the traditional way of life, the northerners did not form adaptations to the nutrient intake of large volumes of starchy foods. In modern conditions, accumulation of nutritional, physiological and genetic factors increases the risk of metabolic disorders related to the consumption of high-starch food.

Abstract—The study of immune response and inflammation gene polymorphisms in a genogeographic context is relevant in the study of human populations. Here, in the indigenous populations of Siberia the frequencies of polymorphic variants ‒174G/C (rs1800795) and ‒572C/G (rs1800796) of the IL6 gene encoding the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 were determined. For the first time, it was shown that the frequencies of the ‒174G and ‒572C alleles, which determine increased inflammatory response and are also associated with several diseases were statistically significantly higher in ethnic groups of Buryats, Teleuts, Yakuts, Dolgans and Tuvinians than in Russians living in Siberia. These values were in the intermediate position between those in the European and East-Asian groups. We hypothesize an adaptive role of these IL6 genetic variants in human settlement from Africa to the Eurasian continent. However, due to the departure from the traditional way of life and the increasing anthropogenic environmental pollution, the risk of diseases whose pathogenesis is based on inflammation in indigenous Siberian populations is likely increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The article examines the onym Megüren (Yak. Möŋürüön < Mögürüön) used as a name of several administrative units in the territory of Yakutia, mainly those included in Meginsky (Yak. Mäŋä) District. The available 17th-century written sources — i.e. earliest Russian-language documents on Yakuts — mention no such onym. And it was E. Pekarsky who already pointed out that the Yakut word mögürüön ‘round-thick’ could be a Mongolic borrowing and, in particular, tended to trace parallels in the Buryat language. Subsequent researchers paid no attention to both the word and the corresponding ethnonym. Goals. The paper aims to analyze origins of the word the ethnic name stems from. Materials and methods. In the absence of early historical accounts, the work explores linguistic sources to investigate phonetic appearances of the Yakut onym in question and comparable data in other languages, primarily Mongolic ones. The latter include not only vocabularies but also materials dealing with personal onomastics. Some folklore elements also prove instrumental in settling the issue. Conclusions. The analysis of phonetic properties inherent to the Yakut ethnonym möŋürüön — in comparison with different forms of the word in Buryat dialects — makes it possible to conclude that it penetrated the Yakut discourse precisely from a language essentially close to western Buryat dialects characterized by the use of /ö/ in the first syllable (/ü/ in standard Buryat) and vowel labialization in non-first syllables. Other features outline the upper chronological limit of the word’s arrival in Yakut to the late 17th century since the observed properties are as follows: /g/ > /ŋ/ assimilation; presence of a long vowel in -VgV- complex, and the intervocalic /g/ from the Mongolic /k/ not yet transformed into the Buryat /χ/.

Investigation of the frequencies of functionally signif icant gene variants in the context of medical biology and gene geography is a relevant issue for studying the genetic structure of human populations. The transition from a traditional to an urbanized lifestyle leads to a higher incidence of civilizational diseases associated with metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes mellitus. The goal of the present paper is to analyze the frequencies of functionally signif icant gene alleles in the metabolic prof iles of indigenous Siberian peoples to identify the gene pool resilience, evaluate the susceptibility of various ethnic groups to metabolic disorders under changing environmental conditions, and predict the epidemiological situation that may occur in the near future. The study was performed in the monoethnic samples of eastern and western Buryats, Teleuts, Dolgans, and two territorial groups of Yakuts. A real-time PCR was used to determine the frequencies of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) G103894T, rs12255372, and C53341T, rs7903146 in the TCF7L2 gene. The results obtained were compared to the frequencies identif ied for Russians from Eastern Siberia and the values available in the literature. The frequencies of the polymorphic variants studied in the samples from the indigenous Siberian peoples place them in between Caucasian and East Asian populations, following the geographic gradient of polymorphism distribution. A signif icantly lower occurrence of type 2 diabetes risk alleles TCF7L2 (103894T) and TCF7L2 (53341T) in the samples of indigenous Siberian peoples compared to Russians was observed, which agrees with their lower susceptibility to metabolic disorders compared to the newcomer Caucasian population. Taking into account urbanization, a reduced growth in type 2 diabetes incidence may be predicted in indigenous Siberian peoples, i. e. Buryats, Yakuts, Dolgans, and Teleuts, compared to the newcomer Caucasian population. A further study of population structure with respect to different metabolic prof ile genes is required to better understand the molecular genetic foundations of the adaptive potential of indigenous Siberian peoples.

The aim of the article is to systematize and conceptualize the similarities between the paleo-ethnographic culture of the Yakuts and the Xiongnu of Central Asia, and to assess the possible ways of their appearance and incorporation into the new environment. In addition to the published data on this topic, the main source for the preparation of this paper was authors’ field archaeological material, collected during many years of expeditions. Among the materials of the Yakut Culture, a group of objects, the origin of which is associated with the Xiongnu-Xianbei time, includes some motifs of the traditional Yakut ornament, as well as artifacts — fragments of a compound bow, whistling arrowheads, Wushu coins, burial structures, etc. The earliest finds of these types of articles come from the cultural layers of the settlement of Ulakhan Segelennyah on the Olekma River, dated to the period within 110 BC — 350 cal AD. It is believed that the Xiongnu-Xianbei community was formed at the end of the 2nd — beginning of the 3rd c. AD after the fall of the Xiongnu Empire under the blows of warlike Mongol-speaking Xianbei. We conclude that in the Middle Ages the ancestors of the Yakuts had direct or indirect cultural ties with the Xiongnu. This could happen in the way of the resettlement of a small group of Xiongnu or Xiongnu-Xianbei to the north, or, more likely, it was the result of contacts between the Xiongnu or the ancestors of the Yakuts during their residence in the south of Siberia in the Early Middle Ages. The broadcasting of Xiongnu cultural traditions through the tribes of the Tashtyk Culture of the Minusinsk depression, with which, according to some researchers, the ancestors of the Yakuts once had active ethnic and cultural contacts, is also possible. In the Yakut Culture, the southern elements turned out to be in demand, as evidenced in particular by the funerary structures of the Yakuts in the Late Middle Ages. In the Lensky region, there was a further development of products of the indicated types, which led to the formation of a peculiar appearance of the traditional culture of the Yakuts.

The paper discusses the digital inclusion of major and minor ethnic groups in Russia by comparing three broad categories of digital resources, identified in this study as components of the index of inclusion: information and communications technology (ICT) access, skills, and extent of engagement with technologies. Based on these components/subindices, we constructed an index of digital inclusion for the Russian context and tested it on a representative national sample of 765 Internet users (596 Russians, 196 Yakuts). Our study showed that Russians use more platforms for online access (mobile phones, laptops, consoles, smart TV, etc.) than Yakuts and access the Internet through a bigger number of locations, not being limited to home and/or office only. They also have higher level of social, technical, and creative ICT skills, and demonstrate higher levels of digital engagement and overall digital inclusion. We argue that the explanation here lies first of all in the geographical domain, that is traditional location of ethnic minority (Yakuts) in a region that is less digitally advantaged in terms of Internet access, cost, speed, and other factors (Far Eastern federal district), and is not related to ethnicity itself. We think therefore that this study is a good illustration of how the first and the second levels of the digital divide interrelate and influence each other, leading to a situation when people with lower access to the Internet and ICTs have lower skills and competences to use them, therefore risking to become digitally and also socially excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on non-Russians who participated in the Russian conquest of eastern Siberia in the seventeenth century. As a result of recurrent wars fought by seventeenth-century Russia against Poland-Lithuania and the Crimean Khanate, numerous Polish-Lithuanian as well as Tatar nobles and soldiers found themselves as captives or prisoners of war in the tsar's service and willy-nilly participated in the colonial enterprize of the Russian Empire. Their numbers and role in the conquest of eastern Siberia cannot be dismissed as merely anecdotic and should perhaps be explained by their "cultural capital" that was consciously used by their new patrons: military experience and commanding skills, but also literacy and—in the case of Tatars—language competencies. While few of them later returned home after peace treaties and amnesties, and desertions to Manchu China are not unknown either, most of them took local wives, adopted Orthodox Christianity, and their offspring has gradually dissolved in the multiethnic Russian- and Yakutspeaking population of eastern Siberia. [End Page 73] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]