SHE003: Shekshovo, Russia

Viking Age Russia
G-M406>FGC5089>FGC5081>L14> S19451>FGC5185>Y181650

Sample_id: SHE003
Location: Shekshovo 9, Ivanovo oblast
Time Period: Viking Age Russia - Uralic Merya
Age: 16-18 years-old
Archeological Age: 841 AD
YDNA: G-M406>FGC5089>FGC5081>L14>S19451>FGC5185>Y181650
MDTNA: U5a2a1b
Coverage: 25.84%
Global25: RUS_VolgaOka_MA1:SHE003__AD_841__Cov_65.34%,0.117238,0.045699,0.086361,0.08075,0.01908,0.02008,0.012926,0.018922,-0.006749,-0.029522,0.013153,-0.016335,0.029732,0.023671,-0.013572,-0.012861,-0.008475,-0.00152,0.005531,-0.003627,0.000374,-0.001978,0.00037,-0.017593,-0.002036

Published: Genetic Admixture and Language shift in the medieval Volga-Oka interfluve.

Grave 7 (SHE003)

"Discovered in 2014. A flat burial in a large (300 х 100 cm), 15–20 cm deep oval pit. The burial pit cut through an older cremation: the soil in the pit contained cremated bones, fragments of ceramics and melted fragments of metal ornaments. SHE003 was a 40-49 year old male with the preserved skeletal remains lying supine with his head to the west and arms along the body. Grave goods: bronze belt ring (on the waist), iron firesteel, three flints, iron knife, iron arrowhead (near the right arm and waist), two handmade clay vessels (near the right foot). Dating: the 11th century."

Shekshovo 9 Site

"Shekshovo 9 is one of the largest medieval burial sites in Suzdal region, located 21 km northwest of Suzdal and 1.5 km from Bolshoye Davydovskoye. It is the necropolis of a large unfortified settlement, one of the local centers of the 10th to early 12th centuries. The burial site was first discovered in 1852. A.S. Uvarov excavated 244 barrows with cremations and inhumations, many richly furnished. Excavations conducted in 2011–2017 revealed an area of 2,500 square meters with 26 inhumation graves, remains of at least 20 cremations, 14 barrows and over 2,500 medieval artefacts. The Shekshovo 9 burial site displays a wide variety of burial rituals. Cremations constitute the earliest part of the cemetery, and the transition to inhumations occurred during the first half of the 11th century. Thus, Shekshovo 9 represents the transition from the multi-component culture of the 10th–early 11th century to the Rus’ culture of the 11th–early 12th century. Elements associated with the Volga Finnic people formed an important component of 10th-century culture at Shekshovo 9, while the burials of the 11th century follow common traditions of Rus’ funeral rite. Sets of grave goods, including Oriental, Byzantine and Western European coins, and fragments of prestigious metal items testify to the wealth and high social standing of many Shekshovo settlers. The last burials at Shekshovo 9 date to the second half of the 12th century."

Analysis cluster assignment

"We assigned our samples into analysis clusters for downstream allele frequency-based analyses (Data S1A). Clustering was primarily based on radiocarbon dating and archaeological context, and PCA and ADMIXTURE results were used to refine the groupings (Figures 1B, 1C, and S1–S3) We excluded individuals that were radiocarbon (SHE008, SHE009, KED004 and KRS001) and/or genetic (BOL006, SHE008, KED004, SHK001 and SHK002) outliers relative to their respective groups. In addition, we divided the medieval group into two clusters based on PCA observations. We note that the first of these two medieval groups, VolgaOka_MA1, contains an individual SHE003 that could be considered as an outlier based on PCA; however, we chose not to exclude the sample due to small number of samples in the cluster – it is possible that our sampling just covers the extremes of a genetic group. We further pruned our analysis clusters based on our kinship results. We removed BOL004 and SHE002 from our analysis clusters to obtain analysis clusters without closely related individuals. Finally, we excluded KBL003 due to possible contamination flagged by ContamLD."

More on this burial and site: 

An 11th-Century 2/2 Twill from a Burial in Shekshovo in Russia