Burials of the First Builders of St. Petersburg (The Chuvash Trace)

This article addresses the problem of identifying ethnic Chuvash individuals among the accidentally discovered skeletal remains of builders from the era of Peter the Great. At present, researchers have limited evidence with which to address this issue. The available evidence includes historical sources documenting the active involvement of the populations of the Kazan and Simbirsk provinces in the construction of the new city on the Neva, preliminary anthropological studies, and the names of Chuvash individuals (including soldiers) who arrived in the early 18th century. The purpose of the study is to examine the available sources and publications on the burials of the first builders of St. Petersburg (Peters Burkh). Despite the available publications on this subject, researchers face significant methodological challenges. These include the absence of nominal lists of those who arrived and the lack of reliable identification of the deceased (in most cases, we are dealing with mass graves). It is not yet possible to determine the exact number of Chuvash who participated in the construction. The available skeletal sample is insufficient, as are comparative studies involving Chuvash reference samples; many of the recovered coins cannot be dated; genetic studies are entirely lacking; ethnographic evidence remains limited; and the replacement of the names and surnames of unbaptized Chuvash with Christian names further complicates identification. Despite these substantial limitations, the author offers several observations on the issue. The article is intended for historians, geographers, geneticists, anthropologists, archaeologists and other readers interested in the history of the northern capital during the first quarter of the 18th century.