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Valery Valentinovich Nikitin, a renowned Russian archaeologist and prominent researcher of ancient history of the Volga-Kama region, Doctor of Historical Sciences, celebrated his 75th anniversary on the 17 of February. Basic trends and stages of his long-standing scientific activity are reflected in the article. He started his career at the Mari Scientific Local Lore Museum (1968-1971). In 1971, V.V. Nikitin joined the Mari Institute of Linguistic, Literary and Historical Studies named after V.M. Vasilyev, where he has been working for over 40 years. His publications are devoted to varied problems of archaeology of the Stone and Early Metal Age, ranging from Upper Paleolithic to Eneolithic. Starting 1993, V.V. Nikitin has headed Mari Archaeological Expedition, studied tens of ancient settlements, discovered over 500 monuments, and authored the archaeological map of the Republic of Marii El (2009). His versatile scientific activity has been marked by a number of distinctions and the title of Honored Scientist of the Republic of Mari El.

The cultural components of the Ust-Vetluga burial ground site, which is located on the left bank of the Cheboksary water reservoir, near Yurino village, the Mari El Republic, are analyzed in the article. The burial ground refers to the Late Bronze Age, dating from the early 2nd millennium BC. The burial rite and the grave goods point out to the heterogeneity of the population that had left the burial ground. The analysis of the artifact assemblage and the existing analogies made it possible to identify two substrata. The first, and dominant, one is associated with the Seima-Turbino population groups from the Lower Kama and the Volga-Oka river regions, while the second refers to the forest-steppe Abashevo-Pokrovsk groupings. There are traces of significant cultural integration of the two heterogeneous population groups. The question of the presence of the Middle Volga Abashevo culture people in the burial ground is discussed. In general, the complexes of the Ust-Vetluga burial ground site reflect the emergence of a new syncretic population in the Mari Volga river region.