Population of the Maiotian Settlements in the Lower Don Area according to Archaeology and Palaeogenetics

This research addresses the ethnocultural aspect of the population of the Lower Don settlements and analyses the phenotype of this population by genetic methods. The ancient accounts of the Maiotians living in the Lower Don Area has been studied; the conclusion is that the Maiotians of the Don were shown on the Tabula Peutingeriana. This article has also examined the cultural tradition of the fortified settlements and cemeteries of the Lower Don Maiotians. These ancient settlements were inhabited by the people of the Maiotian culture tradition who migrated from the Eastern Azov Sea and Kuban Areas, and the Sarmatians, which presence was traceable at the fortified settlements and cemeteries in question from the first century AD on. The process of the Sarmatization developing at the Maiotian fortified settlements has been uncovered. Following I. S. Kamenetskii, the authors have introduced the term “Maiotization” as appliable to the processes that engaged the Sarmatian migrants at the Maiotian fortified settlements. The nomads that started living in the Maiotian settlements had to adapt and learn the local traditions. It is also possible to discuss the presence of the Hellenic population in the Maiotian settlements. Recently, the researchers have paid attention to the marks the of migration of the people bearing the Alan culture of the Caucasus. Taking the finds of ceramic stands from Krepostnoe fortified settlement and its environs into account, there are reasons to suggest that the people from the Caucasus lived in the Lower Don Area. The DNA phenotyping has been made for the bone remains from the graves at the cemetery of Nizhnegnilovskoe fortified settlement by the signs of eye-colour, hair, skin, and blood groups according to the AB0 system. It has been discovered that all the four buried persons were men, with lifetime dark hair, predominantly dark skin, and blood type 0 (I). Three buried person had brown eyes, and one greyish blue eyes.