Assessment of the degree of kinships in the population of medieval Yaroslavl based on anthropological data

Large-scale excavations of the Institute of Archeology's expedition led byA. V. Engovatova in 2005-2008 within the territory of medieval Yaroslavl discovered 9mass graves, organized for sanitary reasons in the period when the town was laid wasteby the onslaught of Batu Khan's forces in 1238. This article provides an assessment theincidence of certain epigenetic traits on the skeletal remains from these mass graves.Metopic suture on the frontal bone, osteomas on the cranial vault, septal aperture on thehumerus, anomalies of the sacrum have been registered. For the inhabitants of Yaroslavl inthe first third of the 13th century, indices of the frequency of these genetically determinedanomalies are above average. A group of skeletons from the same period in Tver' showsrather low indices for the same anomalies. The main result of this study shows a highdegree of endogamy in medieval Yaroslavl of the pre-Mongol period. This conclusionis not contradicted by archeological data from the period, according to which the buriedinhabitants of the town formed the population of several large properties