Yukaghir people

{{Short description|Ethnic group in the Kolyma basin of the Russian Far East}} {{About||the mountains|Yukaghir Highlands|the rural settlement in the Sakha Republic|Yukagir}} {{Multiple issues| {{more citations needed|date=March 2009}} {{more footnotes needed|date= March 2009}} {{Expand Russian|Юкагиры|date=September 2017}} }} {{infobox ethnic group | group = Yukaghir | native_name = деткиль, одул, вадул, алаи | image = Yukaghirs.jpg | caption = Yukaghirs from Yakutia, 1905. | poptime = | popplace = | region1 = {{flag|Russia}} * {{flag|Sakha}}: 1267 * {{flag|Chukotka}}: 205 * {{flag|Magadan Oblast}}: 70 | pop1 = 1,802 | ref1 = <ref>{{Cite web |title=Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020 |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn_popul |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=rosstat.gov.ru}}</ref> | region2 = {{flag|Ukraine}} | pop2 = 12 | ref2 = <ref name="2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua">[http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/results/nationality_population/nationality_popul1/select_5/?botton=cens_db&box=5.1W&k_t=00&p=125&rz=1_1&rz_b=2_1%20%20&n_page=6 State statistics committee of Ukraine - National composition of population, 2001 census] (Ukrainian)</ref> | region3 = {{flag|United States}} | pop3 = 5 | rels = Shamanism, Russian Orthodoxy | langs = Yukaghir, Russian, Yakut }}

The '''Yukaghirs''', or '''Yukagirs''' ({{Langx|ykg|вадул, деткиль}} ({{Transliteration|ykg|wadul, detkil}}), {{langx|ru|юкаги́ры}}), are a Siberian ethnic group in the Russian Far East, living in the basin of the Kolyma River.

Modern Yukaghirs are thought to be descendants of the late Neolithic Ymyyakhtakh culture.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Эверстов |first=Степан |date=2014 |title=Некоторые параллели в культурах древних ымыяхтахцев и юкагиров XVII-XIX вв |trans-title=Some cultural parallels between the ancient Ymyyakhtakh and the 17-19th century Yukaghirs |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/nekotorye-paralleli-v-kulturah-drevnih-ymyyahtahtsev-i-yukagirov-xvii-xix-vv |language=ru |journal=Арктика и Север |issue=15 |access-date=2024-01-27}}</ref>

==Geographic distribution== thumb|400px|Settlement of Yukaghirs in the Far Eastern Federal District by urban and rural settlements in%, 2010 census The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Nizhnekolymsky District in the Sakha Republic; the Taiga Yukaghirs in the Sakha Republic and in Srednekansky District of Magadan Oblast. By the time of Russian colonization in the 17th century, the Yukaghir tribal groups occupied territories from the Lena River to the mouth of the Anadyr River. The number of the Yukaghirs decreased between the 17th and 19th centuries due to epidemics, internecine wars and Tsarist colonial policy which may have included genocide against the sedentary hunter-fisher Anaouls. Some of the Yukaghirs have assimilated with the Yakuts, Evens, and Russians.

Currently, Yukaghirs live in the Sakha Republic and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation. According to the 2002 Census, their total number was 1,509 people, up from 1,112 recorded in the 1989 Census.

According to the latest 2001 all Ukrainian census, 12 Yukaghirs are living in Ukraine. Only 2 of them indicated Yukaghir as their native language. For the remaining others (6) it is Russian and for 1 it is some other tongue.<ref name="2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua"/>

Yukaghirs (including Chuvans) by selected settlements:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Паспорт муниципального образования |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/scripts/db_inet2/passport/munr.aspx?base=munst98 |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=rosstat.gov.ru}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |+ !Name  !Total population !Yukaghir population !Percentage of Yukaghir population |- |Nalemnoye |230 |130 |56.52% |- |Andryushkino |741 |197 |26.59% |- |Chersky |2,641 |50 |1.90% |- |Markovo |922 |255 |27.66% |- |Anadyr |13,043 |211 |1.62% |- |Chuvanskoye |226 |134 |59.29% |- |Snezhnoye |313 |111 |35.46% |}

== Genetics == Genetically, Yukaghirs exhibit roughly equal frequencies of the Y-DNA haplogroups N1c, Q1, and C2 (formerly C3).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Duggan |first1=Ana T. |last2=Whitten |first2=Mark |last3=Wiebe |first3=Victor |last4=Crawford |first4=Michael |last5=Butthof |first5=Anne |last6=Spitsyn |first6=Victor |last7=Makarov |first7=Sergey |last8=Novgorodov |first8=Innokentiy |last9=Osakovsky |first9=Vladimir |last10=Pakendorf |first10=Brigitte |date=2013 |title=Investigating the Prehistory of Tungusic Peoples of Siberia and the Amur-Ussuri Region with Complete mtDNA Genome Sequences and Y-chromosomal Markers |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=8 |issue=12 |article-number=e83570 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0083570 |doi-access=free |pmc=3861515 |pmid=24349531|bibcode=2013PLoSO...883570D }}</ref>

According to another study, out of 11 Yukaghir males 3 turned out to belong to the Y-haplogroup N1c (different subclade from the one found in Yakuts), another 4 - to the Y-haplogroup C2 (former C3; for the most part, the same subclade that's also found in Koryaks), one more - to the Y-haplogroup O, and the rest 3 exhibit apparent Russian genetic influence (two individuals belonging to the Y-haplogroup R1a, and one more - to the Y-haplogroup I2a). The study also found no similarities between Yukaghirs and Chukchis in regards to mitochondrial DNA.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fedorova |first1=Sardana A. |last2=Reidla |first2=Maere |last3=Metspalu |first3=Ene |last4=Metspalu |first4=Mait |last5=Rootsi |first5=Siiri |last6=Tambets |first6=Kristiina |last7=Trofimova |first7=Natalya |last8=Zhadanov |first8=Sergey I. |last9=Hooshiar Kashani |first9=Baharak |last10=Olivieri |first10=Anna |last11=Voevoda |first11=Mikhail I. |last12=Osipova |first12=Ludmila P. |last13=Platonov |first13=Fedor A. |last14=Tomsky |first14=Mikhail I. |last15=Khusnutdinova |first15=Elza K. |date=2013 |title=Autosomal and uniparental portraits of the native populations of Sakha (Yakutia): implications for the peopling of Northeast Eurasia |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=127 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-13-127 |doi-access=free |pmc=3695835 |pmid=23782551|bibcode=2013BMCEE..13..127F }}</ref>

[[File:Yukaghir shaman.jpg|thumb|400px|Yukaghir shaman, 1902]]

==Culture== [[File:Yukaghir man with dogs.jpg|left|thumb|Photo of Yukaghir man with his laika taken by Vladimir Jochelson during the Jesup North Pacific Expedition in 1901]] thumb|Modern Yukaghir singer {{ill|Irina Duskulova|qid=Q124712289}} The main traditional activity is nomadic and semi-nomadic hunting of deer, moose, wild sheep, and sable, as well as fishing. Reindeer are bred mostly for transportation. Horses are known among the Yukaghir as "domestic reindeer of Yakuts" (''Yoqod ile'' in Tundra Yukaghir or ''Yaqad āçə'' in Kolyma Yukaghir). A Yukaghir house is called a ''chum''.

===Language=== The Yukaghir languages are a small language family of two closely related languages, Tundra Yukaghir and Kolyma Yukaghir, although there used to be more. They are unclassified languages: their origin and relation to other languages are unknown; some scholars consider them distantly related to the Uralic languages,<ref name=UralicYukaghir>{{harvnb|Nikolaeva|Mayer|2004|loc=ch. "[http://www.sgr.fi/yukaghir/start1.html About the Yukaghirs]"}}</ref> but this classification is not accepted by the majority of specialists in Uralic linguistics. The languages are regarded as moribund, since less than 370 people can speak either Yukaghir language. Most Yukaghirs today speak Yakut and Russian.

===Religion=== Alongside Russian Orthodox beliefs, Yukaghirs practice shamanism. The dominant cults are ancestral spirits, the spirits of Fire, Sun (Pugu), Hunting, Earth, and Water, which can act as protectors or as enemies of people. The most important is the cult of ''Pugu'', the Sun, who is the highest judge in all disputes. The spirits of the dead go to a place called ''Aibidzi''. Every clan had a shaman called an ''alma''. After death every ''alma'' was treated as a deity, and the body of the dead ''alma'' was dismembered and kept by the clan as relics. The Yukaghir still continue traditions stemming from their origins as nomadic reindeer-hunters: they practice dog sacrifice and have an epic poem based around crows. The animal cult was especially strong in the elk cult. There was a number of rituals and taboos connected with elk and deer hunting.<ref>[https://www.insidethenewrussia.com/yukagir/ Inside the New Russia (1994): Yukagirs]</ref>

==References== ===Notes=== * {{cite web |last1=Nikolaeva |first1=Irina |last2=Mayer |first2=Thomas |title=Online Documentation of Kolyma Yukaghir |publisher=Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura (Finno-Ugrian Society, Société Finno-Ougrienne) |year=2004 |url=http://www.sgr.fi/yukaghir/}} Also free online available audio materials (tales, songs). * {{cite web |first=Lembit |last=Vaba |title=The Yukaghirs |publisher=NGO Red Book |work=The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire |url=http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/yukaghirs.shtml}} * {{cite web |title=Yukaghirs |publisher=SC Publishing |work=Inside the New Russia | year=1994 |url=https://www.insidethenewrussia.com/yukagir/}}

===Footnotes=== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://arctic-megapedia.ru/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB:%D0%AE%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%80%D1%8B Yukaghir portal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903193152/http://arctic-megapedia.ru/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB:%D0%AE%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%80%D1%8B |date=2017-09-03 }} in Arctic Megapedia {{in lang|ru}} * [https://www.youtube.com/@irinakurilova8679/videos Irina Kurilova's channel] (mostly Yukaghir-related videos, sometimes featuring other indigenous peoples of Yakutia) {{in lang|ru}}

'''Modern culture:'''

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfWpKd3oHXk Irina Duskulova - "Chakhadan" (live, w/ English subtitles)] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BQRuOZmipM Irina Duskulova - "Ulegen Nume" (music video)] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjfzmqiHgTg Irina Duskulova - "Shakhadjibe" (music video, 2023)] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSv3GYlRLnY Concert @ 5th Yukaghir congress] (20 March 2016) * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8SY9CkP23Y Yukaghir folk singer Ragtyna Tymkal] * ''Den Pobedy'' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj_rfCflWWc&t=47 in Yukaghir by Anastasia Kurilova] * ''Ave Maria'' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iATuPhPCTE in Yukaghir by Yakut singer Saina]

Category:Yukaghir people Category:Indigenous peoples of Siberia Category:Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East Category:Hunter-gatherers of Asia Category:Modern nomads Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia Category:People from Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Category:People from Magadan Oblast Category:People from the Sakha Republic