Paleo-Asian Cultural Phenomena of Ancient Beringia: Population Convergence and Solution of Ethnic Self-Identification

The main sources of the research are materials on tattoo traditions in the Pacific North: • Funds and collections of the Peter Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera); • ethnographic descriptions left by travelers and scientists who visited the region in the 17th—early 20th centuries. (materials of Bogoraz-Tan V.G. [19], Georgi I.G. [20], Gurvich I.S. [21], Jochelson V.I. [22], Krasheninnikov S.P. [23], Lindenau Y.I. [24], Merk K.G. [25], Miller G.F. [26], Orlova C.E. [27] and others); • tales and myths of the peoples of the Pacific region (Asian Eskimos, Chukchi, Kereks, Koryaks and Itelmen) [28,29,30]. On the basis of the materials involved, universal tables on certain principles of classification were made. They are based on the formalized approach and cross-cultural analysis and were tested earlier in scientific publications on the culture of tattooing of the peoples of the Northern Pacific [10,13,14,15,16,17,18]. As evidence of the similarity/difference of the population, the method of comparative analysis of DNA data and information about the genetic structure of the population was used for description and relevance of using sources on paleogenetics [3,30,31,32,33,34,35]. 2.1. Ethnographic Materials (tattoos) The tradition of body tattooing is a vibrant artistic form and an expressive means of cultural, social, ethnic identity among the peoples of the North. The classification of the Northern Pacific people’s tattoos has not been sufficiently developed, but preliminary data demonstrate that the main type of ornament among the peoples of the North is represented by simple geometric forms (lines, dotted lines, geometric figures, grids, etc.), however, unique stylized anthropomorphic and zoomorphic elements were also preserved [8]. In the process of studying and classifying ornamental compositions of tattoos from the peoples of the North, we highlighted: • ornamental field—the surface of the human body within which the ornament (head, torso, extremities) was made; • ornamental zones—horizontal belt patterns located on different parts of the body—face, shoulders, arms, legs, trunk; • ornamental motif—the simplest compound, repetitive part of the ornament; • ornamental complex—a set of uniform features of ornament, characteristic for certain cultures and archaeological sites. A.A. Ivanov believed that the predominance of the geometric ornament [36] was characteristic both for the ornamentation of the body and for the decoration of other objects in the North (boats, utensils, weapons, clothing, etc.). Among the features of the tattooing traditions of the northern peoples are the elementary ornamental geometric images, which were complicated by repetition and rhythm, the combination of geometric motifs, but the most complex they were in the Chukchi and Eskimo. 2.1.1. Aleuts Reconstruction of the Aleuts tattoo tradition, one of the most ancient peoples of the Northern Pacific, based on the analysis of tattoo tools showed a special attitude towards these objects, their special status and the significance of the procedure (Figure 2-1). Based on the analysis of tools, coloring pigments, and ornaments, the peculiarities of tattooing among the Aleuts were revealed. Coal, white lime, copper ore, and blood were used as paint after pretreatment. Analysis of ethnographic materials showed that the Aleuts used the head, torso, lower and upper limbs for tattooing. Particular attention is paid to ornamental zones—the face (cheeks, chin), the front of the forearm, the back, arms and legs. The main types are geometric, object, zoomorphic and floral ornaments. The authors proposed a hypothesis for understanding the process of tattooing as one of the main traditional elements of culture among the indigenous population of the Pacific coast of Asia and America [16]. 2.1.2. Eskimos The tradition of tattooing is also known among the Asian Eskimos on the coast of the Bering Sea and the Chukotka Peninsula. Location of tattoos—face, arms, legs; noted as a simple ornamental motif—several vertical broken lines cover the chin, the pattern consists of two lines of ornament from the forehead along the nose, which cover both cheeks, chin, hands with wrists and forearms, and complex ornamental compositions [37,38]. Men were rarely tattooed (circles or semicircles at the corners of the mouth, short lines on the temples, and occasionally human figures (yukhak) on the forehead above the eyebrows). Women’s tattoos are more varied: usually on the chin, from the lower lip downwards there are three, five, seven double, less often triple lines. Often two parallel lines are drawn on the forehead between the eyebrows, going down either side of the nose. Cheek tattoos are much more difficult. As a rule, the right cheek was covered with a more complex tattoo, and the left cheek was covered with a simpler one. In some cases, only one cheek was tattooed. There are various combinations of a relatively small number of traditional elements: “whale tails” mounted on straight lines, arcs or circles, which often turn into horns, concentric circles and ellipses, “scapulas”, “scrapers”, “tridents” or “blades” [37]. An image of fighting people with shields was recorded, perhaps this is an image of shamans with tambourines [19] (Figure 2-2). 2.1.3 Chukchi In the 18th century, the Chukchi tattooed not only their faces, but also other parts of their bodies (arms, shoulders, shoulder blades and even pubis). Astral signs, anthropomorphic figures, horizontal and vertical lines, dots, circles, etc. were depicted [25]. The Chukchi painted figures of people on the face (forehead), shoulders or diseased organs—“protectors” for nervous diseases or “helpers” to turn a possible enemy into a friend. Such figures were also applied to the shoulders of people who committed murder, trying to depict the soul of the murdered person and thus make him a part of themselves [19]. Circles were applied to the cheeks supposedly to protect against the attack of the evil spirit “kelet,” although it is possible that this was a kind of replacement for bone or stone cheek bushings (labrets), popular among the Eskimos and Aleuts [19]. For example, a tattooed Chukchi woman is depicted in an 18th-century engraving (Figure 2-3). By the middle of the 20th century, the tradition of tattooing, like other archaic customs, had passed. According to ethnographer informants I.S. Gurvich, the custom of tattooing girls aged 7–12 years in families of coast Chukchi disappeared. Moreover, it has come to be regarded by the population as a violation of social norms. Some young Chukchi women performed appropriate cosmetic operations to remove the tattoo [21]. 2.2. Genetic Research Materials Currently, autochthonous peoples living in the northeastern tip of Siberia demonstrate a very small set of mitochondrial haplogroups specific to this region: A2a, A2b, D2a, D4b1a2a1, as well as C4b2, C5a2. The closest maternal relatives are the Eskimos of Canada and Greenland, as well as the Aleuts of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands [41,42,43]. Other populations living relatively nearby (Koryaks, Itel’mens, Yukaghirs, Na-Dene Indians, Ojibwe, Cree, Algonquins) have a related, but clearly distinct pool of mitochondrial haplogroups [34,44,45,46,47,48,49]. The main factor determining the distribution of genes throughout the archipelago is geography. The strongest relationship exists between genetics (based on mtDNA sequences and distances between matches) and geographic distances (measured in kilometers). The results of a nuclear DNA study showed the absence of a significant flow of genes from outside into the gene pool of the coastal Chukchi and Eskimos for at least 200 generations, in contrast to their immediate neighbors—the Koryaks, Itel’mens and Yukaghirs; a clear genetic difference between the Naukan Eskimos and other Siberian Eskimos has been demonstrated [3]. 2.2.1. Genetic Data on Aleut’s People It has been established that the Aleuts demonstrate the closest genetic relationship with modern Siberian Eskimos, the Chukchi of Chukotka and differ significantly from the populations of Kamchatka (the tip of the archipelago) and the Eskimos of Alaska. The hypothesis was confirmed that the ancestors of the Aleuts crossed Beringia and spread west of the islands about 9000 years ago. Monmonier’s algorithm indicates a genetic gap between modern Kamchatka populations and western Aleut populations, suggesting that movement from Kamchatka to the western Aleutian Islands was highly unlikely [31,32]. 2.2.2. Genetic Data on Chukchi’s People The Y-chromosomal gene pool of the Chukchi of Kamchatka is strikingly different from neighboring populations (Koryaks, Evens) and variety of Far Eastern groups in the high frequency of variants of haplogroup N3 (N3a5b-B202, N3^∗-M178^∗, a total of 76%). At the same time, phylogenetic analysis of the dominant lines reveals the similarity of the gene pools of the Chukchi of Kamchatka and Chukotka (the distribution of common clusters and close haplotypes). This similarity indicates an inextricable connection between the Chukchi of Kamchatka and Chukotka and may be due, according to the obtained genealogical data, to the constant influx of genes from the main ethnic area of settlement of the Chukchi to the northern regions of Kamchatka. Despite the intensity of interethnic marriages, the Chukchi of Kamchatka retain the greatest similarity with the Chukchi and Eskimos of Chukotka. Dating of the three branches of haplogroup N3, characteristic of the Chukchi, indicates an increase in their numbers over the last 500–1500 years ago [50]. 2.2.3. Genetic Data on Eskimo People The Paleo-Eskimos probably represent a single migratory impulse into the Americas from Siberia, separate from those that gave rise to the Inuit and other Native Americans, including Athabaskan speakers. The Paleo-Eskimos, despite cultural differences across time and space, constituted a unified population demonstrating genetic continuity for over 4000 years. The long-term genetic continuity of this gene pool and the lack of evidence of Native American admixture suggest that the Saqqaq and Dorset peoples lived largely in genetic isolation after arriving in the New World. Thus, Paleo-Eskimo technological innovations and changes over time, as seen in the archaeological record, appear to have occurred solely as a result of the movement of ideas within a single resident population. This suggests that cultural similarities and differences are not a reliable indicator of population movements and migrations into new and radically different environments, as is often assumed [51]. The lineal ancestors of the Paleo-Eskimos mostly originate from Chukotka, while the Neo-Eskimos are found to originate mainly from northern Alaska, but also to be of Altai-Sayan origin. Phylogeographic and BSP analysis of these haplogroups indicate a common origin of the Paleo-Eskimos, Aleut and Tlingit, whose direct ancestors lived along the southern coast of the former Bering Bridge in the early Holocene, about 6000–8000 years ago [34].