Anthropological reconstruction of a noble Wusun from the Baytalchi burial, Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan, Hunnu period. Reconstruction by G. V. Lebedinskaya.
“According to many sources, the current Kyrgyz or Kara-Kirghiz, who make up about 300 thousand souls of both sexes in the population of the western Tien Shan, are the descendants of the Usuns and, in any case, are of the same tribe as the people of the same name who lived on the Yenisei.”
Ritter's opinion about the ancient habitation of the Usuns in northern Mongolia is connected with the hypothesis of Abel Remusat and Klaproth, which he supports, about the belonging of this people 'in the most ancient, Herodotus times' to the Indo-European race.
According to this hypothesis, 'in Central Asia,' there existed a whole 'number of peoples from the race of blue-eyed and fair-haired blonds,' namely: the Usuns, Sule, Kute, Dinlins, Kagas, and Alans. These fair-haired tribes 'circled the highlands of Asia in a wide semicircle and lived to the north of the Huns, starting from Lake Baikal, in the distant east, to Sogdiana.
The evidence of the belonging of these tribes to the Indo-Germanic family, according to Ritter, is anthropological—the light color of hair and eyes—and linguistic—the abundance of Indo-Germanic roots in the languages of the Manchus and Mongols, who lived in their neighborhood.
Klaproth, to whom the hypothesis under consideration mainly belongs and who supported it with significant evidence, presented it as follows: 'In order to have an accurate idea of the ethnographic position of this country (Central Asia), from the time of Herodotus to BC, one must be imbued with the truth that the peoples of the Turkic race then extended to the west only to the upper tributaries of the Oxus and Jaxartes. The population of all the countries north of the Caucasus, Kashmir, Oxus, and Parapamizus consisted almost exclusively of tribes of Indo-Germanic origin...
In a very remote epoch, these peoples crossed the Tanais (Don River) and spread to the northern banks of the Danube. The tribes of this race were spread in ancient times to the borders of China and the Altai Mountains; they were scattered among the Turkic and Tibetan peoples. The Parthians, Bactrians, Sogdians, Chorasmians, Getae, Massagetae, Alans, Aorsi, Roxolani, Iazyges, and many others all belonged to this great trunk of peoples.
Some weak historical indications, comparison of languages, ancient traditions hidden in Hindu mythology, and even some physiological information about the tribes of Eastern Asia force us to think that the center of this part of the world was occupied, in a very remote epoch, by the ancestors of all Indo-European peoples.
Some event, the causes of which we do not know, scattered this race to the south, to the west, and even to the north and east." One part spread into the valleys of Hindustan, while the other "headed in the same era to the west along the course of the Jeyhun and Syr and moved southwest to Persia and northwest to the Volga and Don, from where it crossed into Europe. There were also traces of eastern and northern migrations of the same race.
The eastern migration is evidenced by the existence of a fair-haired, blue-eyed people who lived on the borders of China as early as the third century B.C. This also forces one to assume, from the large number of Indo-Germanic roots found in the Turkic and Mongolian languages, and even more so in the Tungus, especially in Manchu.
The latter language even presents grammatical forms that have a great deal of relation to German. There are also tribes among the Manchus, near the banks of the Sungari and Ussuri, where a large number of individuals with light-brown hair and blue eyes are noted.
As for the northern migration of this race, it can be suspected from the existence of peoples presenting the same characteristic features, who, until a fairly recent era, lived on the Irtysh, Ob, upper Yenisei, and Lake Baikal. These tribes later merged with the Turkic people, forming the Kyrgyz, among whom blue or green eyes and red hair are not uncommon.
Abel Remusat asserted that the family of the Gothic peoples (Gothiquss) once occupied large areas of Tartary and that many branches of this family lived in Transoxiana and even in the Altai Mountains. The Usuns were distinguished by blue eyes and red hair—thsing yan, tchi siu. This was the Gothic people who, when they became independent, set a limit to the spread of the Turks to the west.
When familiarizing themselves with the historical evidence related to this, it turns out there is such information: "The Usuns are very different in appearance from other foreigners of the western region. Now the Turks with blue eyes and red beards, resembling monkeys, are their descendants" Although this information is not contained in the "Chinese Chronicles" as such, as Ritter thought, it is presented as an explanation in the "Qian-Han-shu" by one of the commentators, Yan Shigu. There is no reason not to trust its author.
The scholar Yan Shigu, who, by order of the reign of Zhen-guan (627-650), took part in compiling the history of the Sui dynasty, testifies to the appearance of the descendants of the Wusuns as an eyewitness. He undoubtedly saw the Wusuns in the embassies of the Western Tukiyues, to whom the country of the Wusuns was subject at that time, at the court of the Tangs.
The Dinglings and the Kagas or Kyrgyz descended from them had, as will be described in detail below, a light color of skin, hair, and eyes. The Alans were probably of Iranian origin, but there is no evidence of their tribal connection with the Usuns, from whom they separated from Kangju.
Thus, the Dinlins, Kagas, and Usuns had ruddy faces, blue eyes, and red hair, but light coloring alone is not enough to classify these peoples as Indo-Germanic or, more correctly, Aryan or Indo-European races, because, according to Castren, "at all times light coloring was the most characteristic feature" of the Finnish tribes as well.
The linguistic foundations of the hypothesis of Klaproth and Ritter are also untenable. "With regard to the Turkic and Manchurian languages," says the most knowledgeable Turkologist of our time, V.V. Radlov, "I must completely reject this assumption. The few Indo-Germanic roots in these two languages are almost all borrowed from the New and Old Persian languages, which, even before Christ, penetrated quite far into the north of Turan."
After Klaproth and Ritter, the question of the origin of the Usuns was not subjected to detailed and thorough research. Of course, almost every writer who touched on the history, languages, antiquities, and anthropology of Central Asia necessarily mentioned the mysterious people of the blond Usuns, whom Klaproth and Ritter classified as Indo-Germans, but most limited themselves to this.
True, some writers expressed the opinion about the Finnish or Turkic origin of the Usuns, but they did not provide evidence for these opinions, and therefore it is useless to list all these authors.
The authors of the detailed description, which was assigned to a special commission sent to Zhungaria in 1756 and was published no earlier than 1782, under the title "Si-yu-tu-chi," believed that the Usuns were the ancestors of the Buruts (Kyrgyz or Kara-Kyrgyz), since the latter lived in the same places that the Usuns occupied, and had the same nomadic way of life.
Both reasons for this opinion are far from sufficient because the former country of the Usuns in the 7th century A.D. passed successively into the hands of different peoples—the Turks, the Kara-Khitans, the Mongols, the Zhungars—who were all nomads and, therefore, for the same two reasons, could be considered the ancestors of the Buruts.
The language of the Wusuns could, of course, provide a solid basis for determining their nationality and tribal origin. Unfortunately, the "Shi-ji" and "Qian-Han-shu" have preserved for us only two Wusun words (gunmo or gunmi and senzu) and about two and a half dozen personal names.
The two words mentioned are the titles of the ruler and one heir to the throne, and therefore could easily have been borrowed not only from the true ancestors of the Wusuns, from the people or peoples from whom they originated, but also from some completely alien nation in terms of tribe, which enjoyed political power and transmitted the names of political positions and ranks to the peoples subject to it. Personal names are also very often borrowed from foreign tribesmen who have religious, political, or cultural influence.
For these reasons, it is possible that the words and names preserved by Chinese historians were not proper Wusun words but more or less borrowed, and therefore unsuitable for defining the true Wusun language. In addition, these words and names have come down to us in Chinese transcription, which means they are more or less altered from their actual form:
"in transcription, the Chinese usually omit one of two adjacent consonant sounds in the middle of a word, as well as final consonant sounds that are not characteristic of their language"; in addition, they do not have the sounds b, d, r, and e.
Indeed, in the "Shiji" it is gunmo, not gunmi. And the commentator Shigu believed that the word gunmi was formed from the first syllable of the title gunmo and from the last syllable of the name of the ruler Legyao-mi. But it seems to me that another assumption can be made: gunmo was listed in Zhang Qian's reports by mistake instead of gunmi, and then, upon closer acquaintance with the Wusuns, the mistake was noticed, and the Chinese began to use the real word gunmi.
This latter can be explained with the help of the Finnish language, in which kung means prince, and therefore country, land in Suomi (e.g., "country of swamps," etc.), so that gunmi comes out as the sovereign or prince of a country or land.
The explanation of the word gunmi by means of the Finnish language cannot serve as proof of the Finnish origin of this word and the Usuns themselves, for the Finns could have borrowed both these words separately from the same source from which the Usuns took this title of sovereign, namely, from the people to whom belong the most ancient traces of culture in southern Siberia and Mongolia, preserved mainly in the form of metal objects from the graves of the Copper Age and the Chud mines.
The meaning and origin of the word senzu are unknown and have not given rise to any assumptions known to me. Of the personal Usun names, the word guimi is included as a component in two (Un-guimi and Yuan-guimi).
In seven names (Gyunsuy-mi, Ni-mi, Sin-mi, Dyli-mi, Ichi-mi, Anli-mi, Zhi-mi), the word mi is included, and this makes one somewhat doubt the real meaning of this word in the sense of country, land, because it is difficult to admit the existence of a significant number of personal names that would meaningfully include the word land or country. In the name Un-guimi, the word un or on can be the Turkic right: guimi of the right side or right hand.
The name Nimi is, apparently, the same as that borne by the prince of the Yenisei Kyrgyz Nemek, Nemcha, or Nemi, with whom the Russians first entered into relations after the foundation of Tomsk; this may serve as confirmation of the unity of the language and tribe of the Wusuns and Kirghiz. The name Fuli should, it seems, be pronounced Buri—wolf in Turkic (as among the Tukiyues).
Anlimi resembles the name of Mount Anlo on the left bank of the White Yus; Sisenzu may be related to the name of the right tributary of the Yenisei Sis'; Biyuanzhi—with Bayantu (a tributary of the Kobda River); Anzhi—with Ani (a tributary of the river). It would be possible to select close Sayan-Altai geographical names or Turkic and generally Ural-Altai roots for the rest of the Wusun names (not yet named here: Mozhen, Nanqi, Pantsu, Gumoni, and female Shofu, Dishy, So...), so that almost all the Wusun names that have come down to us could be attributed to a Turkic or at least Altai-Sayan origin.
Of course, in view of the frequent borrowing of personal names by some peoples from others and the deceptive similarity of sounds, the apparent belonging of the Wusun personal names to the Turkic language cannot serve as decisive proof of the Turkic origin of the Wusuns, but it is also significant in connection with various historical, ethnographic, and other data that encourage us to believe that the Wusuns are the direct ancestors of the present-day Kara-Kirghiz, who occupy the western Tien Shan, and originally constituted part of the Kyrgyz people who lived on the Yenisei.
This is confirmed, firstly, by the existence, beginning in the sixth century, after news of the Wusuns ceased, up to the present time, of a people with the name of the Kyrgyz in the western Tien Shan and, secondly, by the presence among the generations subject to the western Turks or Tukiyu people of some of the Kara-Kirghiz bones or clans that have survived to this day.
Thirdly, the presence on the Yenisei from ancient times until the 17th century of a people of the same name, language, appearance, and customs as the Tien Shan Kyrgyz proves that the Yenisei and Tien Shan Kyrgyz once constituted one people, which was divided before the 3rd century BC into two parts: one remained on the Yenisei until the 16th century, and the other, which the Chinese called the Wusuns, moved south from the Tannu ridge and occupied the present aimak [zasaktu-khan], until it was forced by the Huns to move to the western Tien Shan.
Fourthly, the appearance of the Kyrgyz in historical records from the 6th century in Tien Shan and the cessation of references to the Wusuns in Chinese history shortly before this convinces us that it was the Wusuns, who had the same appearance as the Kyrgyz, who became known under the name of the Kyrgyz from the 6th century.
This is proven by the fact that there were no such migrations of the Kyrgyz to Tien Shan from the Yenisei or from Mongolia after the birth of Christ, which could explain the existence of the Kara-Kirghiz people, which now extends to 350 thousand souls, in western Tien Shan, because there is no information about such migrations and, according to the available historical data, such migrations are unlikely.
Where did the numerous Kyrgyz of the five aimags of Nushibi come from in the 7th century in western Tien Shan and the adjacent steppes, between the rivers Talas and Ili? And on the other hand, what happened to the numerous Wusuns after the Christian era, and especially from the middle of the fifth century, after 436, when the Chinese ambassadors found the ruler of the Wusuns in Tsunglin?
It seems to me quite possible that the Kyrgyz are precisely the Wusuns and that the popular name of the Wusuns was Kyrgyz, and the name of the Wusuns was only a political term, the name of that aimak or that political union of the Kyrgyz clans, which earlier than the third century B.C. separated from the part of the Kyrgyz people remaining on the Yenisei and moved south of the Tannu ridge, occupying the lands between this ridge and the eastern Tien Shan, and then in the second century B.C. moved to the western Tien Shan.
Many Turkic tribes and clans received their names from the rivers on which they lived, for example, the Karluks from the Karlyk River, a tributary of the Charysh, the Lebedintsy from the Lebedi River, the Tubintsy—a Kyrgyz clan or rather an aimak—from the Tuba River, etc.
Why could not the Wusun have received their name from the Iyus and Son Rivers (perhaps Sun, in Pallas Soon), on which they could have had their nomad camps before they went south and became known to the Chinese under this aimak name of theirs, Iyus-Sun?
Regarding the fate of the Wusuns after the birth of Christ, it is plausible to assume that the process that began before the birth of Christ—the disintegration of the people into parts, probably by clans and aimaks, from which it had been united under the Gunmi—had now completely taken place, since China no longer exerted any influence in the sense of preserving state unity, while the descendants of the Gunmi, of course, continued to contribute to the separation of clans and aimaks with their internecine strife.
The Tukiyu people probably very easily subjugated the disparate Usuns or Kyrgyz, who were close to them in language and customs, in the third quarter of the sixth century. According to Chinese reports, the customs and habits of the western Tukiyu people were similar to those of the eastern ones. “There was, however, a small difference between them in the dialect of the language."
Probably, the dialectical difference concerned not only the clans of the Chu tribe (Dulu aimags), but also the Nushibi aimags, i.e., the Usuns or Kyrgyz, whose dialect even now differs from the Altai (Tukiyu) and has features from the dialect of the descendants of the Dulu, the current great horde. According to the already cited observation of Yan Shigu, "the Usuns are very different in appearance from other foreigners of the western region."
"Today, the Turks (in the original "barbarians") with blue eyes and red beards, resembling monkeys, are their descendants," wrote Yan Shigu in the middle of the 7th century. His "now" refers to the same time, the era of the western Tukiyu and the time of the presence of the Nushibi aimags on the former Usun lands.
Of course, it was them that the Chinese writer had in mind, marveling at the similarity of the descendants of the Usuns to monkeys. Yan Shigu had frequent opportunities to see these monkey-like Nushibians because they were, of course, encountered in the embassies from the western Tukiyu khans to the Chinese court, which were not uncommon at that time.
The explanation of the ruddy complexion, blue eyes, and light brown hair of the ancient Kyrgyz lies in the news from the "Tang Shu" that the Kagas "mixed with the Dinlins." Since the black-eyed Kyrgyz considered the Dinlins to be strangers (descendants of Li Ling), the Dinlins must have resembled the Kyrgyz in appearance.
Klaproth reports about the Dinlins that "their tribes occupied vast spaces, for, around 100 B.C., according to Chinese historians, they touched the western shores of Lake Baikal and also lived north of the Usuns in the countries irrigated by the Ob and the upper Irtysh, and even further to the west, to the northeast and north of Kangju or Sogdiana. Their name meant in the language of the Usuns ancien, doyen.
In the last half of the 2nd century A.D., part of the Dinlin tribes, which occupied the banks of the Ob and Irtysh in Southern Siberia, were conquered by the Xianbei. It seems that they, too, soon freed themselves. During the war of the Yuanwei house with the Rouran, the Dinlins defeated a horde of Huns, which bore the name of Joui Joui and had its pastures in their neighborhood, and took possession of their lands.
However, after some time (507), these Jui Jui drove them out of their former places, and the Dilins returned to the west. From this time on, this people is often mentioned in Chinese history, but seems to have no political significance for their neighbors. Over the centuries, they imperceptibly merged with the Kyrgyz.
The solution to the question of the race to which the Dinlins belonged can, it seems, be achieved on the basis of positive data, mainly historical for now, but supported by many others. Based on the above Chinese information, the Kagas or Kyrgyz originated from the mixing of the Turks with the Dinlins.
Mentions of the Dinlins in Chinese historical information cease from the third century AD, since China was separated from Siberia at that time by the Xianbei and then the Rouran. But four centuries later, in those very places (north of the former lands of the Huns, and then the Xianbei), where the Dinlins were, Chinese history, in the middle of the 7th century, mentions a rather significant piebald people (gunma or poma), similar in appearance to the Kagas, meaning blue-eyed, red-faced, and blond, like the Kagas and Dinlins, but differing from the Kagas in language.
Obviously, this piebald people were the same Dinlins, but became known to the Chinese under another name, which they probably did not call themselves, as well as the name of Dinlins, but were called so by their neighbors.
Although the Chinese had direct relations with the piebald people in the middle of the 7th century (one or two embassies from them were in China between 627 and 655), it must be assumed that the description of the possession of Gyunma was compiled in the middle of the 9th century, when the description of the Kagas was written.
The origin and preservation by the Yeniseians and their ancestors of the name of the motley or piebald people for more than ten centuries, during which time we have historical evidence, are explained, one must think, most likely, by the red faces of the descendants of the Dinlins, their crimson blush, which appeared on the cheeks in crimson spots, making the coloring of the face truly motley, especially in the eyes of the dark and yellow-faced Samoyeds and Turks. Such motley faces, thanks to the thick spots of blush, are still not rare among the Kara-Kirghiz of the Tien Shan.
Further, according to Chinese reports, the piebald people (Poma) were engaged in agriculture and, according to Matuanlin, also loved hunting and fishing and had vessels made of clay and copper, but they had little iron. These reports give grounds to believe that the motley people not only had, but also made, clay and copper vessels, and also forged iron, but things from the latter were used little, perhaps not because of the lack of iron ores in the country, but because the preferential use of copper objects was established by ancient habit or customs.
The Russians at the beginning of the 17th century still found among the Yeniseians a significant development of the manufacture of iron items and called part of them, on the site of Yeniseisk, the "Kuznetsk" volost, and the Turkified Yeniseians on the tributaries of the Tom were nicknamed, for the same craft, "blacksmiths."
Agriculture and the production of clay vessels, copper, and iron objects provide sufficient grounds to believe that these occupations, which are little in keeping with the northern outskirts of the spurs of the Altai and Sayan, where the Yeniseians had probably already been pushed back by the Turks by this time, were inherited by the motley people from their ancestors, the Dinlins, who passed them on to them while occupying the Sayan and ore-rich slopes of the Altai.
If the Dinlins were farmers and miners, then, obviously, the Yeniseian graves of the Bronze Age, and partly of the ancient Iron Age, may belong to them. Therefore, the Dinlins were the ancient people who left us the most ancient traces of culture in the Sayan and Altai and in general in southern Siberia, or one of these peoples, if there were several of them." - N. A. Aristov
🧬 DNA Science Data:
“Haplogroup R1a1, more specifically, its subclade R1a1a1b2 (defined by mutation Z93), is the genetic marker of the Indo-European pastoralists, who migrated from modern-day Ukraine to modern-day Iran, India, the Kazakh steppes, the Tarim Basin, the Altai Mountains region, the Yenisei River region, and western Mongolia during the Bronze Age.
Naturally, R1a1, more specifically, its subclade R1a1a1b2 (R1a-Z93), occurs at high frequency among the Turkic peoples now residing in the Yenisei River and the Altai Mountains regions in Russia.
Compared to the Tuvinians, the Khakass (whose name was created by the Soviets from Xiajiasi (黠戛斯), a Chinese name for Kyrgyz, since they were regarded as descending from the Kyrgyz have noticeably higher percentages of R1a1 (35.2%) and much lower percentages of haplogroups C (1.1%) and Q (4%). However, N is also the most prevalent haplogroup (50%) of the Khakass (Gubina et al. 2013: 339; Shi et al. 2013)
As for the Altaians, the Altai-Kizhi (southern Altaians) are characterised by a high percentage of R1a1 (50%) and low to moderate percentages of C2 (20%), Q (16.7%) and N (4.2%) (Dulik et al. 2012: 234).
The major differences between the Khakass and the southern Altaians are the lower frequency of haplogroup N (in another study, haplogroup N is found at high frequency (32%) among the Altaians in general: see Gubina et al. 2013: 329, 339) and the higher frequencies of haplogroups C2 and Q among the latter.
The descent of the Kyrgyz (Kyrgyz) of the Tien Shan Mountains region (Kyrgyzstan) from the Yenisei Kyrgyz is debated among historians.
However, among the modern Turkic peoples, the former have the highest percentage of R1a1 (over 60%). Since the West Eurasian physiognomy of the Yenisei Kyrgyz recorded in the Xin Tangshu was in all likelihood a reflection of their Eurasian Indo-European marker R1a1a1b2 (R1a-Z93), one may conjecture that the Tien Shan Kyrgyz received their R1a1 marker from the Yenisei Kyrgyz. That is, the former are descended from the latter.
The other Y-chromosome haplogroups found among the Kyrgyz (Kyrgyz) are C2 (12~20%), O (0~15%) and N (0~4.5%).50 The lack of haplogroup Q among the Qirghiz (Kyrgyz) mostly distinguishes them from the Altaians.
During the Bronze Age and early Iron Age, the Yenisei River region was inhabited by Indo-Europeans. The dna study of 26 ancient human specimens from the Krasnoyarsk area dated from the middle of the second millennium bc to the fourth century ad shows that the Yenisei pastoralists mostly belonged to haplogroup R1a1 (Keyser et al. 2009: 401)
The high frequency of R1a1 among the modern-day Kyrgyz and Altaians may thus prove that they are descended from the Yenisei Kyrgyz. In addition, this may explain the reason why medieval Chinese histories depict the Kyrgyz as possessing West Eurasian physiognomy.
The Y-chromosomes of the Kök Türks have not been studied. After the collapse of the Second Türk Khaganate in 745 ce, the Kök Türks became dispersed and it is difficult to identify their modern descendants.
If they were indeed descended from the Eastern Scythians aka Saka (Suo) or related to the Kyrgyz, as the Zhoushu states (Zhoushu 50.908), the Ashina (royal Türkic dynasty, possibly related to the Turko-Jewish Khazar Khaganate, according to Peter B. Golden of Rutgers University) may have belonged to the R1a1 lineage.” - Joo-Yup Lee and Shuntu Kuang, University of Toronto, Canada
Source: “A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples’
Authors: Joo-Yup Lee and Shuntu Kuang from, the University of Toronto of Canada
“Kyrgyz are an admixed population between the East and the West. Different patterns have been observed in the patrilineal gene pool of the Kyrgyz. Historically, ancient Kyrgyz were considered to be the Yenisei Kyrgyz that may perhaps be concerned with the Tashtyk culture.
Extremely low Y-diversity and the presence of a high-frequency 68.9% Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a1-M17 (a diagnostic Indo-Iranian marker are striking features of Kyrgyz populations in central Asia. It is believed that this lineage is associated with Indo-Europeans who migrated to the Altai region during the Bronze Age and mixed with various Turkic groups.
Among the Asian R1a1a1b2-Z93 lineages, R1a1a1b2a2-Z2125 is quite common in Kyrgyzstan (68%) and Afghan Pashtuns (40%), and less frequent in other Afghan ethnic groups and some Caucasus and Iran populations (10%). Notably, the basal lineage R1a1a1b2-Z93* is commonly distributed in the South Siberian Altai region of Russia.
According to the published ancient DNA data, we found that, in Middle Bronze Age, Haplogroup R1a1a1b2a2a- Z2125 was mainly found in Sintashta culture population from Kamennyi Ambar 5 cemetery, western Siberia, in Fedorovo type of the Andronovo culture or Karasuk culture population from Minusinsk Basin, southern Siberia, and in Andronovo culture populations from Maitan, Ak-Moustafa, Aktogai, Kazakh Mys, Satan, Oy-Dzhaylau III, Karagash 2, Dali, and Zevakinskiy stone fence, Kazakhstan.” (Wen, Shao-qing; Du, Pan-xin; Sun, Chang; Cui, Wei; Xu, Yi-ran; Meng, Hai-liang; Shi, Mei-sen; Zhu, Bo-feng; Li, Hui (March 2022)
Source: "Dual origins of the Northwest Chinese Kyrgyz: the admixture of Bronze age Siberian and Medieval Niru'un Mongolian Y chromosomes", Nature
Authors: Wen, Shao-qing; Du, Pan-xin; Sun, Chang; Cui, Wei; Xu, Yi-ran; Meng, Hai-liang; Shi, Mei-sen; Zhu, Bo-feng; Li, Hui (March 2022)
“The modern-day descendants of the Yenisei Kyrgyz, the Kyrgyz people, have one of the highest frequencies of haplogroup R1a-Z93. This lineage believed to be associated with Indo-Iranians who migrated to the Altai region in the Bronze Age, and is carried by various Türkic groups. The Zhoushu [the book of the Zhou Dynasty] (Linghu Defen 2003, Chapter 50, p. 908) informs us that the Ashina, the royal clan of the Kök Türks, were related to the Kyrgyz.
If so, the Ashina may have belonged to the R1a1 lineage like the modern-day Tienshan Kyrgyz, who are characterised by the high frequency of R1a1 (over 65%). Haplogroup R1a1, more specifically, its sub- clade R1a1a1b2 defined by mutation Z93, was carried by the Indo-European pastoralists, who reached the Kazakh steppes, the Tarim Basin, the Altai Mountains region, the Yenisei River region, and western Mongolia from the Black Sea steppes during the Bronze Age (Semino et al. 2000, p. 1156, Lee, Joo-Yup (2018)
Source: Lee, Joo-Yup (2018). "Some remarks on the Turkicisation of the Mongols in post-Mongol Central Asia and the Kipchak Steppe ''. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 71 (2): 121–124. doi:10.1556/062.2018.71.2.1. ISSN 0001-6446. S2CID 133847698.
Kazakh DNA researcher Zhaxylyk Sabitov states: “Until the 9th century, the Kyrgyz lived along the Yenisei River in the Minusinsk Basin. In the 9th century, the Yenisei Kyrgyz migrated to the Altai and Irtysh regions.
“From 1326 to 1329, some Altai Kyrgyz moved to Semirechye and the territory of modern Kyrgyzstan.” He also published DNA sample data from the Sintashta culture, which he claims “is related to the Altai and modern Kyrgyz, while the Arban-1 samples from the Karasuk culture are ancestral to modern Kyrgyz. Genetic data from Arzhan complex (8th century BCE) also show parental genes of the Kyrgyz.”
It is known that the structure of Arzhan has similarities with the Sintashta-Andronovo kurgans (M.P. Gryaznov). It is known that Saka tribes lived in the territory of Kyrgyzstan, and later the Wusun tribe arrived from the east. The high percentage of R1a1 among the Kyrgyz appeared through three routes: from the Saka tribes, from the Wusun Sakas, and from the Dingling tribes. There is also a theory about the migration of part of the Yenisei Kyrgyz to the territory of modern Kyrgyzstan.” (Zhaxylyk Sabitov)
Source: “Historical-Genetic Approach in the Study of the Ethnogenesis and Material Culture of the Ancient Kyrgyz” - International Journal of Experimental Education
“The land of Modern Kyrgyzstan, populated at the turn of the eras by the Saka and Wusun tribes, was overrun by the Yenisei Kyrgyzes (Khakasses) in the 8th c. AD.
Since Kyrgyzstan is a natural mountain fortress of the Tian Shan mountains, it is an island similar to the Lithuanian Tatars, with high genetic inertia and limited influences. Essentially, all four are Scythians, the Saka Scythians, Wusun Scythians, Yenisei Kyrgyz Scythians, and the Lithuanian Tatar Scythians.”
Source: “The Lithuanian Tatars: DNA Ancestry Traced To The Eurasian Steppes”, Academy of DNA-Genealogy, Tsukuba, Japan, Igor Rozhanski
"Samples from the burials of the Andronovo, Tagar, and Tashtyk cultures were identified using Y-STR analysis, which allows for the comparison of these samples with each other and with samples from representatives of different populations, both ancient and modern.
The Andronovo haplotypes S10 and S16 have the following structure:
ANDRON S10, S16:
13-25-16-11-11-14-10-14-11-18-15-14-11-16-20-12-23
The greatest number of matches is observed with the Tian Shan Kyrgyz and the Southern Altaians. Complete matches of haplotypes in populations that are geographically close and share a common history are possible only in cases of genetic relationship; random matches are unlikely.
Thus, the Southern Altaians and the Tien Shan Kyrgyz are likely descendants of close relatives of the Yenisei Andronovites, most likely the descendants of the Altai Andronovites. It is well established by linguists and ethnographers that there is close linguistic and ethnic kinship between the Kyrgyz and the Southern Altaians (Baskakov, 1966: 15-16).
These peoples share the same names for their clan divisions (Mundus, Telos-Doolos, Kipchak, Naiman, Merkit, etc.). Kyrgyz legends refer to Altai as the ancestral home of their people. Several historians believe that the Kyrgyz and Southern Altaians once formed a single community and that the migration of the Kyrgyz from Altai to Tien Shan occurred relatively recently (Abramzon, 1959: 34; Abdumanapov, 2007: 95, 114).
Source: Volkov V.G., Kharkov V.N., Stepanov V.A. Andronovo and Tagar cultures in light of genetic data."
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