Scientists hope that the deciphered genome will shed light on the history of settling the Yamal Peninsula and ethnogenesis of its aboriginals.

      Scientists of the Molecular Genetics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences have set to derive the DNA from the 13th century mummy of a child found in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District of Russia in the summer of 2015. A group of experts headed by the head of the Institute's laboratory for molecular genetics of hereditary diseases Pyotr Slominsky arrived in Salekhard for the occasion.

      Scientists will bring the material to Moscow, where research will be conducted from two months to several years.

      "We can not yet say for sure that the DNA will be precisely identified. The success depends on how many centuries the mummy spent underground, whether there were defrosting processes during that period, to what degree the birch bark has protected it and whether its pitches could affect the DNA. If we manage to master the technique of deriving the DNA from the boy's mummy, there is a chance of receiving a complete genome of the people buried in the necropolis in Yamal", - the scientists point out.