Search results

The variability of frequencies of different types of palm and finger patterns in the Russian population has repeatedly become the subject of research by both anthropologists and criminologists. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the geographical variability of dermatoglyphic features in the Russian population of the European part of Russia, taking into account all published and available archival data. In total, materials of 36 dermatoglyphic series from more than 5 thousand people were analyzed. The research program included a set of 6 "key traits" (Dl10, Ic, t, Hy, DMT, Th/I), the effectiveness of which for differentiating the Eurasian population was convincingly shown in the papers of G. L. Heet, as well as additional features reflecting the patterning of the skin ridges on fingers and palms. It was found that the variability of dermatoglyphic traits in groups of Russians of the southern and especially northern regions is noticeably higher than in the central region. The magnitudes of some features (frequencies of some types of finger and palm patterns) correlate with the geographical location of the groups. The general picture of dermatoglyphic variability of the Russian population in the European part of Russia cannot be characterized as homogeneous, although it does not have a clear structure. The high variability of features in groups of the Russian North can only partly be due to genetic drift in conditions of lower population density and is explained by the inclusion of a substratum and heterogeneous population, speakers of various Finno-Ugric languages. Involvement in the analysis of 40 craniological series of the 17th – early 20th centuries allowed us to group all anthropological material into 15 territorial samples and to compare the data of two independent systems of anthropological traits. Integration of the data using the method of principal components revealed a consistent variation of the two systems of traits. The vector "southwest–northeast" corresponds to the direction of maximum anthropological differentiation of the groups. Despite the turbulent historical events of the 20th century, two world wars, active migration processes, the main direction of anthropological variability of the Russian population has not changed dramatically.