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Post by Admin on Jan 27, 2022 4:17:48 GMT
Introduction In the past 10–15 years, geneticists have traced the genetic origins of various human populations by studying their paternally inherited Y-chromosomes and maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA.1 In the process, geneticists have also investigated the genetic variation of modern Inner Asian populations (Wells et al. 2001; Zerjal et al. 2002), as well as ancient DNA extracted from the remains of the Xiongnu and the Sakhas (Yakuts), among others, as will be discussed below.2 The accumulated findings of these genetic surveys, however, have not been adequately noted by specialists in Inner Asian history. 3 This article aims to fill this gap by conducting a comparative analysis of textual information and genetic survey data on the early and medieval Turkic peoples. First, we will examine the information on the origins, identity and physiognomy of the early and medieval Turkic peoples contained in the Chinese Standard Histories (zhengshi 正史).4 We will then demonstrate in detail how the findings of genetic surveys on the ancient and modern Turkic peoples corroborate or complement the textual information. The conclusions of this article are as follows: both medieval Chinese histories and modern DNA studies point to the fact that the early and medieval Turkic peoples were made up of heterogeneous and somatically dissimilar populations. The Turkicization of central and western Eurasia in the past two millennia was not the product of migrations involving a single, homogeneous Turkic entity, but that of multiple waves of language diffusion involving both Turkic and Turkicized peoples
The Origins, Identity, and Physiognomy of the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples according to Chinese Histories5
The Xiongnu The Xiongnu were the first nomadic empire-builders in Inner Asian history. Historians have been unable to confirm whether or not the Xiongnu were a Turkic people.6 According to some fragmentary information on the Xiongnu language that can be found in the Chinese histories, the Xiongnu were Turkic and not Mongolic. The mid sixth-century work Weishu relates that the language of the Gaoche (高車), a Turkic people who established a nomadic state in modern-day Xinjiang in the late fifth century ad, and that of the Xiongnu were roughly the same with some differences.7 In addition, the mid seventhcentury work Beishi recounts that the language of the Yuwen Xiongnu, a Xiongnu tribe active during the Sixteen Kingdoms Period (304–439 AD) in northern China, was quite different from that of the Xianbei, a Mongolic or Para-Mongolic people (Beishi 98.3270). However, the linguistic affiliation of the Xiongnu may remain open to speculation even though some of the Xiongnu remnants later may have taken part in the formation and development of various Turkic nomadic confederations. Concerning the origin of the Xiongnu, the Shiji by Sima Qian (司馬遷, d. 86 BC) relates that they were descended from Chun Wei (淳維) (Shiji 110.2879), a legendary figure from the ancient Xia (夏) Dynasty, thus attributing a Xia origin to the Xiongnu. Such an explanation is of no scientific value in determining the origin of the Xiongnu. Yet it does suggest that the physiognomy of the Xiongnu was not too different from that of Sima Qian’s own Han (漢) Chinese population, who also considered themselves descendants of the Xia. However, the Jie (羯), ‘a separate branch of the Xiongnu (匈奴別部)’, who founded the Later Zhao Dynasty (319–351 ad), appear to have possessed West Eurasian physiognomy, that is, ‘deep-set eyes’, ‘high nose bridges’ and ‘heavy facial hair’. The Jinshu relates that when the Later Zhao Dynasty was overthrown, the Han Chinese rebel leader Ran Min massacred about 200,000 Jie, or those with ‘high nose bridges’ and ‘heavy beard (高鼻多 須)’ (Jinshu 107.2792). Moreover, the Jinshu records the following conversation between a Jie notable and a Han Chinese official:
Sun Zhen, the chamberlain (詹事) of the crown prince, asked the minister (侍中) Cui Yue, ‘I suffer from eye diseases. What is the remedy for it?’ Yue, who had always been informal towards Zhen, teased him saying, ‘if [you] urinate in the middle [of the eye], it will be cured’. ‘How can you urinate in the eye?’ Zhen asked. ‘Your eyes are dented. You can urinate in the middle’, Yue said. Zhen harboured hatred and reported this to [Crown Prince] [Shi] Xuan (石宣). Xuan was the most ‘barbarian (hu 胡)’-looking among the princes. His eyes were deep. Hearing this, he became very angry. He killed Yue and his son. 8
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Post by Admin on Jan 27, 2022 19:46:01 GMT
The Dingling or Tiele Unlike for the Xiongnu, historians know with certainty that the Dingling (丁零), a nomadic people who inhabited present-day northern Mongolia during the Xiongnu period, were a Turkic people. Chinese histories are unanimous in depicting them as the ancestors of the Tiele (鐵勒), a group of Turkic tribes that became one of the dominant nomadic powers in the Mongolian steppes after the disintegration of the Xiongnu empire (Weishu, 103. 2307; Beishi, 98.3270). According to the Shiji, Maodun (冒顿, r. 209–174 BC), who founded the Xiongnu empire in the late third century BC, subdued the Dingling (Shiji 110.2893), along with the Donghu (東胡), the Yuezhi (or Rouzhi 月氏) (Shiji 110.2889–90) and the Qirghiz (Gekun 鬲昆) (Shiji 110.2893). The Dingling are mentioned again in the Chinese histories as Han allies who, along with the Wusun (烏孫) and the Wuhuan (烏桓), raided the weakened Xiongnu during the first century BC (Hanshu 94a.3787–88). The Dingling outlived the Xiongnu and re-appear as the Gaoche, or Tiele, in the medieval Chinese histories. As to the origin of the Gaoche, or Tiele, the Weishu and the Beishi describe them as ‘the remnants of the ancient Chidi (古赤狄之餘種)’ (Weishu 103.2307; Beishi 98.3270.), while the Suishu (c. 630s AD) and the Jiu Tangshu (c. 940s AD) merely describe them as ‘the descendants of the Xiongnu (匈奴之苗裔)’ or ‘a separate stock of the Xiongnu (匈奴別種)’ (Suishu 84.1879–80; Jiu Tangshu 199b.5343). The latter two histories also describe the Tiele as a large and widespread group of tribes that inhabited not only the Mongolian steppes but also the Kazakh steppes. Some of them include Uighur (Huihe 回紇 or Weihe 韋紇), Syr Tarduš (Xueyantuo 薛延陀), Bayegu (拔也古), Hun (渾), Tuva (Doubo 都播), Quriqan (Guligan 骨利幹) and Alan (阿蘭), among others (Suishu 84.1880). Some of these Tiele tribes listed in the Chinese histories seem to have been non-Turkic-speaking groups. For instance, the mid eleventh-century work Xin Tangshu writes that the language of the Bayegu was somewhat different from that of the Tiele (言語少異) (Xin Tangshu 217b.6140). Furthermore, the Alans were an ancient Iranic people known to classical writers from the first centuries AD. Regarding the Tiele, the Suishu also notes that ‘their custom was similar to that of the Tujue (Kök Türks) (其俗大抵與突厥同)’, but that the two differed in their marriage and burial customs.9 Importantly, the Chinese histories do not make any particular mention of the physiognomy of the Tiele.
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Post by Admin on Jan 27, 2022 21:38:11 GMT
The Kök Türks The nomadic people who spread the Turkic language and the name Türk beyond the Mongolian steppes were the Kök Türks (Tujue 突厥 in Chinese) led by the Ashina clan. Importantly, Chinese histories do not describe them as descending from the Dingling or as belonging to the Tiele confederation.10 The Zhoushu (c. 630s AD), for instance, describes them as ‘a separate tribe of the Xiongnu (匈奴之別種)’ (Zhoushu 50.907) or ascribes their origin to the Suo state (suo guo 索國) located to the north of the Xiongnu (Zhoushu 50.908). The Suishu recounts that the Kök Türks are descended from ‘the mixed barbarians (za hu 雜胡) of Pingliang (平涼)’11 (Suishu 84.1863). Interestingly, the Zhoushu also relates that the Ashina clan was related to the Qirghiz (Qigu 契骨) (Zhoushu 50.908), who are described in the Xin Tangshu as possessing ‘red hair’ and ‘blue eyes’ (Xin Tangshu 217b.6147). However, as to their physiognomy, the Kök Türks differed from the Qirghiz. According to the Jiu Tangshu, an Ashina commander named Ashina Simo (阿史那思摩) was not given a high military post by the Ashina rulers because of his Sogdian (huren 胡人) physiognomy:12 Simo was a relative of Xieli. Because his face was like that of the ‘barbarian (huren 胡人)’ and not like that of the Tujue, Shibi [Khagan] and Chuluo [Khagan] were doubtful of his being one of the Ashina. Thus although he always held the title of Jiabi tele[i] (夾畢特勒) during Chuluo and Xieli’s time, he could not become a shad (she 設) in command of the army till the end …13
It should be noted that the seventh-century Tang historian Yan Shigu (顏師 古), who added a commentary to the Hanshu (c. 80s AD), describes the Wusun (烏孫) as follows:
The Wusun have the weirdest appearance among all the Rong (戎) of the Western Region (西域). Today’s Hu (胡) people, being blue-eyed and redbearded, and having the appearance of macaques, were originally theirprogeny.14 However, no comparable depiction of the Kök Türks or Tiele is found in the official Chinese histories.15
The Kök Türks became divided into Eastern Türks and Western Türks in the late sixth century (583 AD). The Western Türks, centred in the Kazakh steppes, developed into an autonomous tribal confederation that included some tribes not found among their eastern counterpart, such as the Qarluq (Geluolu 歌邏祿), the Chuyue (處月),16 the Türgesh (Tuqishi 突騎施), 17 and perhaps the Khazars (Hesa 曷薩).18 These tribes, which would outlive the Ashina clan and the Eastern Türks and play an important role in medieval Central Asian history, had probably incorporated some indigenous, non-Turkic elements of the Kazakh steppes. The Jiu Tangshu (194b.5179) writes that the language of the Western Türks was ‘slightly different’ from that of their eastern counterpart. Interestingly, the Chinese histories refer to some obscure nomadic tribes residing beyond northern Mongolia as Tujue, i.e., Kök Türk. These include such tribes as the Muma Tujue (木馬突厥) [Wooden-horse Türk], the Xianyu Tujue (鮮于突厥) and the Niuti Tujue (牛蹄突厥) [Ox-hoof Türk], who resided to the east of the Qirghiz.19 However, not much is known about them and as to why they were designated as Tujue.20 According to the Xin Tangshu (217b.6148), the Doubo (都播), an ancestral tribe of modern Tuvinians, constituted one of the three Muma Tujue tribes, who ‘mourn their dead like the Kök Türks’.21
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Post by Admin on Jan 28, 2022 3:33:58 GMT
The Uighurs One of the major Tiele tribes that were subdued and ruled by the Kök Türks was the Uighur (Huihe 回紇), who allied with the Qarluq, a Western Türk tribe, and the Basmil, another Tiele tribe, and overthrew the Second Türk Khaghanate in 745 AD. As to the origin and identity of the Uighurs, the Chinese histories describe them as descending from the Xiongnu and previously belonging to the Tiele (Jiu Tangshu 195.5195). Importantly, they do not associate or identify the Uighurs with the Kök Türks. For instance, whereas the Shatuo tribe is referred to as ‘a separate tribe of the Western Tujue’ in the Xin Tangshu (218.6153), no such mention is made regarding the origin of the Uighurs. In fact, the Uighurs themselves viewed the Kök Türks as aliens,22 just as the latter had not regarded the Uighurs and Tiele (referred to as Toquz Oghuz in the Orkhon inscriptions) as Türks.23
The Qirghiz The Qirghiz, who destroyed the Uighur Khaganate in 840 AD, were centred in the upper Yenisei region, not in the Mongolian steppes. According to the You yang za zu, written by Duan Chengshi in the ninth century AD, the Qirghiz regarded themselves as progenies of a god and a cow: 24 The Jiankun (堅昆) [Qirghiz] tribe, [unlike the Türks], is not of wolf descent. Their ancestors were born in a cave located to the north of the Quman Mountain. They themselves say that in the ancient times there was a god who mated with a cow in that cave. The people’s hair is yellow, eyes are green, and beards are red. The Qirghiz are distinguished from the Uighurs and other Tiele tribes in Chinese histories. The Xin Tangshu, which provides detailed information on the Qirghiz and the Tiele tribes, does not include the former among the latter (Xin Tangshu 217b.6139–6145). In addition, while the Xin Tangshu states that ‘their language and script were identical to those of the Uighurs (其文字言 語,與回鶻正同)’ (Xin Tangshu 217b.6148), it also notes the peculiar physical phenotype of the Qirghiz. The Xin Tangshu relates: ‘The people are all tall and big and have red hair, white faces, and green eyes (人皆長大,赤髮、皙面、綠 瞳)’ (Xin Tangshu, 217b.6147).25 According to the Xin Tangshu, their neighbouring tribe named Boma (駁馬) or Bila (弊剌) resembled the Qirghiz, although their language was different (Xin Tangshu 217b.6146). This may imply that the Qirghiz were originally a non-Turkic people26 who became Turkicized during the Kök Türk period at least partly through inter-tribal marriages. The Xin Tangshu relates that ‘the Kök Türks sent women as wives for the [Qirghiz] chiefs (突厥以女妻其酋豪)’ (Xin Tangshu, 217b.6149). In the case of Are (阿熱), the Qirghiz ruler who destroyed the Uighur Khaganate, his wife was a Qarluq woman, while his mother was a Türgesh (Xin Tangshu 217b.6149). In addition, the Xin Tangshu relates that the Qirghiz ‘intermixed with the Dingling (其種雜 丁零)’ (Xin Tangshu 217b.6146–47). At any rate, the (red-haired) Qirghiz ‘found dark hair ominous (以黑髮為不祥)’ and ‘regarded those with black eyes as descending from [Li] Ling (李陵)’, a Chinese general who had defected to the Xiongnu.27
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Post by Admin on Jan 28, 2022 4:58:02 GMT
The Önggüt and the Naiman From the collapse of the Uighur Khaganate in the mid ninth century AD to the rise of the Mongols in the early thirteenth century AD, the nomadic peoples of the Mongolian steppes remained largely divided and were loosely controlled by the Khitan Liao (907–1125 AD) and the Jurchen Jin (1115–1234 AD). During this period, there was an increase of Mongolic elements in the Mongolian steppes (Golden 1992: 284). The Turkic tribes that were still present in the Mongolian steppes at the turn of the thirteenth century included the Önggüt and the Naiman. The Önggüt were probably descended from the Chuyue, the above-mentioned Western Tujue tribe. The Yuanshi states that the chief of the Önggüt, Alawusi Tijihuli (阿剌兀思剔吉忽裏), who submitted to Chinggis Khan in 1203, was ‘a descendant of the Shatuo-yanmen (沙陀雁 門之後)’ (Yuanshi 118.2923). In turn, the Xin Tangshu relates that the Shatuo (沙陀) were ‘a progeny of the Chuyue, a separate tribe of the Western Tujue (西突厥別部處月種也)’ (ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿAṭā Malik Juvaynī 1958: vol. 1, 55–6).28 The origin of the Naiman is not well documented. However, one may speculate that the Naiman were an offshoot of the Uighurs. The name of the Naiman ruler before their defeat by Chinggis Khan was Inanch Bilgä Bügü Khan according to Rashīd al-Dīn Hamadānī (1247–1318) (Rashīd al-Dīn Fażlallāh Hamadānī 1988: vol. 1, 97–98; Rashiduddin Fazlullah 1998–99: vol. 1, 69). In fact, Bügü Khan was the legendary founder of the Uighurs, who was born of two parenttrees.29 Inanch Bilgä Bügü Khan was named after the Uighur progenitor Bügü Khan maybe because the Naiman also viewed the latter as their ancestor.
In addition, the Naiman used the Uighur script, which was later adopted by the Mongols.30 Perhaps their relatedness was one of the reasons why the Naiman and the Uighur tribes had special ties in the Uzbek Khanate of Khiva (1511–1804 AD). In the Firdaws al-Iqbāl, a history of the Qunghrat Uzbek Dynasty (1804– 1920 AD), the two are described as friend (dūst) tribes (Shīr Muḥammad Mīrāb Mūnīs & Muḥammad Rīżā Mīrāb Āgahī 1988: 103).31 As to the physiognomy of the Önggüt and the Naiman, Rashīd al-Dīn relates that the former ‘resembled the Mongols (bi-mughūl mānand)’ (Rashīd al-Dīn Fażlallāh Hamadānī 1988: Vol. 1, 99; Rashiduddin Fazlullah 1998–99: Vol. 1, 70) and that the girls (dukhtarān) of the latter were ‘renowned for their beauty and comeliness (biḥusn va jamāl mashhūr bāshand)’ (Rashīd al-Dīn Fażlallāh Hamadānī 1988: Vol. 1, 99; Rashiduddin Fazlullah 1998–99: Vol. 1, 70).
The Qipchaq The Qipchaq were a Turkic group that formed the dominant nomadic confederation in the Qipchaq Steppe (Kazakh and Black Sea steppes) from the mid eleventh century to the early thirteenth century AD. After being conquered by the Mongols, some of them served the Chinggisids as auxiliary forces in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368 AD). The Chinese histories do not provide substantial information on the Turkic tribes of the Qipchaq Steppe but the Yuanshi (c. 1370s AD) offers interesting information on the origin of the Qipchaq clan Ölberli32 in the biography (liezhuan 列傳) of the Yuan general Tutuha (土土哈): Tuotuoha’s ancestors were originally the tribe of the Andahan Mountain, by the Zhelian River, north of Wuping. At first Quchu migrated to the north-west, to the mountain called Yüliboli, by which they named their clan, and they called their state Qincha (Qipchaq). Its territory is 30,000 li away from China. The summer nights are extremely short. The sun rises as soon as it sets. Quchu begat Suomona. Suomona begat Yinasi. They were kings of the Qincha from generation to generation.33 Concerning the physiognomy of the Qipchaq tribe, the Zizhi tongjian houbian [Later compilation to the comprehensive mirror to aid in government], a seventeenth-century continuation of Sima Guang’s Zizhi tongjian by Xu Qianxue, states that they had ‘blue eyes and red hair (青目赤髪)’.34
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