INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION IN ETHNOGENESIS PROBLEMS RESEARCH (AN OPINION IN THE DISCUSSION ON THE QUESTIONS OF UDMURT ETHNOGENESIS)

Abstract

This article was written as a part of discussion in “Vestnik Udmurtskogo Universiteta” on the ethnicity of population of the middle and lower reaches of river Vyatka and Vyatka-Vetluga interfluve, which has left archaeological sites dating I millennium AD. Since the discussion touches upon questions concerning the approaches of different scientific disciplines to solving this problem, primarily archeology and linguistics, the objective of this article was to discuss ways of constructive interdisciplinary collaboration and describe the possibilities and boundaries of the linguistic science on the matters of ethnogenesis of the Finno-Ugric population. The article focuses on the three key prerequisites for successful interdisciplinary collaboration: 1) the need for a proper understanding of scientific concepts and methods of the related disciplines; 2) the readiness for the emersion of contradictions in the conclusions of various scientific disciplines and using them as a starting point for further research and progression to the truth; 3) the discussion is based, in the first place, upon the facts and arguments of the discipline in which the researcher is specialized. Taking this into account, the article analyzes the arguments brought by the panelists, formulates the main contradiction of the discussion, which is that the facts of different sciences suggest that the population that left archaeological cultures of the Vyatka-Vetluga interfluve of the I millennium AD, possibly, was culturally close to ancient Permyans, but linguistically, most likely, there was not Permian (Proto-Permian). Actually this does not contradict, since such situation is possible in reality. Thereupon specific questions are formulated for further linguistic research on the toponymy of the basin of the middle and lower reaches of Vyatka.