Anthropological aspects of the origin of the Kazakh people

ETHNOGENESIS ETHNIC AND PROCESSES IN THE TERRITORY OF KAZAKHSTAN

Anthropological aspects of the origin of Kazakh people

Search for the origins of ethnic education of Kazakh people is extremely complex, and is intimately connected with the study of antiquity Kazakhstan and adjacent areas, monks who participated in the extensive ethno-genetic processes in Eurasia.

Among the many aspects of the origin of the Kazakh people are two rod: linguistic and anthropological. There is all reason to believe that the two processes on the territory developed in parallel, mainly of historical vertical. This approach allows us to trace the continuity and maintain the "ancestral" features. However, in certain historical periods, a role played by the development along a horizontal line. It is noteworthy that in the ancient indigenous settlers in the region had a common linguistic and anthropological foundation, and modern descendants of the genetic clustering generally corresponds to the linguistic. The ancient history of Kazakhstan can be divided into two major periods: the Indo-European and Turkic. *

The first period, in spite of their considerable time distance, appears to us as a real phase does not formed only with severe economic and cultural traditions, but also a number of known associations of ethnic and racial formations. From the linguistic point at this stage monks not just in Kazakhstan but also a vast region of Eurasia were in ancient Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. Chronologically,  the period under review in Kazakhstan covered III-I millennium BC.

Available archaeological artifacts of Kazakhstan associated with this period, indicate that on the most part was spread so-called Andronovo culture of the Bronze Age. In the western part of the most widespread carcass culture. In general, these plants have a pronounced regional traits, which in turn served as the basis for a new way of life of children in the form of nomadism in the subsequent era of the early Iron Age . At this stage, the continuity of cultural- historical community of the local inhabitants of the early Iron Age to the Bronze Age period in Kazakhstan, as evidenced by numerous archaeological sources , there is no doubt .

During the reporting period the territory of Kazakhstan essentially becoming the center of spread of the so-called "nomadic triad", typical of all the Eurasian steppes, that is the natural habitat of existence of classical objects of weapons, horse gear and the "animal style" in the design of products. The origins of this triad is thought by some researchers to go back to ancient Kazakh tribes of Andronovo Culture in the mid II millennium BC. However, with the discovery phase of development arzhanskoy nomadic cultures in the recent regional characteristics of Eurasian tribes from the Yellow River to the Danube were seen against the background of the overall interaction of the nomadic world as a whole. However, this vast nomadic world had local economic and cultural optionsOne of them is the nomadic tribes of Kazakhstan of the early Iron Age. During this period, in Eurasian steppes in the form of separate ethnic groups fixed Indo-European tribes called "Scythians" ("Saks"). These terms are in fact reflecting the same community of nomadic tribes. Contemporaries Saka- Scythian tribal union were Sauromats who lived in western Kazakhstan and beyond. However, in the ancient sources mention their multiple units with a rather vague localization in the European steppes. Also, modern literature is replete with contradictions about their whereabouts. The most extensive coverage in the literature received tribes of Massaget, Issedon, Arimaspeev etc. Some researchers in recent years strongly emphasize that these and other ethnonyms Eurasian tribes do not reflect the holistic ethnic entity, but rather generalized name of a certain economic-cultural communities. Therefore ethnic definition in ancient written sources and modern archaeological research in the localization of various nomadic groups in the Eurasian steppes early Iron Age and Antiquity is too hypothetical and needs serious critical study and might have to be revised them. Despite this, the Saka-Scythian tribal alliance in Kazakhstan retained the Indo-European community in its ethnic and cultural development before the turn of the new era.

Such, in general terms, ethno-cultural situation, which was the basis of ethno-forming process of local inhabitants in the Bronze Age and Iron Age.  At this stage, the entire set of the most important components of economic and cultural traditions, the development of ethnic and linguistic proximity, ultimately formed the basis for the subsequent process of a cultural and historical community of tribal alliances Kazakhstan, including the Kazakh nation as a whole. This is supported by the main results of research on ethnic archeology, ethnology, historical ethnography and  in the toponymics of Kazakhstan. This conceptual position is the most important foundation in paleo-anthropological materials of Kazakhstan.

As you know, the creator and conductor of the value orientations of all ethnic and cultural heritage in different historical era was the man himself. But there is a biological side of his nature when at the same time he is part of the natural history of community of people, who are genetically related varying degrees of kinship.  In the human genome the internal and external features are laid, and related group of people has its own specific set of these features.

It is noted that due to geographical and historical reasons, in some ethnic groups the frequency of manifestations of heritable traits surface starts differently. The nature of the distribution of certain genes among members of a particular community of people can tell a lot about the ethnic history of the nation, its migrations, contacts, mixture or separately in different periods. The basis of this anthropological study is based on the principles of ethnohistorical development and geographical distribution of genetic characteristics of inhabitants of Kazakhstan for several millennia.

Referring to the paleo-anthropological data of Kazakhstan of the Bronze Age, because the discovery of human remains of earlier periods are very fragmentary. According to paleo-anthropological and archaeological data, the ancient population of Kazakhstan in this period was concentrated in the center of a large ethno-cultural region - Eurasia - and was one of the representatives of the vast anthropological formation; steppe type of proto-European race. The main part of this large region, including Kazakhstan and Central Asia, was the earliest area of ​​habitat and the tribal of Indo-Iranian of cultural, historical and linguistic community. For a number of thousands of carriers of this ancient civilization were the most important nucleus in the formation of the later anthropological regional entities.

Paleoanthropological studies have described the appearance of the ancient populations of Kazakhstan in the Bronze Age. During this period, in the vast territory were distributed the different variants of the ancient Europeoids, but the predominant anthropological type was steppe, also called  the Andronovo by name of the archaeological culture. He had mezocranial skull, low, wide and well-shaped face, very prominent nasal bone and the low orbit. However, in some parts of South-East (Seven Rivers) and Western Kazakhstan was inhabited by tribes which were similar in fenooblik with a local version of East-Mediterranean race. In general, these and other local Europeoid racial types were a powerful anthropological formation, on the basis of which there was a further transformation of the genome of the ancient people of Kazakhstan. Thus at the origins of the ancient anthropological formation of Kazakhstan were well distinguishable, clearly expressed variants of the European race without a trace of genes of Eastern (Asian) racial stem. Hence appearance of ancient Europeoid populations in Kazakhstan was originally a autochtonous phenomenon, and the most important features of the phe-image passed down from generation to generation.

The study of paleoanthropology of Kazakhstan in early Iron Age found that the population of the region is still characterized by a pronounced features of European race, known in the Bronze Age. In other words, there is a clear genetic continuity between the populations of Kazakhstan of the two periods which were analyzed. However, at the meticulous analysis of crania series of early Iron Age, we should note a trend that certainly evolved under the influence of phenotype traits introduced by the eastern  populations  (Central Asia). However, the proportion of Mongoloid elements was still small in phenotype in guise of the ancient populations of KazakhstanIn general, the local tribes of Scythian-Saka time 1/6 of the physical traits already belonged to the "eastern" complex, members of which are fixed for the first time in the area with the given period. On this basis we can say that the middle of I millennium BC was the beginning of infiltration of the eastern populations and the mixing process of the ancient inhabitants of Kazakhstan, when the elements of the "eastern" race in this territory began to gradually increase as we approach the later stages of the Middle Ages. "In the early Iron Age there are several different ethnic and cultural scene in the western part of Kazakhstan, where lived a nomadic Scythian- Savromat tribes.  Cultural centers of this communities were found in modern Aktobe, West Kazakhstan, Atyrau and Mangistau regions. However, most of the monuments of Scythian-Savromats time found outside of the West Kazakhstan, in particular, in the Middle and Lower Volga and in the Southern Urals. Some researchers associated the history of the development of the cultural community with these regions. However, the researchers found a tangible anthropological links between the Androns  from steppe and Sauromats of Western Kazakhstan.  Thus, in the early Iron Age in the territory of Kazakhstan, we are faced with the two cultural centers: Scythian-Saka and Scythian and Sarmatian. Creators of the first were the descendants of local populations of the Andronov culture, the second - the descendants of the ancient populations of carcass culture. In general, according to archeological data between Saks  and  Sauromates traced the historical closeness of the material culture and way of life.

In general, the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes of the region under consideration by major craniometric featured yet are similar in appearance to the Saka-Usun world of South-Eastern Kazakhstan, representing by themself a huge Sarmatian-Usun continuum. Paleoanthropological materials of the Usun time seems quite informative. As you know, in the end I millennium BC in south-eastern Kazakhstan to replace ethnic unification of tribes of  Saka time came a new tribal alliance with the ethnonym "Usuns," which, as the researchers believe, in essence it the latest phase in the development of the Saka culture. Therefore, the division of tribes of Saks and Usuns is conditional, reflecting different stages of the evolution of a single ethnic group. This is supported by the data of paleoanthropology.

Consideration of craniological series of Usun time shows a continuous genetic continuity with the previous period, that is, an anthropological basis of local populations of the ancient time still remains ancient Europeoid.  As for genetic admixture of eastern tribes, its specific weight slightly increased compared with the previous Scythian-Saka era. Overall, the share of this component among the local population was already 1/4 of the total mass.

The main reason for the detected trends in racial morphology of the local inhabitants is undoubtedly related to the penetration and settling Hun tribes from Central Asia. However, at this stage of our research a specific contribution to the gene pool of local populations remains unsolved because of the fragmentation pa- leoantropologicheskih materials Hun - Sarmatian tribes , though their ethno-cultural development has left a deep mark on the ancient history of Kazakhstan . By the same problems Tocharic ( yuechzhiyskoy ) civilization , which has had a huge impact on the ethno-cultural development of the local tribes , is still poorly developed. , listed on the skeleton and other data we can conclude that for more than two millennia BC. e . Kazakh people in anthropological terms, had a common basis of morphological and physiological characteristics . It turned out to be fairly stable , and despite the many epochal historical events that occurred in the Eurasian steppes in the I and II millennium BC. e . , later preserved in the genetic portrait of the modern Kazakhs in the form of ancestral components specific to the population of the Bronze and Early Iron Age Kazakhstan. The basis for this judgment is a whole vast anthropological data on modern Kazakhs .

Early I millennium BC. e . for most of Eurasia , including Kazakhstan and Central Asia, marked a new stage of interaction of internal and external factors in ethnic and rasogenetiches -com development , thus came the radical transformation of the ancient historical and cultural way of life of the local tribes and made ​​the transition to the proto- ethno -cultural and linguistic community .

As is known, in the second period there were numerous local migration of nomadic tribes in the West, and the formation of alliances with various nomadic Turkic dialects in Kazakhstan. A huge area of the latter with relatively stable economic and cultural traditions because of its historical development and geographical location for long millennium has become a natural bridge between East and West, and its indigenous settlers were at the heart of the migration routes of Eurasia. With regard to the gene pool of the local populations of these periods, through a series of migrations , and then mixing the composition of its population , of course, was subjected to repeated genetic

9126_Image13.gif

" Additives " by the nomadic tribes of eastern origin . Paleoanthropology in Kazakhstan this time testifies to this ( Fig. 1. ) . Scale influx of these genes was different and, of course , has had a certain effect on fenooblik local populations . This is particularly evident when comparing the crania series Usun and Turkic periods . However, the bulk of the local ethnic entities remained Caucasian Turkic time , keeping the genetic characteristics of the ancient tribes that precede them . If we look at the overall relationship of the two leading racial components in the physical appearance of the local inhabitants of the considered time, the conditional share of Mongoloid elements as a whole amounted to 1 /3 of the population gene pool . A number of local groups, the impurity level reached half of the total gene pool. In some series of crania , particularly in pritobolskoy Series VIII- X centuries . n . e . of Northern Kazakhstan , the conditional share Mongoloid reached two thirds of the total massy9 . A similar phenomenon is observed in the border areas ( the Volga and Urals ) , close to the western part of Kazakhstan , where the local population XI and XII-XIV centuries . Mongoloid admixture was the same as in the current version of the representatives of the Kazakhstan turanoidnoy ( South Siberian ) rasy10 . All of this points to the fact that the degree of mixing of physical traits on the basis of ancient Caucasian newcomers with Mongoloids , characteristic of modern Kazakhs took place in parts of Kazakhstan for a Turkic time .

For most populations of Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region I and the beginning of the end of the II millennium BC. e . marked the successful socio -economic and cultural development. In a number of settled and semi-settled areas of Kazakhstan increased consolidation between close and distant tribal associations . For this period the population of Kazakhstan as a whole is characterized by a strong tendency to the addition of certain common obscheetnicheskoy basis due to both geographical and cultural- historical factors . These are mainly the resettlement in a monotonous landscape and similar climates , the same type of economic and cultural traditions , the unity of language and common origin . However, the invasion of the Mongols in the beginning of the XIII century. and the creation of the territory of Kazakhstan Mongol ulus suspended for many years to complete the process of ethnic and cultural formation of a unified Kazakh nation .

When comparing the crania series Kazakhs with lots of skulls " Mongol " and Turkic time found , on the one hand , the continuous genetic continuity between the population of these periods , on the other - further strengthening of the tributaries of genes "Eastern" orientation ( see Fig. 1). In general , during the Mongol domination notional share of the eastern part of the local inhabitants has increased by about the same as it is in the Turkic time (about 20%). On this basis, it can be argued that the Mongolian expansion is not accompanied by a mass migration of Central Asian tribes or complete displacement of the local tribes in other regions and in general could cause a sharp change of the genetic structure of local populations . Anthropologically its primary role has been reduced to yet another increase metisatsionnogo process among the descendants of the ancient province. However, it should be noted that this is not so large influx of genes in the " Mongol " time scale of Kazakhstan was effective enough to populations in fenooblike formally began to prevail over the west wind component , that is, for the time history of contacts share one introduced component reached two thirds of the total gene pool. This ratio of the main components of components in the anthropological composition of Kazakhstan's population has remained relatively stable from the late Middle Ages to the present ( Fig. 2).