Student or educator? Sign up with your school email and get 6 months of Pro free.
Cited by 3Forensic and Genetic ResearchGenetic diversity and population structureForensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 21 of the 21 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 18 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Genetic Examination of Remains from the Two Largest Mass Burials of 1238 in Yaroslavl Detynets

Open access
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University), Mustafin, Kharis Kh., Engovatova, Asya V., Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alborova, Irina E., Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University), Tarasova, Anna A., Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences·2022·Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya (The Volga River Region Archaeology)

Abstract

The article presents the results of genetic studies of the remains of people who died and were buried in 1238 on the territory of the citadel in the city of Yaroslavl. The analysis of ancient DNA allows us to directly study the composition of the population of this ancient Russian city along the Volga at the time of the Mongol conquest. By the genetic profile of both Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA, we can say that about 40% of the samples studied do not belong to the dominant haplogroups. The lowest homogeneity in the Y-chromosome is typical for the burial in pit No. 110, which was located near the fortifications. It also contained the remains of two men belonging to the haplogroup R1a (Z93), marking the possible "eastern" origin of their ancestors. In the authors’ opinion, not only ordinary residents of the city and its environs, but also professional defenders, as well as attackers, could get into the burials near the walls of the citadel. Absence of grave goods and in the conditions of a sanitary burial, makes not possible to determine who the men of "eastern" origin were. However, their presence undoubtedly affects the genetic diversity of the city's population.

Overview

CoChat Summary

Written by AI from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

Ancient DNA from the two largest 1238 mass burials in Yaroslavl Detynets shows that about 40% of the studied individuals carried non-dominant Y-chromosome and mitochondrial haplogroups, with the greatest Y-chromosome heterogeneity in pit No. 110 near the fortifications. Two men there belonged to R1a(Z93), a possible marker of “eastern” ancestry, but the sanitary burial context prevents identifying them as defenders or attackers.

Key findings

  • By both Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA profiles, about 40% of the studied sample did not belong to the dominant haplogroups.
  • The dominant Y subclades R1a(Z282>Z280) and R1a(Z280>M458) made up just over 60% of samples from structure No. 9 and structure No. 76, and almost 50% from pit No. 110.
  • The lowest Y-chromosome homogeneity was in pit No. 110, located near the fortifications; it contained two men with haplogroup R1a(Z93), possibly indicating “eastern” origin. Among four men from pit No. 110 with healed cranial trauma, only one (ind. 72) belonged to the most common R1a(Z282>Z280); two (ind. 67, 81) were I1a(DF29), and one (ind. 79) was R1a(Z93).
  • Mitochondrial haplogroup diversity was greatest in structure No. 9 near Uspensky Cathedral; the combined Yaroslavl series was heterogeneous but less so than the non-urban 12th–14th-century Izhora Plateau series.

Methods

  • Remains were sampled from the two largest mass burials: structure No. 9 in the city center near Uspensky Cathedral and pit No. 110 near the fortification line. Samples were teeth or bone fragments; selection prioritized men with possible combat trauma and the so-called “horseman complex.” The broader Yaroslavl collection includes remains of more than 250 individuals from the 1238 mass graves.
  • Ancient DNA was extracted following Dabney et al. (2013). DNA quality and sex were assessed with Quantifiler Trio; male individuals were genotyped for 27 Y-STR markers with Yfiler Plus, with fragment analysis on AB3500xl and GeneMapper IDX, and haplogroups predicted via nevgen.org. Targeted NGS used GenSeq v1.1 libraries and VariFind M-RU module IL-v.1 (32 Y-SNP, 52 X-SNP, and 288 autosomal SNP markers); mtDNA HVS I–III was sequenced with PowerSeq CRM. Reads were mapped to GRCh38.p7 and rCRS, filtered for depth >15x and mapping quality >35, and mtDNA haplogroups were predicted via empop.online.
  • Y-STR haplotypes were obtained for 11 men from structure No. 9 and 8 from pit No. 110; targeted Y NGS succeeded for all but one (ind. 154, low DNA). Mitochondrial DNA was analyzed for 9 individuals from structure No. 9 (8 men, 1 woman) and 8 from pit No. 110 (4 men, 4 women). Haplogroup distributions were compared across three mass burials, including structure No. 76, and with published medieval series.

Limitations

  • Stated: the absence of grave goods and the sanitary burial context make it impossible to determine whether the men of “eastern” origin were residents, traders, defenders, or attackers.
  • Stated: the mass-burial series reflects who was in the city on the day of the 1238 assault, not necessarily the genetic profile of medieval Yaroslavl’s population; data from city necropolises would be more conclusive.
  • Evident from the text: male sample sizes are small (11 from structure No. 9, 8 from pit No. 110; one failed Y NGS due to low DNA), and the mtDNA sample is even smaller, limiting representativeness.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.24852/pa2022.2.40.215.230

Cites

21 of 21 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Figures

Рис . 1. Расположение раскопов и массовых обнаруженных массовых захоронений на территории центра Древнего Ярославля .
Рис . 1. Расположение раскопов и массовых обнаруженных массовых захоронений на территории центра Древнего Ярославля .CC-BY-SA · From the PDF
.
.CC-BY-SA · From the PDF
Рис . 3. Соотношение митохондриальных гаплогрупп в выборках . Fig. 3. The ratio of mitochondrial haplogroups in the samples.
Рис . 3. Соотношение митохондриальных гаплогрупп в выборках . Fig. 3. The ratio of mitochondrial haplogroups in the samples.CC-BY-SA · From the PDF
Рис . 4. Реконструкции лиц по черепам индивидов из массового захоронения в яме № 110 захоронений : А . Инд . 71. R1a(Z282). Автор -С . А . Никитин ; В . Инд . 72. R1a(Z282). Автор -А . В . Рассказова ; С . Инд . 23. R1a(Z93). Автор -А . В . Рассказова ; D. Инд . 79. R1a(Z93). Автор -А . В . Рассказова .
Рис . 4. Реконструкции лиц по черепам индивидов из массового захоронения в яме № 110 захоронений : А . Инд . 71. R1a(Z282). Автор -С . А . Никитин ; В . Инд . 72. R1a(Z282). Автор -А . В . Рассказова ; С . Инд . 23. R1a(Z93). Автор -А . В . Рассказова ; D. Инд . 79. R1a(Z93). Автор -А . В . Рассказова .CC-BY-SA · From the PDF

Verification

Claims the paper makes

21 Own result · 19 Own interpretation · 10 Sources not found · 3 Own method · 1 Check pending · 1 Not checked yet

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 15
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 13
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1

Create a free account to see these claims.

Create a free account to see these assumptions.

28 more claims

Create a free account to see all 55 claims and to verify the 1 reference still open.

See all claims — free account

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

2 of 2

Citations

Cites

Show all 21 references

Research works printed but not linked: 25

  1. Afanas'ev, G. E., Ven', Sh., Tun, S., Van, L., Vey, L., Dobrovol'skaya, M. V., Korobov, D. S., Reshetova, I. K., Li, Kh. 2015. In Dobrovol'skaia, M. V., Chernykh, E. N. (eds.). Estestvennonauchnye metody issledovaniya i paradigma sovremennoy arkheologii (Natural Science Methods of Research and the Paradigm of Modern Archaeology). Moscow: Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 146-153 (in Russian).
  2. Buzhilova, A. P. 2008. In Buzhilova, A. P. (ed.). OPUS: Mezhdistsiplinarnye issledovaniia v arkheologii (OPUS: Interdisciplinary Investigation in Archaeology) 6. Moscow: Institute of Archaeol- ogy RAS, 110-120 (in Russian).
  3. Goncharova, N. N., Buzhilova, A. P. 2007. In Leont'ev, A. E. (ed.). Arkheologiia: istoriia i per- spektivy (Archaeology: History and Perspectives). Yaroslavl: Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve; "Rostov Kremlin" State Museum-Reserve, 56-63 (in Russian).
  4. Mustafi n, Kh. Kh., Engovatova, A. V., Al'borova, I. E., Tarasova, A. A. 2022. In Engovatova, A. V. (ed.). Arkheologiia Podmoskov'ia: Materialy nauchnogo seminara (Archaeology of the Moscow Region: Proceedings of the Seminar) 18. Moscow: Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sci- ences Publ., 107-119 (in Russian).
  5. Engovatova A.V. Drevnyaya Rus'. Voprosy Medievistiki (Old Russia. The Questions of Middle Ages) 4(78), 91-111 (in Russian).
  6. Enгovatova, A. V., Antipina, E. E., Vlasov, D. V., Dobrovol'skaya, M. V., Karpukhin, A. A., Osipov, D. O. 2012. In Leont'ev, A. E. (ed.). Arkheologiia: istoriia i perspektivy (Archaeology: History and Perspectives). Yaroslavl: Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve, 185-208 (in Russian).
  7. Csáky, V., Gerber, D., Szeifert B. et al. 2020. In Scientifi c Reports 10, 19137. DOI: https:// doi. org/10.1038/ s41598-020-75910-z. · DOI
  8. Dabney, J., Knapp, M., Glocke, I. et al. 2013. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci- ences 110 (39), 15758-15763. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1314445110. · DOI · Paper page
  9. Engovatova, A. V., Cherkinsky, A., Zaiseva, G.I. 2021. In Radiocarbon 62 (6), 1833-1844. DOI: 10.1017/RDC.2020.137 · DOI · Paper page
  10. Fóthi, E., Gonzalez, A., Fehér, T. et al. 2020. In Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 31. DOI: https://doi. org/10.1007/s12520-019-00996-0. · DOI · Paper page
  11. Haak, W., Brandt, G., de Jong, H.N., Meyer, C., Ganslmeier, R. Heyd, V., Hawkesworth, C., Pike, A., Meller, H., Alt, K. 2008. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, 18226-18231. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0807592105. · DOI
  12. Hollard, C., Keyser, C., Giscard, P. H., Tsagaan, T., Bayarkhuu, N., Bemmann, J., ... & Ludes, B. 2014. In Forensic Science International: Genetics. Vol. 12, 199-207. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j. fsigen.2014.05.012. · DOI
  13. Immel, A., Key, F.M., Szolek, A., Barquera, S., Robinson, M.K.,..., & Krause, J. 2021. In Mo- lecular Biology and Evolution. Vol. 38, Issue 10. P. 4059-4076. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/ msab147. · DOI
  14. Juras, A., Dabert, M., Kushniarevich, A., Malmström, H., Raghavan, M., Kosicki, J. Z., ... & Piontek, J. 2014. In PLoS ONE, 9 (10), e110839. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110839. · DOI
  15. Maár, K., Varga, G.I.B., Kovacs, B., Schutz, O.,... & Neparaczki, E. 2021. In Genes (Basel). Mar 23;12(3):460. DOI: doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.26.428268. · DOI
  16. Margaryan, A., Lawson, D. J., Sikora, M. et al. 2020. In Nature 585, 390-396. DOI: ht- tps://10.1038/s41586-020-2688-8. · DOI
  17. Mary, L., Zvénigorosky, V., Kovalev, A., Gonzalez, A., Fausser, J.-L., Jagorel, F., Kilunovs- kaya, M., Semenov, V., Crubézy, E., Ludes, B., Keyse, Ch. 2019. In Human Genetics 138(4), 411-423. DOI: 10.1007/s00439-019-02002-y. · DOI
  18. Melchior, L., Lynnerup, N., Siegismund, H. R., Kivisild, T., & Dissing, J. 2010. In PLoS ONE 5 (7), e11898. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0011898. · DOI
  19. Nagy, P.L., Olasz, J., Neparáczki, E. et al. 2021. In European Journal of Human Genetics 29, 164-172. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-020-0683-z. · DOI
  20. Neparáczki, E., Maróti, Z., Kalmár, T. et al. 2019. In Scientifi c Reports 9, 16569. DOI: https://10.1038/s41598-019-53105-5. · DOI
  21. Neparáczki, E., Maróti, Z., Kalmár, T., Kocsy, K., Maár, K., Bihari, P., ... & Pálfi , G. 2018. In PLoS ONE 13 (10). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205920. · DOI
  22. Översti, S., Majander, K., Salmela, E. et al. 2019. In Sci Rep 9, 16883 (2019). DOI: https://doi. org/10.1038/s41598-019-51045-8. · DOI
  23. Unterländer, M., Palstra, F., Lazaridis, I. et al. 2017. In Nature Communications 8, 14615. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14615. · DOI · Paper page
  24. Wang, C., Reinhold, S., Kalmykov, A. et al. 2019. In Nature Communications 10 (590). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-08220-8. · DOI
  25. Willuweit, S., Roewer, L. 2015. In Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 15, 43-48. DOI: https://doi. org/10.1016/j.fsigen.2014.11.024. · DOI

Cited by

See all 3

Metadata

Authors
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University), Mustafin, K. K., Engovatova, A. V., Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alborova, I. E., Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University), Tarasova, A. A., & Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Affiliations
  • Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (RU)
  • Institute of Archaeology (RU)
Venue
Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya (The Volga River Region Archaeology)
Published
2022-06-27
Volume
2
Issue
40
Pages
215-230
ISSN
  • 2306-4099 (ISSN-L)
  • 2500-2856
OpenAlex
W4285100277
Cited by
3
References
21
Citations by year
2023: 1 · 2022: 2
FWCI
0.37
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-sa
Locations
  • Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya (The Volga River Region Archaeology) (publishedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
Keywords
mass burials, Yaroslavl, Mongol conquests, ancient DNA, Y-chromosome haplogroups, mitochondrial DNA, genetic diversity, demographic structure, citadel, combat casualties, genetic homogeneity

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-11-12, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-11-12 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Genetic Examination of Remains from the Two Largest Mass Burials of 1238 in Yaroslavl Detynets. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.24852/pa2022.2.40.215.230
The paper
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University), Mustafin, K. K., Engovatova, A. V., Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alborova, I. E., Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University), Tarasova, A. A., & Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. (2022). Genetic Examination of Remains from the Two Largest Mass Burials of 1238 in Yaroslavl Detynets. Povolzhskaya Arkheologiya (The Volga River Region Archaeology). https://doi.org/10.24852/pa2022.2.40.215.230