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Post by Admin on Jan 28, 2022 21:21:53 GMT
The Muslim Depiction of Turkic Peoples From the eleventh century onwards, Islamic Central Asia and the Qipchaq Steppe replaced the Mongolian steppes and eastern Inner Asia as the main regions for the activities of the Turkic nomads. Unlike Chinese historians, who reserved Tujue (Türk in Turkic) for the Kök Türks, Muslim writers used the term Turk broadly to denote not only the Turkic-speaking peoples, but also other non-Turkic peoples. However, like Chinese historians, Muslim writers in general depict the ‘Turks’ as possessing East Asian physiognomy. For instance, Sharaf al-Zamān Ṭāhir Marvazī describes them as being ‘short, with small eyes, nostrils, and mouths’ (1942: 53–4, 156).35 Similarly, Ṭabarī (d. 923) depicts the ‘Turks’ as being ‘full-faced with small eyes’ (1987: 21). In his Qābūs-nāma, the eleventh century Ziyarid ruler Kai Kāʾūs also describes the ‘Turks’ as possessing ‘a large head (sar-i buzurg), a broad face (rūy-i pahn), narrow eyes (chashmhā-i tang), and a flat nose (bīnī-i pakhch), and unpleasing lips and teeth (lab va dandān na nīkū)’ (Kai Kāʾūs ibn Iskandar 1951a: 103; 1951b: 64). The Arab historian and geographer al-Masʿūdī (896–956) writes that the Oghuz Turks36 residing in Yengi-kent, a town near the mouth of the Syr Darya, ‘are distinguished from other Turks by their valour, their slanted eyes, and the smallness of their stature’ (wa hum ashadd al-Turk ba’san wa aqṣaruhum wa aṣgharuhum a‘yunan wa fī al-Turk man huwa aqṣar min hā’ulā’) (al-Masʿūdī 1962–: Vol. 1, 212).37 However, Muslim writers later differentiated the Oghuz Turks from other Turks in terms of physiognomy. Rashīd al-Dīn writes that ‘because of the climate their features gradually changed into those of Tajiks. Since they were not Tajiks, the Tajik peoples called them turkmān, i.e. Turk-like (Turk-mānand)’ (Rashīd alDīn Fażlallāh Hamadānī 1988: Vol. 1, 35–6; Rashiduddin Fazlullah 1998–99: Vol. 1, 31). Ḥāfiẓ Tanīsh Mīr Muḥammad Bukhārī (d. c. 1549) also relates that after the Oghuz came to Transoxiana and Iran, their ‘Turkic face did not remain as it was’ (1983: fol. 17a (text), Vol. 1, 61 (trans.)). Abū al-Ghāzī Bahadur Khan similarly writes that ‘their chin started to become narrow, their eyes started to become large, their faces started to become small, and their noses started to become big’ after five or six generations (Abu-l-Gazi 1958: 42 (text), 57 (trans.); Ebülgazî Bahadir Han 1975: 57–8). As a matter of fact, the mixed nature of the Ottomans, belonging to the Oghuz Turkic group, is noted by the Ottoman historian Muṣṭafā ʿĀlī (1541–1600). In his Künhüʾl-aḫbār, he remarks that the Ottoman elites of the sixteenth century were of mostly of non-Turkic origin: ‘Most of the inhabitants of Rum are of confused ethnic origin. Among its notables there are few whose lineage does not go back to a convert to Islam …’ (Ekser-i sükkān-i vilāyet-i Rūm meclis-i muḫteliṭ ul-mefhūm olub ā‘yānında az kimsene bulunur ki nesebi bir müslüm-i cedīde muntehī olmaya) (Fleischer 1986: 254; Muṣṭafā ʿĀlī, Künhüʾl-aḫbār 1860–68: Vol. 1, 16). In sum, the official Chinese histories, which provide substantial information on the origins, identity and physiognomy of the early and medieval Turkicspeaking peoples, do not describe the latter, including the Tiele, the Qirghiz, and the Kök Türks, among others, as having a single origin. Neither do they describe the early and medieval Turkic peoples as sharing a common (Turkic) identity. Furthermore, the Chinese histories depict the Turkic peoples as possessing Inner Asian phenotypic traits in general with a number of exceptions (see Table 1). In the following section, we will discuss how genetic surveys corroborate or complement the Chinese historical records on the origins, identity, and physiognomy of the early and medieval Turkic peoples
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Post by Admin on Jan 29, 2022 20:21:56 GMT
Genetic Surveys on the Turkic Peoples The Genetic Variation of Modern Turkic Populations The Y chromosome is one of the two gender-determining chromosomes that makes a person male. It is inherited from a man by his sons, who then pass it on to their sons largely intact throughout time38 until it develops a mutation. When a mutation, which is a permanent structural alteration in the DNA sequence, occurs, a man with that mutation will then pass it along to all of his male descendants. Over time, such mutations accumulate, which allow us to trace relatedness in groups of people. The male group or patrilineal lineage that shares a certain mutation is called a Y-DNA haplogroup (see Figure 1). In other words, a haplogroup is a population descended from a common ancestor who had and passed on a specific mutation. Population geneticists have categorised human Y-DNA into over 20 major groups, with many sub-groups,39 to which all males belong.
Every person has 22 matching pairs of chromosomes, but the 23rd pair, the X and Y gender chromosomes, are unmatched and they determine one’s maleness (XY) or femaleness (XX). A large portion of the Y chromosome does not exchange material with the X chromosome. A Y-DNA haplogroup is defined by the presence of one or more Y-DNA mutations called Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, or SNP. For instance, haplogroup C is defined by a mutation named M216 and others. The Y Chromosome Consortium (YCC), a scholarship group formed to standardize haplogroup nomenclature, named Y-DNA haplogroups using the capital letters A through T and their subclades using numbers and lower case letters. When a new SNP is discovered and tested, a new haplogroup subclade is determined. For the most up-to-date version of the Y-DNA haplogroup nomenclature and Y-SNP tree, see http://www.isogg.org/tree. For introductory studies of the Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups, see Y Chromosome Consortium (2002); Hammer & Zegura (2002); Karafet et al. (2008); Chiaroni et al. (2009).
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Post by Admin on Jan 29, 2022 21:41:46 GMT
In general, different populations show different Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup compositions and frequencies.40 For instance, the most common Y-chromosome haplogroups among the Arabic-speaking peoples are haplogroups J and E. The most common Y-chromosome haplogroups among Africans, western Europeans and East Asians are haplogroup E, haplogroup R1b and haplogroup O, respectively. Among the Native Americans and the Inuit people, haplogroup Q prevails. Haplogroup C2 (formerly known as C3) is most characteristic to Mongolic, Turkic and Tungusic, that is, the ‘Altaic’- speaking populations (see Map 1). Interestingly, the dominant Y-DNA haplogroups among various modern Turkic populations are not uniform, and neither are their haplogroup compositions.41 While they may share certain haplogroups, the frequencies of these haplogroups vary in general. This means that various Turkic populations, including the Sakhas (inhabiting northeastern Siberia), the Tuvinians (residing in the Sayan Mountains region), the Altaians (various groups residing in the Russian Altai Mountains region), the Volga Tatars (residing in the Volga-Ural region), the Xinjiang Uighurs and the Uzbeks (inhabiting the Central Asian oasis regions), the Kazakhs (inhabiting the Central Asian steppe region), the Turkmens (residing in the Karakum Desert region), the Azeris (residing in the Caucasus region) and the Turks (inhabiting Anatolia and the Balkans), are not made up of homogeneous patrilineal lineages (see Map 2 and Table 2).42 This study is concerned with the Y-chromosome DNA, i.e., the paternal ancestry, not the mitochondrial DNA, i.e., the maternal ancestry, of the Turkic peoples. One should note that Turkic peoples can be differentiated more readily by their Y-chromosome DNA than by their mitochondrial DNA. For instance, the Turkic Tuvinians and Sojots and the Mongolic Buryats are not very distinguishable from each other when it comes to their maternal ancestry since they all share similar mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. See Derenko et al. (2003: table 3).
Contemporary states in Inner Eurasia cannot readily use genetics to make nationalist claims since DNA analysis challenges nationalist paradigms that tend to emphasise the autochthonous development or homogeneity of a nation. For instance, mainstream Kazakh scholarship emphasises the lineal descent of the Kazakhs from the Indo-European pastoralists who resided in the Kazakh Steppe in the Bronze Age (characterised by haplogroup R1a1), while downplaying the later Mongol contribution to the ethnic makeup of the Kazakhs. However, DNA analysis shows that the most prevalent Y-DNA haplogroups among the Kazakhs are haplogroups C2 and O, among others, that they share with the Mongols and eastern Inner Asian Turkic peoples. Importantly, it is unlikely that the Turkic-speaking Central and Inner Asian states will make ‘pan-Turkic’ claims using genetics since DNA analysis points to their heterogeneity, not their homogeneity. At the same time, the main author of this article suspects that the collection and presentation of genetic data can be influenced by historical or political claims although this suspicion cannot be proven. Interestingly, according to the DNA data of the Manchus provided in some Chinese studies, the presence of Y-DNA haplogroup O2b, which appears at high frequency among the Japanese and Koreans but is virtually absent among the Han Chinese, is rather minimal among the Manchus. However, O2b reaches 27~34% among the Manchus in the Japanese and Korean DNA surveys. For the Manchu Y-DNA haplogroups, see Katoh et al. (2005: table 1); Jin et al. (2010: table 4).
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Post by Admin on Jan 29, 2022 22:26:49 GMT
The Y-DNA haplogroups of modern Turkic peoples Their Y-DNA haplogroups (percentage) Their possible most recent ancestral groups Turkmens Q (33.8~42.6%); J (14.3~17.6%); R1a1 (14.5~16.2%); L (4~5.8%); G (4~5.7%); E (4.3~5.4%); N and O (2.9~9.45%); C (0~1.35%) among the Turkmens in Afghanistan and northern Iran Q (73%); H (7%); R1b (5%); R1a1 (4%); G2 (4%); N (2~4%); J (2~4%); C2 (1~2%) among the Turkmens in Karakalpakstan (I) R1a1 (72.5%); N (3.9%) among the Turkmens in Karakalpakstan (II) L (57%); J (13%); Q (13%); E (10%); N (3%) among the Afshar Turkmen villagers in Turkey Oghuz/Turkmens, among others
Azeris J (31%); G (18%); E (6%) among the Azeris in Azerbaijan J (27.2%); R1a1 (19.0%); R1b (17.5%); E (11.1%); G (8%); T (7.9%); Q (4.8%); N (1.6%) among the Azeris in northeastern Iran
Oghuz/Turkmens and various indigenous groups Turks J (33.5%); R1b (15.86%); E (11.3%); G (10.9%); R1a1 (6.9%); I (5.3%); L (4.2%); N (3.8%); Q (1.9%); C (1.3%); O (0.2%)
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Post by Admin on Jan 30, 2022 2:16:22 GMT
The Sakhas, formerly known as Yakuts, are the easternmost as well as northernmost Turkic people in the world. They were originally a horse-riding people from the western Baikal region.43 It is believed that the Sakhas descend from the Quriqan (Tokarev 1962: 107; Golden 1992: 143–4, 415), which was a Tiele tribe (see Jiu Tangshu 199b.5343). According to recent genetic surveys, the most typical Y-chromosome haplogroups of the Sakhas and their frequencies are as follows: N1c1 (89~94%) and C2 (2.1~3.6%) (Pakendorf et al. 2006: 346, table 6: N-TatC corresponds to N1c1; Kharkov et al. 2008: 200, table 1: N3a corresponds to N1c1). Haplogroup N1c1 is widespread among the Uralic peoples and Turkic peoples. Haplogroup N originated in East Asia and approximately 8000–10,000 years ago spread from Siberia into eastern/northern Europe (Hong Shi et al. 2013). It is present in northeastern Europe at high frequency: 70.9% and 41.3% among eastern Finns and western Finns, respectively (Lappalainen et al. 2008: table 1), and 43% and 17% in northern Russia and central Russia, respectively (Balanovsky et al. 2008: 242, table 2). C2 is the major haplogroup of the Mongols, Kazakhs, and Evenks, who belong to the proposed Altaic language family (for the Evenks, see Pakendorf et al. 2007: 1017, table 5: C-M217 and its subclades C-M48 and C-M86 correspond to C2; for the Mongols and Kazakhs, see Wells et al. 2001: 10245, table 1: M130 and M48 correspond to haplogroup C2; Zerjal et al. 2002: 474, table 3: haplogroups 10 and 36 correspond to haplogroup C2). In northwestern Mongolia and the Sayan Mountains region, now reside the Tuvinians. Perhaps, they are the descendants of the Tiele and/or Muma Tujue (Türks), one of whose three tribes was Doubo (Tuva). The major Y-chromosome haplogroups of the Tuvinians and their frequencies are as follows: N subclades N1c1 and N1b (42.2~45.1%), C2 (16.1~26.5%), Q (4.9~13.9%), and R1a1 (7.8~12.3%) (Gubina et al. 2013: 339, table 3; see Kharkov et al. 2013: 1239. C3 in this article corresponds to C2). The frequencies of each haplogroup may vary depending on the surveys with different samples, but the above two recent surveys show that haplogroups N and C2 are the most prevalent paternal lineages among the Tuvinians. Haplogroups N and C2 are also the main paternal clans among the Buryats (see Kharkov et al. 2014: 183, table 1), who are the neighbouring Mongolic people of the Tuvinians. 44 Haplogroup Q, which is found across Eurasia, is present at significant frequency among the Turkmens, two Siberian peoples (Yeniseinan Kets and Uralic Selkups at 93.7% and 66.4%, respectively) (Tambets et al. 2004: 667, table 3), and the Native Americans (at over 90%).45 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.46 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 Qirghiz, since they were regarded as descending from the Qirghiz) 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, table 3; Shi et al. 2013: table 3). As for the Altaians, the Altai-Kizhi (southern Altaians)47 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, table 2). 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 Qirghiz (Kyrgyz) of the Tien Shan Mountains region (Kyrgyzstan) from the Yenisei Qirghiz is debated among historians.48 However, among the modern Turkic peoples, the former have the highest percentage of R1a1 (over 60%). Since the West Eurasian physiognomy of the Yenisei Qirghiz 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 Qirghiz (Kyrgyz) received their R1a1 marker from the Yenisei Qirghiz.49 That is, the former are descended from the latter. The other Y-chromosome haplogroups found among the Qirghiz (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. The Western Yugurs residing in Gansu Province, China, are descended from the remnants of the ancient Uighurs (Golden 1992: 409). Their major Y-chromosome haplogroups are C2 (21.2~30%), D (19.2%), O3 (34.6%), and Q (15%).51 Haplogroup D is the genetic marker of the Tibetans (Shi et al. 2008: 5, table 2), while haplogroup O3 is that of East Asians (Xue et al. 2005: table 1). Haplogroup O3 is also found among various Mongolic and Turkic groups at moderate frequency.52 The low frequency of haplogroup R1a1 (1.9~7%) among the Western Yugurs differentiates them from the Qirghiz (Kyrgyz) and the Altaians.
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