The Western Balts were a polyethnic, polyphyletic mix of TRB, Funnel Beaker, Centum Globular Amphora, and Rzucewo Corded Ware Satem peoples with a Neolithic Nemunas and Narva substratum population. The Corded Ware Satem newcomers themselves were also a mix of Sredny Stog Yamna-related Satems and late Tripolye folk on a Dnieper-Donets substratum. The I.E. Satems came from PIE descendants of Eurasian nomads and North Pontic ( R1a1a ) folk. ( ie, RISE598 ) Sūdovians & Dainavians were West Balts.

Where did the Sūduviai - Dainaviai / Яцвягi - Jaćwingowie go?

Did they really all "vanish" ?

Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2007 Jun;1(2):141-7. Epub 2007 Mar 7.

Complex interactions of the Eastern and Western Slavic populations
with other European groups as revealed by mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Grzybowski T, Malyarchuk BA, Derenko MV, Perkova MA, Bednarek J, Woźniak M.

The Nicolaus Copernicus University, Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum, Department of Molecular and Forensic Genetics, M. Curie-Skłodowskiej Str. 9, 85-094 Bydgoszcz, Poland. tgrzyb@cm.umk.pl
 

" The results of genetic structure analyses suggest that Russians from Velikii Novgorod area ( northwestern Russia )  and Poles from Suwalszczyzna ( northeastern Poland ) differ from all remaining Polish and Russian samples."

( Mitochondrial DNA proves the Γαλίνδαι and Σουδινοί acculturated, and can be found in Suwalszczyzna. )

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Hum Hered. 1999 Jun;49(3):154-8.

The LWb blood group as a marker of prehistoric Baltic migrations and admixture.

Sistonen P, Virtaranta-Knowles K, Denisova R, Kucinskas V, Ambrasiene D, Beckman L.

Finnish Red Cross Transfusion Service, Helsinki, Finland.
 

"The frequency of the uncommon LWb gene was high in the Balts, around 6% among Latvians and Lithuanians"

" From the Baltic region of peak frequency there was a regular decline of LWb incidence (a descending cline) in the  neighboring populations: 4.0% in the Estonians, 2.9% in the Finns, 2.2% in the Vologda Russians, and 2.0% in the Poles. "

The population of the Sūduva region average only 2.7%  - even after 600 years of Lithuanian.colonization. ( vs. 4.0 % in the Finnic Estonians, or 7.5% in Samogitians )

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Genetic portrait of modern Belarusians: mitochondrial DNA
and Y-chromosome perspective.

Alena Kushniarevich, Larysa Sivitskaya, Nina Danilenko, Richard Villems, Oleg Davydenko. Institute of Genetics and Cytology, Academicheskaya Str 27, Belarus, Estonian Biocenter, Riia Str 23, Estonia
 

"A separation of Belarus subpopulations along a North / South line can be demonstrated particularly in distribution of  Y chromosomal lineages R1b, I1a and I1b, N3 and G-chromosomes, has been noted; east-west gradient is insignificant."

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The myth of Terra Nullius ( deserted wasteland ) was merely historic ethnocidal  propaganda, justifying centuries of Papal Conquests, Atrocities, & Theft in both the Old, and the New World. Terra Nullius was a Lie.

The highly respected archaeologist, Pranas Kulikauskas, notes on page 164 in his 1982 book "Užnemunės piliakalniai", that the archaeological evidence of the Užnemunės region does not support such a depopulated "wasteland" myth. The wealth of old hydronyms & toponyms there would agree, as does the very low regional frequency of the LWb allele. The Yotvingian Egline hillfort excavations did not find a destruction layer. The irrefutable scientific evidence does not lie Terra Nullius was only ethnic cleansing fiction, and nothing more. It still is.
 

Nobody " vanished ". 
Get Real !

The FTDNA R1a1a and Subclades
Y-DNA Project results here.

So then, who exactly were the Yotvingians ?

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ᛁᛅᛏᚢᛁᚴᛋ
ᚱᚢᛋᛗᛖᚾᚾ

Lo, there do I see my father.

Lo, there do I see my mother,
my sisters and my brothers.

Lo, there do I see the line
of my people
back to the beginning.

Lo, they do call to me.

ᛎ
Ятвезь

 YATVEZ' 
also spelled as Jatvez'
ᛘᛁᛅᛚᚾᛁᛦ

ᛁᛅᛏᚢᛁᚴᛋ ?

The GRODNO
[ C + Ͻ ] ULFBERHT
 Type Y Sword

ᛎ
ᚴᚢᚾᛅᚱ
- Gunnarr ?

ᛁᛅᛏᚢᛁᚴᚱ ?

ᛁ ᛒᚢᚼᛁ ᚴᚢᛏᛚᛅᚾᛏᛁ

ᛁᛅᛏᚢᛁᚴᛦ ?

ᚱᚢᛋᚠᚢᛚᚴ ?

Ρως, Ρωσσία, ᚱᚢᛋᛗᛖᚾᚾ,
& Ӕтьвѧгъ Гунаревъ
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A Byzantine Treaty with Kiev prince Igor ( Ingvarr - ᛁᚾᚴᚢᛅᚱ ) in 944 - 945 notes, among the Rus' ambassadors & trade envoys, one "Jatviag' Gunar-ev* ". 

"Játvįg' for Gunnar"?

ᛁᛅᛏᚢᛁᚴ ?   ᚴᚢᚾᛅᚱ ?  ᚱᚢᛋ ?
Ӕтьвѧгъ Гунаревъ ? Βάραγγοι - Ρως ?

( * documented name > asterisks not required!  Herein j = y )
 

 
Note - a Norse final "- R " preceded by a consonant is omitted in the Russianized names of the Primary Chronicle.  < ! > ( 945 ) Norse "Hróaldr" > Руалдъ, > ( 912 ) Norse "Hróðleifr" > Рулавъ,  Ӕтьвѧгъ < Ӕтьвѧг + R ?  ᛁᛅᛏᚢᛁᚴᚱ
 

... Rusios quos alio nos nomine Nordmannos appellamus ...
ᛎ
Játvįg' for  Gunnarr ?
 ᛁᛅᛏᚢᛁᚴᚱ  ?   ᚴᚢᚾᛅᚱ ?

The Yatvez' Rus'  / Scandinavian-Viking association with the Thor's hammer & other locally similar Rus' pendants semantically influenced a Slavic Belarusian (Grodno-Vawkavysk area) dialect " Ятвезь " term - for a Ros' river "Anchor" !!! ( pl. form vs. sg. meaning ? )

The Norse Viking Rus' ᛁᛅᛏᚢᛁᚴᛋ  ᚱᚢᛋᛗᛖᚾᚾ, or  ᛁᛅᛏᚢᛁᚴᛋ ᚱᚢᛋᚠᚢᛚᚴ  of  their Varangian "liðs foringi"- leader, "Játvígr" ( Old West Norse gen. sg. "Játvígs > Játvįgs Róssfolk ( Liðar - Družīna - Sėbrija ) > Jātvings" ( -ígs / -īgs > -įgs > -ings ), would influence those locally known later as "Яцвягi ", or "Jotvingiai". The Turovian's group name likewise reflects ( PVL 36 ) an Old West Norse Rus' leader's name ( Þórir - ᚦᚬᚱᛁᚱ ) aligned with a Ragnvaldr - ᚱᛅᚴᚾᚢᛅᛚᛏᚱ in Polotsk, although the Рогволод - Моря / Ragnvaldr - Møre similarities defy credulity. Sometime after 945, relations between Polotsk & Kiev unraveled.
 

"Иде Володїмиръ на Ӕтвѧгы. и взѧ землю ихъ".
( excerpt from the Russian Primary Chronicle for 983 )

Vladimir went against Játvígs Rus', and took their territory ( land ).
( with it's strategic Nemunas river access to Baltic Sea trade with Bogeviken )

With the peculiar parallel nominative-genitive masc. singular (re: Wilkaskaymen) of West Baltic dialects, it it easy to see how an original genitive Játvígs Róssmenn ( Róssfolk, or Liðsmenn ) from an Old West Norse Heiti could become assimilated as a poly-ethnic West Baltic nominative /genitive Jātvįgs / Jātvings, & West Baltic nominative plural  Jātvįgai.  "Jotvings / Jotvingai". Voilà!

As convenient as that all sounds, it should be noted  that the ubiquitous modern Lithuanian "Jotvingis" term itself  is a recent theoretical neologism from the middle 1920's. Opps !
 
This "Jotvingis" Baltic neologism coined back in the 20's was derived solely from various Viking Rós affiliated, & historical Rus' era foreign Slavic labels of a prior millennium.  The original nasal infixation of the Old Norse  "Játvíg" name in the 944-945 Kiev Treaty was probably an insignificant scribal error, or misinterpretation of source material, now enshrined for perpetuity.

( note West Norse Játvígr ( w/ "T" ) vs. related Eadwig [ Ӕтьвѧгъ ] Hedwig [ Jadwig- / Jadvyg- ] or Eadwy [ Ӕтьвѧ- ] w/ "D"  ).

᛫ ᛂᛦ ᛬ ᚢᛅᚱᚦ ᛏᚢᚦᚱ ᚢᛂᛋᛏᚱ ᛬ ᛂᚾ ᛫ ᛅᚾᛅᚱ ᛬ ᛅᚢᛋᛏᚱ ᛬

Centuries of multi-cultural commingling between West Balts & Scandinavians - beginning with the Wielbark culture, are also reflected at other trade settlements like Saeborg-Grobina, Truso,  Kaup - Wiskiauten, nearby Irzekapinis, Linkuhnen, or Bogeviken on Gotland. Distant Arab traders of the Vikings referred to Kaup ( Old Gutnish "Kaupungr" ) - Wiskiauten as " Gintijar ". PI Z alleles and S alleles in the Courland region of Latvia (Beckman L. et al, 1999 ) mirror cultural blending of Grobina artifacts, as does LWb in Gotland. The Loki Bound K46 type pendants & a trefoil Scandinavian cross excavated from Muravelnik by Vawkavysk Belarus both exhibit Gotlandic affinities, as does a spear - with a unique hybrid Balt-Norse striped-weave motif exhibiting a link  to one found in the Bogeviken area of Gotland, as well as one found near Tingstäde. One was also found in Scania, Sweden. ( V. Kazakevičius 2001 )

The Játvįg of 945 may have been a Róssfolk / Liðs Foringi ( ᛚᛁᛋ ᛫ ᚡᚬᚱᚢᚾᚴᛁ  /  Crew Leader ), a Norse Varangian trade mercenary of rank, or perhaps even related to some prosperous Járl ( Gunnar ? ) of Bogeviken or Tingstäde in Gotland.

By 983, Játvįgr's Róssfolk ( Yatvyagi ) & their local Baltic trade allies were supposedly targeted by the ambitions of Kiev's Prince Vladimir, who fought the Lendians earlier in 981, and the Vjatichians in 982. Such records are quasi-historical at best, and at other times, purely fictional. 

Yet there is still a Yatvyagi town in Ukraine, located in Lviv oblast & Mostyskyi raion. GPS coordinates for the town are N 49.65700 E 23.21733. Two other places in the Lviv area shared the same Yatvyagi name ( 49°43'0" N 23°29'0" E ).  ( A. Kaminski, Jaćwieź -1953, p.74 )

Yatvyagi town in Ukraine

In 1038 ( 55 years later according to the same source ), Yaroslav repeats Vladmir campaign, due to an alliance with his in-law, Casimir of Poland with his war against rebellious Masovians & their allies - the Yotvingians and Lithuanians. The esteemed scholar Mykhailo Hrushevskyi was very skeptical about this information, citing records from other chronicles that indicate the 1038 campaign took place in the winter - and had no success. Another source has a quite different scenario of a 1038 battle with Yotvingians - by Ваўкавыск / Volkovysk !  The "Ӕтвѧзѣ" survived for centuries in written records. Mindaugas bribed the Yotvingians to avoid hostilities..
 

The archaeology of the region correlates well with the later 1038 quasi-historical accounts. Viking "turf" wars were not altogether unknown.

Perhaps the Nethimer of St. Bruno of Querfurt was really someone named  Næfmarr ( ᚾᚽᚡᛘᛅᚱ ).

To the Balts repelling encroachment of the Kievan Rus' of Vladimir's era and later Crusaders,  these poly-ethnic assimilated mixed Norse-Balt descendants of "Norðmenn" traders ( ᚠᛅᚱᛗᛖᚾᚾ ) of the Baltic were already just - "one of us". 

The Belarusian Vawkavysk ( Ваўкавыск  ) dialect Jatvez' - "Anchor" term  - * also spelled Yatvez' - obtusely connects the Norse Rus' Viking pendants & other Scandinavian relics from Gotland that have been unearthed in that "Black Russian" region to the original Yotvingians - who initially spoke the Old Norse ( Greek "Ρωσιστί" ) & Old Gutnish of Varangians. R-YP704* Lietuvoje. Nobody " vanished ".

It should be noted that for the entire "Terra Jatwezenorum" region, no traces of a hypothetical Baltic hydronym *Jāt-vā  have ever been found to this day.

None - Nada - Zip.

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* For more about a Norse Viking Rus' Yatviag / Yotvingian etymology, see:


Кибинь A.С. Ятвяги в X-XI вв.
: « балтское племя » или « береговое братство »?

// Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 2008. № 2(4). С.117-132.
( English Summary included )

 For more about  Rus' Yatviag / Yotvingian 10th-14th Century history, see:

Article online by Петро КРАЛЮК, д-р філос.

Ятвяги та боротьба Галицько-Волинського
князівства за Полісся
( In Ukrainian - Google Chrome Browser can translate )
 

Where did the Sūduviai - Dainaviai / Яцвягi - Jaćwingowie go?

The DNA proves they never left.
( SW Lithuanian R1a R-BY164240 illustrates that )
 

FTDNA has additional local Y-DNA info

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KAILAS !

We Shall Remain.
ᛎ

For use by
Sūduviai / Яцвягi
Jaćwingowie

 

United Nations Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Spelling variations:
Яцвезь Ятвезь Jatwieź Jaćvieź Яцвезь Jatwiez
Jatwez Jatvez Yatvez Yatviez Jatviez Яцвеск Ятвеск