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93-583: Arzhan is a site of early Saka kurgan burials in the Tuva Republic , Russia , some 60 kilometers (40 mi) northwest of Kyzyl . It is on a high plateau traversed by the Uyuk River , a minor tributary of the Yenisei River , in the region of Tuva , 20 km to the southwest of the city of Turan . The Arzhan culture is considered as forming the initial Scythian period (8th–7th century BC), and precedes

186-506: A Central Asian origin. Archaeological evidence now tends to suggest that the origins of Scythian culture , characterized by its kurgans (a type of burial mound) and its Animal style of the 1st millennium BC, are to be found among Eastern Scythians rather than their Western counterparts: eastern kurgans are older than western ones (such as the Altai kurgan Arzhan 1 in Tuva ), and elements of

279-564: A Neolithic Eastern Mongolian population (East_Mongolia_preBA) having primarily Amur_N-like ancestry and local Baikal hunter-gatherers (Baikal_EBA). Several successor groups of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Baikal hunter-gatherers with varying degrees of Western Steppe Herders / Sintashta-like admixture started to appear in the Altai region during the Late Bronze Age. These groups formed from

372-544: A large extent to the formation of the hybrid Eurasian Scytho-Siberian cultures , such as the Arzhan and Pazyryk (Eastern Saka) as well as the Tasmola ( Central Saka ) cultures of Central Asia from around 1,000 BCE, contributing about half of their genetic profile (40-55%), highlighting the increase in genetic diversity during the late Bronze Age and the following Iron Age. The hybrid Saka cultures in turn played an important role in

465-664: A minor Ancient North Eurasians (ANE) component at c. 11% (5-20%). The ANE-like component is best explained via Ancient Paleo-Siberian-rich groups. They also display genetic affinities with the Yumin hunter-gatherers from Northeast China , as well as the Neolithic and Bronze Age groups in Yakutia (Yakutia_LNBA) and Krasnoyarsk (kra001) in the Altai-Sayan region . These populations are sometimes described as "Neo-Siberians" and can be differentiated from proper ANA/Amur populations represented by

558-524: A more recent post- Xiongnu Kokel culture (2nd-4th century CE) burial site was discovered and excavated just outside of its southern periphery, and the results were published in 2021. The excavation work was interrupted in 2022 because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine . Arzhan has been a key element in archaeological evidence that now tends to suggest that the origins of Scythian culture , characterized by its kurgan burial mounds and its Animal style of

651-839: A ruler who was loyal to Achaemenid rule. The territories of the Saka were absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire as part of Chorasmia that included much of the territory between the Oxus and the Iaxartes rivers, and the Saka then supplied the Achaemenid army with a large number of mounted bowmen. According to Polyaenus , Darius fought against three armies led by three kings, respectively named Sacesphares , Amorges or Homarges , and Thamyris , with Polyaenus's account being based on accurate Persian historical records. After Darius's administrative reforms of

744-570: Is also confirmed by significant east-to-west gene flow across the steppes during the 1st millennium BC. In 2019, a genetic study of remains from the Aldy-Bel culture was published in Human Genetics . The authors determined the paternal haplogroups of 16 Aldy Bel males. 9 out of 16 samples (56.25%) were found to be carriers of the West Eurasian haplogroup R1a , while 7 samples (43.75%) belonged to

837-536: Is connected semantically with the name Saka. The region once again came under Chinese suzerainty with the campaigns of conquest by Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626–649). From the late eighth to ninth centuries, the region changed hands between the rival Tang and Tibetan Empires . However, by the early 11th century the region fell to the Muslim Turkic peoples of the Kara-Khanid Khanate , which led to both

930-697: Is then a large gap until the Neolithic period, where the specific ANA gene pool has been identified. Ancestry basal to the ANA gene pool, but significantly closer to them than to the Upper-Paleolithic Tianyuan-related gene pool or other East Asian lineages (such as Southern East Asians), has been found among a sample in the Amur region (AR19K; c. 19 000 BP), suggesting that Ancient Northeast Asians diverged from other East Asian populations sometimes between 19kya to 26kya. The first individual to be identified with

1023-600: The Sakā haumavargā of his ally Amorges, later carried out a campaign against the Massagetae / Sakā tigraxaudā in 530 BC. According to Herodotus, Cyrus captured a Massagetaean camp by ruse, after which the Massagetae queen Tomyris led the tribe's main force against the Persians, defeated them, and placed the severed head of Cyrus in a sack full of blood. Some versions of the records of

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1116-514: The Animal style are first attested in areas of the Yenisei river and modern-day China in the 10th century BC. Genetic evidence corroborates archaeological findings, suggesting an initial eastwards expansion of Western Steppe Herders towards the Altai region and Western Mongolia, spreading Iranian languages , and subsequent contact episodes with local Siberian and Eastern Asian populations, giving rise to

1209-741: The Asioi , Pasianoi , Tokharoi and Sakaraulai – came from land north of the Syr Darya where the Ili and Chu valleys are located. Identification of these four tribes varies, but Sakaraulai may indicate an ancient Saka tribe, the Tokharoi is possibly the Yuezhi, and while the Asioi had been proposed to be groups such as the Wusun or Alans . René Grousset wrote of the migration of

1302-667: The Achaemenid Empire on the Iaxartes river. Some other Saka groups lived to the east of the Pamir Mountains and to the north of the Iaxartes river , as well as in the regions corresponding to modern-day Qirghizia , Tian Shan , Altai , Tuva , Mongolia , Xinjiang , and Kazakhstan . The Sək , that is the Saka who were in contact with the Chinese, inhabited the Ili and Chu valleys of modern Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan , which

1395-637: The Altai Mountains , 1,500 km further to the west than previously understood. The people of the Ulaanzuukh (1450–1150 BCE) and Slab Grave (1100–300 BCE) cultures were closely associated with the Ancient Northeast Asians (Amur ancestry) and can be modeled as direct descendants of them. They largely replaced the previous Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Baikal hunter-gatherers, although geneflow between them has been proposed, particularly between

1488-637: The Ancient Greeks called them Skuthai ( Ancient Greek : Σκύθης Skúthēs , Σκύθοι Skúthoi , Σκύθαι Skúthai ). The Achaemenid inscriptions initially listed a single group of Sakā . However, following Darius I 's campaign of 520 to 518 BC against the Asian nomads, they were differentiated into two groups, both living in Central Asia to the east of the Caspian Sea: A third name

1581-746: The Dian Kingdom in Yunnan , China . In the Tarim Basin and Taklamakan Desert of today's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region , they settled in Khotan , Yarkand , Kashgar and other places. Linguist Oswald Szemerényi studied synonyms of various origins for Scythian and differentiated the following terms: Sakā 𐎿𐎣𐎠 , Skuthēs Σκύθης , Skudra 𐎿𐎤𐎢𐎭𐎼 , and Sugᵘda 𐎿𐎢𐎦𐎢𐎭 . Derived from an Iranian verbal root sak- , "go, roam" (related to "seek") and thus meaning "nomad"

1674-615: The Eurasian Steppe , following which the Scythians displaced the Cimmerians and the Agathyrsi , who were also nomadic Iranian peoples closely related to the Massagetae and the Scythians, conquered their territories, and invaded Western Asia , where their presence had an important role in the history of the ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia , Anatolia , Egypt , and Iran . During

1767-794: The Hexi Corridor of Gansu by the forces of the Xiongnu ruler Modu Chanyu , who conquered the area in 177–176 BC. In turn the Yuehzhi were responsible for attacking and pushing the Sai ( i.e. Saka) west into Sogdiana, where, between 140 and 130 BC, the latter crossed the Syr Darya into Bactria. The Saka also moved southwards toward the Pamirs and northern India, where they settled in Kashmir, and eastward, to settle in some of

1860-598: The Mathura lion capital belonging to the Saka kingdom of the Indo-Scythians (200 BC – 400 AD) in North India , roughly the same time the Chinese record that the Saka had invaded and settled the country of Jibin 罽賓 (i.e. Kashmir , of modern-day India and Pakistan). Iaroslav Lebedynsky and Victor H. Mair speculate that some Sakas may also have migrated to the area of Yunnan in southern China following their expulsion by

1953-787: The Pazyryk burials , the Issyk kurgan , Saka Kurgan tombs , the Barrows of Tasmola and possibly Tillya Tepe . In the 2nd century BC, many Sakas were driven by the Yuezhi from the steppe into Sogdia and Bactria and then to the northwest of the Indian subcontinent , where they were known as the Indo-Scythians . Other Sakas invaded the Parthian Empire , eventually settling in Sistan , while others may have migrated to

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2046-559: The Pazyryk culture in the Ukok Plateau in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC are thought to be of Saka chieftains. These burials show striking similarities with the earlier Tarim mummies at Gumugou . The Issyk kurgan of south-eastern Kazakhstan , and the Ordos culture of the Ordos Plateau has also been connected with the Saka. It has been suggested that the ruling elite of the Xiongnu

2139-514: The Pazyryk culture . The remains of Arzhan are among the earliest of all known Scythian cultures, which has led to suggestions that it is the origin of the Scythian " Animal Style ". It is the first stage of the Saka Uyuk culture . The excavations showed burials with rich grave goods including horses and gold artifacts. There are several hundred kurgans . Arzhan-1 was excavated by M. P. Gryaznov in

2232-665: The Scythian phylum , one of the Eastern Iranian languages . However, the Sakas of the Asian steppes are to be distinguished from the Scythians of the Pontic Steppe ; and although the ancient Persians, ancient Greeks, and ancient Babylonians respectively used the names "Saka," "Scythian," and " Cimmerian " for all the steppe nomads, the name "Saka" is used specifically for the ancient nomads of

2325-489: The Scythians , Saka and Cimmerians were closely related nomadic Iranic peoples, and the ancient Babylonians , ancient Persians and ancient Greeks respectively used the names " Cimmerian ," "Saka," and " Scythian " for all the steppe nomads, and early modern historians such as Edward Gibbon used the term Scythian to refer to a variety of nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples across the Eurasian Steppe, The name Sakā

2418-705: The Turkification of the region as well as its conversion from Buddhism to Islam . Later Khotanese-Saka-language documents, ranging from medical texts to Buddhist literature , have been found in Khotan and Tumshuq (northeast of Kashgar). Similar documents in the Khotanese-Saka language dating mostly to the 10th century have been found in the Dunhuang manuscripts . Although the ancient Chinese had called Khotan Yutian (于闐), another more native Iranian name occasionally used

2511-711: The Ustyurt Plateau , most especially between the Araxes and Iaxartes rivers. The Sakā tigraxaudā /Massagetae could also be found in the Caspian Steppe. The imprecise description of where the Massagetae lived by ancient authors has however led modern scholars to ascribe to them various locations, such as the Oxus delta, the Iaxartes delta, between the Caspian and Aral seas or further to

2604-466: The Western Satrap Rudrasimha I dated to AD 181. Persians referred to all northern nomads as Sakas. Herodotus (IV.64) describes them as Scythians, although they figure under a different name: Kh%C3%B6vsg%C3%B6l LBA In archaeogenetics , the term Ancient Northeast Asian ( ANA ), also known as Amur ancestry , is the name given to an ancestral component that represents

2697-636: The Western Steppe Herders , they were primarily of local Northern East Asian origin, implying cultural transmission. Modern day Tuvans and Nganasans , followed by Nanais , Yukaghirs , Evens , Itelmens , Ulchis , Koryaks , Nivkhs , and Chukchis , are among the people sharing the highest genetic affinities with the Late Bronze Age herders of Khövsgöl, but are not identical with them. The Altai MLBA gene pool further West can be associated with Eastern Scythians ( Saka ), who can be modeled as deriving significant amounts of ancestry (c. 40-55%) from

2790-458: The 1970s, establishing the origins of Scythian culture in the region in the 10th to 8th centuries BCE: Arzhan-1 was carbon-dated to circa 800 BCE. Further excavations were conducted in 1997 and in 1998-2003 (Arzhan-2). Many of the styles of the artifacts found in Arzhan 1 (such as the animal style images of deer, boar, and panther) soon propagated to the west, probably following a migration mouvement from

2883-421: The 1st millennium BC, are to be found among Eastern Scythians rather than their Western counterparts: eastern kurgans are older than western ones (such as the Altaic kurgan Arzhan 1 in Tuva ), and elements of the Animal style are first attested in areas of the Yenisei river and modern-day China in the 10th century BCE. The rapid spread of Scythian culture, from the Eastern Scythians to the Western Scythians,

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2976-475: The 520s BC, the Saka expanded into the valleys of the Ili and Chu in eastern Central Asia. Around 30 Saka tombs in the form of kurgans (burial mounds) have also been found in the Tian Shan area dated to between 550 and 250 BC. Darius I waged wars against the eastern Sakas during a campaign of 520 to 518 BC where, according to his inscription at Behistun , he conquered the Massagetae/ Sakā tigraxaudā , captured their king Skunxa , and replaced him with

3069-419: The 7th century BC itself, Saka presence started appearing in the Tarim Basin region. According to the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus , the Parthians rebelled against the Medes during the reign of Cyaxares , after which the Parthians put their country and capital city under the protection of the Sakas. This was followed by a long war opposing the Medes to the Saka, the latter of whom were led by

3162-453: The 7th century BCE). The builders created two central pits that were fake graves to throw off looters, and the main burial was 20 meters off-center. It was first explored by a joint German and Russian archaeological expedition from 2000 to 2004. They found the royal couple, sixteen murdered attendants, and 9,300 objects. 5,700 of these artifacts were made of gold, weighing a Siberian record-breaking twenty kilograms. The male, who researchers guess

3255-430: The Achaemenid Empire, the Sakā tigraxaudā were included within the same tax district as the Medes . During the period of Achaemenid rule, Central Asia was in contact with Saka populations who were themselves in contact with China . After Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire, the Saka resisted his incursions into Central Asia. At least by the late 2nd century BC, the Sakas had founded states in

3348-611: The Baikal region and adjacent regions of Siberia are associated with the Early Neolithic eastern Baikal Fofonovo culture ("Fofonovo_EN"), and the western Baikal Kitoi culture ("Baikal_EN", 5200–4200 BCE or Shamanka_EN), as well as in conjunction with Ancient Paleo-Siberians (APS), the Early Bronze Age Baikal populations associated with the Glazkovo culture ("Baikal_EBA", circa 2500 BCE or Shamanka_EBA) and Cisbaikal_LNBA. They cluster broadly with other Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) populations, but are differentiated from them via drift associated with an earlier inland expansion route, and

3441-507: The Baikal/Shamanka EBA groups, with the remainder being derived from Sintashta -like admixture (c. 45-60%) associated with early Indo-Iranians . A genomic study published in 2021 found that the Tarim mummies (c. 2000 BCE) had high levels of Ancient North Eurasian ancestry (c. 72%), with a smaller admixture from an East Asian-like population (particularly the Baikal_EBA, at c. 28%), but no detectable Western Steppe Herder-related ancestry . The Baikal EBA populations, also contributed to

3534-410: The Cimmerians. The Sakā tigraxaudā and Sakā haumavargā both lived in the steppe and highland areas located in northern Central Asia and to the east of the Caspian Sea. The Sakā tigraxaudā /Massagetae more specifically lived around Chorasmia and in the lowlands of Central Asia located to the east of the Caspian Sea and the south-east of the Aral Sea , in the Kyzylkum Desert and

3627-506: The East Eurasian haplogroups Q-L54 and N-M231 . The authors also analyzed the maternal haplogroups of 26 Siberian Scythian remains from Arzhan. 50% of the remains carried an East Eurasian haplogroup including C , D , F and G , while 50% carried West Eurasian haplogroups H , U , or T . In contrast to the paternal lineages, the maternal lineages were extremely diverse. The most common lineages were variants of haplogroup C4 . Significant paternal genetic differences were found between

3720-403: The Eastern Eurasian Ulaanzuukh / Slab Grave culture , while low status individuals tended to be more diverse and having higher Saka-like ancestry. A likely chanyu , a male ruler of the Empire identified by his prestigious tomb, was shown to have had similar ancestry as a high status female in the "western frontiers", deriving about 39.3% Slab Grave genetic ancestry, 51.9% Han ancestry, with

3813-524: The Eastern Scythians and the Scythians of the Pontic-Caspian steppe . The two groups were of completely different paternal origins, with almost no paternal gene flow between them. On the other hand, there is strong evidence of shared maternal DNA between Scythian cultures, indicating maternal geneflow from East Euraisa to West Eurasia. Another analysis of population ancestry suggested that Aldy Bel Scythians were of roughly 60% West Eurasian ancestry and 40% East Eurasian ancestry. The Scythian king buried in

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3906-416: The Göktürks. However, the authors also observed that the population of the "Türkic Empire" as a whole, particularly Central Steppe and Medieval Türks, had a high but variable degree of West Eurasian admixture, suggesting genetic sub-structure within the empire: for example, the ancestry of early medieval Turks was derived from Ancient Northeast Asians for about 62,2% of their genome, while the remaining 37,8%

3999-617: The Iaxartes river as well as seven fortresses to protect the northern frontier of his empire against the Saka. Cyrus then attacked the Sakā haumavargā , initially defeated them and captured their king, Amorges . After this, Amorges's queen, Sparethra , defeated Cyrus with a large army of both men and women warriors and captured Parmises , the brother-in-law of Cyrus and the brother of his wife Amytis , as well as Parmises's three sons, whom Sparethra exchanged in return for her husband, after which Cyrus and Amorges became allies, and Amorges helped Cyrus conquer Lydia . Cyrus, accompanied by

4092-541: The Karakaba remains (830CE) and may be associated with the westwards expansion of Xiongnu tribes. A Hun individual from an elite burial of the mid-4th century CE in Budapest, Hungary, was reconstructed as 60% Ancient Northeast Asian/Amur (ANA) and 40% Saka . The 7-8th century Avars in Europe, particularly as regards the Avar elite, were also confirmed to have essentially Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry (c. 90%), with some additions from other sources. The Turkic princess Ashina (551–582 CE), whose remains were sequenced,

4185-419: The Khotanese kṣuṇa , "implies an established connection between the Iranian inhabitants and the royal power," according to the Professor of Iranian Studies Ronald E. Emmerick. He contended that Khotanese-Saka-language royal rescripts of Khotan dated to the 10th century "makes it likely that the ruler of Khotan was a speaker of Iranian." Furthermore, he argued that the early form of the name of Khotan, hvatana ,

4278-480: The Laboratory of Anthropological Reconstruction of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences by anthropologists Drs E.V. Veselovskaya and R.M. Galeev. They displayed a combination of "Caucasoid" and "Mongoloid" features, the Queen having especially high and prominent cheekbones. Etched carnelian beads , a technology originally developed in India in the 3rd millennium BCE, and probably manufactured in Iran or Central Asia where found in

4371-462: The Neolithic Devils Cave specimen, but share a common recent origin via their Ancient Northern East Asian ancestor. Neo-Siberians are inferred to have expanded prior to the expansion of Neolithic Amur ancestry. The Devils_Cave_N sample was found to display genetic continuity with a c. 14kya old sample (AR14K) from the Amur region , suggesting that the specific ANA gene pool formed as early as 14,000 BP. Neolithic ANA remains have been found as far as

4464-579: The Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Baikal populations from the Eastern Steppe and subsequent admixture from Western Steppe Herder migrant groups. This includes the Khövsgöl LBA herders from northern Mongolia and the Altai MLBA hunter-gatherers from the Altai region . The Khövsgöl LBA herders are descended from Early Bronze Age Baikal hunter-gatherers (Baikal EBA or Shamanka EBA, c. 93-96%) with small amounts of admixture from Western Steppe Herders (Sintashta, c. 4-7%). Genetic analyses revealed that while dairy pastoralism seems to have been adopted by them from

4557-499: The Saka, similarly with the sites of Sirkap and Taxila in ancient India . The rich graves at Tillya Tepe in Afghanistan are seen as part of a population affected by the Saka. The Shakya clan of India, to which Gautama Buddha , called Śākyamuni "Sage of the Shakyas", belonged, were also likely Sakas, as Michael Witzel and Christopher I. Beckwith have alleged. The scholar Bryan Levman however criticised this hypothesis for resting on slim to no evidence, and maintains that

4650-546: The Saka: "the Saka, under pressure from the Yueh-chih [Yuezhi], overran Sogdiana and then Bactria, there taking the place of the Greeks." Then, "Thrust back in the south by the Yueh-chih," the Saka occupied "the Saka country, Sakastana, whence the modern Persian Seistan." Some of the Saka fleeing the Yuezhi attacked the Parthian Empire , where they defeated and killed the kings Phraates II and Artabanus . These Sakas were eventually settled by Mithridates II in what become known as Sakastan . According to Harold Walter Bailey ,

4743-422: The Shakyas were a population native to the north-east Gangetic plain who were unrelated to Iranic Sakas. The region in modern Afghanistan and Iran where the Saka moved to became known as "land of the Saka" or Sakastan . This is attested in a contemporary Kharosthi inscription found on the Mathura lion capital belonging to the Saka kingdom of the Indo-Scythians (200 BC – 400 AD) in northern India , roughly

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4836-405: The Tarim Basin provided information on the language spoken by the Saka. The official language of Khotan was initially Gandhari Prakrit written in Kharosthi, and coins from Khotan dated to the 1st century bear dual inscriptions in Chinese and Gandhari Prakrit, indicating links of Khotan to both India and China. Surviving documents however suggest that an Iranian language was used by the people of

4929-437: The Tarim Basin. The Kingdom of Khotan was a Saka city state on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin. As a consequence of the Han–Xiongnu War spanning from 133 BC to 89 AD, the Tarim Basin (now Xinjiang, Northwest China ), including Khotan and Kashgar , fell under Han Chinese influence, beginning with the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BC). Archaeological evidence and documents from Khotan and other sites in

5022-451: The Tungusic-speaking Ulchi people ) overall forms the main ancestry of the early and contemporary speakers of Turkic , Mongolic and Tungusic languages , which supports their spread from Northeast Asia westwards, discernable in the Lake Baikal region since at least 6kya. An earlier wave of Northern East Asian ancestry into Siberia is associated with "Neo- Siberians " (represented by Uralic-speaking Nganasans ), which may be associated with

5115-493: The Yuezhi. Excavations of the prehistoric art of the Dian Kingdom of Yunnan have revealed hunting scenes of Caucasoid horsemen in Central Asian clothing. The scenes depicted on these drums sometimes represent these horsemen practising hunting. Animal scenes of felines attacking oxen are also at times reminiscent of Scythian art both in theme and in composition. Migrations of the 2nd and 1st century BC have left traces in Sogdia and Bactria, but they cannot firmly be attributed to

5208-513: The death of Cyrus named the Derbices, rather than the Massagetae, as the tribe against whom Cyrus died in battle, because the Derbices were a member tribe of the Massagetae confederation or identical with the whole of the Massagetae. After Cyrus had been mortally wounded by the Derbices/Massagetae, Amorges and his Sakā haumavargā army helped the Persian soldiers defeat them. Cyrus told his sons to respect their own mother as well as Amorges above everyone else before dying. Possibly shortly before

5301-407: The east into Central Asia, from where they expelled the Scythians , another nomadic Iranian tribe to whom they were closely related, after which they came to occupy large areas of the region beginning in the 6th century BC. The Massagetae forcing the Early Scythians to the west across the Araxes river and into the Caucasian and Pontic steppes started a significant movement of the nomadic peoples of

5394-430: The east to the west in the 9th-7th centuries BCE, and ultimately reaching European Scythia and influencing artistic styles there. Deer stones , highly decorated anthropomorphic stones dated to 1300 — 700 BCE, are associated with the burials at Arzhan 1 and Arzhan 2. The motif of the curled feline from Arzhan 1 also appears in some of the Deer stones. The bronze weapons discovered in the tomb are quite similar to those of

5487-474: The eastern side of the kurgan. Genetic and anthropomorphic analysis was made on the King and the Queen from the central burial of Arzhan-2. They both display typical Saka genetic characteristics, being a fairly balanced combination of Western Steppe ancestry ( Sintashta , Srubnaya , Andronovo type), and Eastern Eurasian ancestry ( Khövsgöl LBA type, from northern Mongolia), with a small contribution of BMAC -type ancestry. Forensic reconstructions were made at

5580-421: The eastern steppe, while "Scythian" is used for the related group of nomads living in the western steppe. While the Cimmerians were often described by contemporaries as culturally Scythian , they may have differed ethnically from the Scythians proper, to whom the Cimmerians were related, and who also displaced and replaced the Cimmerians. Prominent archaeological remains of the Sakas include Arzhan , Tunnug,

5673-432: The following exonyms: A late Scythian sound change from /δ/ to /l/ resulted in the evolution of [*Skuδa] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) into *Skula . From this was derived the Greek word Skṓlotoi Σκώλοτοι , which, according to Herodotus, was the self-designation of the Royal Scythians. Other sound changes have produced Sugᵘda 𐎿𐎢𐎦𐎢𐎭 . Although

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5766-424: The formation of the Xiongnu Empire (3rd century BCE-1st century CE), which combined specific Saka ancestries (particularly Chandman / Uyuk -related ones), with Neolithic Amur-derived Ulaanzuukh and Slab Grave ancestries, to which Sarmatian and Han ancestry was further added at a later stage. High status Xiongnu individuals tended to have less genetic diversity, and their ancestry was essentially derived from

5859-425: The gold-inlaid plates of the Tasmola culture, as far as the southern Urals in the Late- Sauromatian Filippovka kurgans . In 2017, the large royal burial mound Tunnug 1 (Arzhan 0), which dates to the same period as Arzhan-1, was investigated by a Russian-Swiss expedition. The wood from the burial was dated through AMS carbon-dating to the 9th century BCE. The Early Saka kurgan itself has yet to be excavated, but

5952-430: The initial (Eastern) Scythian material cultures (Saka). It was however also found that the various later Scythian sub-groups of the Eurasian Steppe had local origins; different Scythian groups arose locally through cultural adaption, rather than via migration patterns from East-to-West or West-to-East. The Sakas spoke a language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages . The Pazyryk burials of

6045-425: The kingdom for a long time. Third-century AD documents in Prakrit from nearby Shanshan record the title for the king of Khotan as hinajha (i.e. " generalissimo "), a distinctively Iranian-based word equivalent to the Sanskrit title senapati , yet nearly identical to the Khotanese Saka hīnāysa attested in later Khotanese documents. This, along with the fact that the king's recorded regnal periods were given as

6138-430: The lack of archaeological specimens. So far, the oldest populations for which genomic data have been obtained are the Upper Paleolithic Ancient North Eurasians (c. 24,000 BP) from Central Siberia, and Upper-Paleolithic populations related to the "Basal-East Asian" Tianyuan man (c. 40,000 BP), specifically the Salkhit (c. 34,000 BP) and AR33K (c. 33,000 BP) samples from Mongolia and the Amur region, or Manchuria . There

6231-624: The late Karasuk culture . These early objects suggest a datation to circa 800 BCE (late 9th, early 8th centuries). They suggest close relations with the Novocherkassk culture north of the Black Sea . There are also connections with the Bainov phase of the Tagar culture and the early Majemir culture of the Altai . "Arzhan 1" is the earliest known example of the " Scythian triad ", defined by 1) characteristic horse harnesses 2) Scythian-style weaponry and 3) characteristic Scythian animal art . Arzhan-2 turned out to be an undisturbed burial. It has been carbon-dated to circa 650-600 BCE (middle to end of

6324-501: The lineage of the hunter-gatherer people of the 7th-4th millennia before present, in far eastern Siberia , Mongolia and the Baikal regions. They are inferred to have diverged from Ancient East Asians about 24kya ago, and are represented by several ancient human specimens found in archaeological excavations east of the Altai Mountains . They are a sub-group of the Ancient Northern East Asians (ANEA). The Prehistoric populations of Eastern Siberia are poorly understood, mainly due to

6417-461: The names "Saka," "Scythian," and " Cimmerian " for all the steppe nomads, modern scholars now use the term Saka to refer specifically to Iranian peoples who inhabited the northern and eastern Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin ; and while the Cimmerians were often described by contemporaries as culturally Scythian , they may have differed ethnically from the Scythians proper, to whom the Cimmerians were related, and who also displaced and replaced

6510-414: The north or northeast, but without basing these suggestions on any conclusive arguments. Other locations assigned to the Massagetae include the area corresponding to modern-day Turkmenistan . The Sakā haumavargā lived around the Pamir Mountains and the Ferghana Valley. The Sakaibiš tayaiy para Sugdam , who may have been identical with the Sakā haumavargā , lived on the north-east border of

6603-431: The northern and eastern Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin . The Sakas were closely related to the Scythians , and both groups formed part of the wider Scythian cultures , through which they ultimately derived from the earlier Andronovo , Sintashta and Srubnaya cultures , with secondary influence from the BMAC , and since the Iron Age, also East Asian genetic influx, with the Saka language forming part of

6696-615: The northwest of Kashgar, Tumshuq to its northeast, and Tushkurgan south in the Pamirs. Kashgar also conquered other states such as Yarkand and Kucha during the Han dynasty, but in its later history, Kashgar was controlled by various empires, including Tang China, before it became part of the Turkic Kara-Khanid Khanate in the 10th century. In the 11th century, according to Mahmud al-Kashgari , some non-Turkic languages like Kanchaki and Sogdian were still used in some areas in

6789-570: The oasis-states of Tarim Basin sites, like Yanqi (焉耆, Karasahr ) and Qiuci (龜茲, Kucha ). The Yuehzhi, themselves under attacks from another nomadic tribe, the Wusun , in 133–132 BC, moved, again, from the Ili and Chu valleys, and occupied the country of Daxia , (大夏, "Bactria"). The ancient Greco-Roman geographer Strabo noted that the four tribes that took down the Bactrians in the Greek and Roman account –

6882-679: The queen Zarinaea . At the end of this war, the Parthians accepted Median rule, and the Saka and the Medes made peace. According to the Greek historian Ctesias , once the Persian Achaemenid Empire 's founder, Cyrus , had overthrown his grandfather the Median king Astyages , the Bactrians accepted him as the heir of Astyages and submitted to him, after which he founded the city of Cyropolis on

6975-555: The rest (8.8%) being Saka ( Chandman ) ancestry. A later different Eastern influx is evident in three outlier samples of the Saka Tasmola culture (Tasmola Birlik) and one of the Pazyryk culture (Pazyryk Berel), which displayed c. 70-83% additional Amur-derived ancestry, suggesting them to be recent migrants from further East. The same additional Eastern ancestry is found among the later groups of Huns (Hun Berel 300CE, Hun elite 350CE), and

7068-576: The royal burial mound of Arzhan 2 is an ancestor of 45% of modern Kyrgyz , belonging to the Y-haplogroup R1a-Z2125. Also from the Arzhan settlement was published a DNA sample S441, belonging to the Scythian culture of the 7th—6th century BC, which are ancestral to the Kyrgyz branch . Seleucid Empire : Seleucus I Antiochus I Antiochus II Saka The Saka were a group of nomadic Eastern Iranian peoples who historically inhabited

7161-776: The same time the Chinese record that the Saka had invaded and settled the country of Jibin 罽賓 (i.e. Kashmir , of modern-day India and Pakistan). In the Persian language of contemporary Iran the territory of Drangiana was called Sakastāna, in Armenian as Sakastan, with similar equivalents in Pahlavi, Greek, Sogdian, Syriac, Arabic, and the Middle Persian tongue used in Turfan , Xinjiang, China. The Sakas also captured Gandhara and Taxila , and migrated to North India . The most famous Indo-Scythian king

7254-568: The scholar Rüdiger Schmitt has suggested that the Sꜣg pḥ and the Sk tꜣ might have collectively designated the Sakā tigraxaudā /Massagetae. The Achaemenid king Xerxes I listed the Saka coupled with the Dahā ( 𐎭𐏃𐎠 ) people of Central Asia, who might possibly have been identical with the Sakā tigraxaudā . Although the ancient Persians, ancient Greeks, and ancient Babylonians respectively used

7347-636: The specific ANA gene pool came from the Russian Far East, near the Pacific coast, at the Devil’s Gate Cave ("DevilsCave_N", c. 5700 BCE). More Neolithic individuals with the ANA/Amur-like gene pool have been identified in eastern Mongolia (SOU001, "EastMongolia_preBA" 4686–4495 cal. BCE), in central Mongolia (ERM003, "CentralMongolia_preBA" 3781–3639 cal. BCE). The closely related hunter-gatherers from

7440-454: The territory of Drangiana (now in Afghanistan and Pakistan) became known as "Land of the Sakas", and was called Sakastāna in the Persian language of contemporary Iran, in Armenian as Sakastan, with similar equivalents in Pahlavi, Greek, Sogdian, Syriac, Arabic, and the Middle Persian tongue used in Turfan , Xinjiang, China. This is attested in a contemporary Kharosthi inscription found on

7533-480: The tomb of Arzhan-2, suggesting trade exchanges with the south. Gold inlays to decorate iron and bronze objects were used by the nomads of Eurasia from the 7th century BCE, starting with the battle axe and the arrowheads found at Arzhan-2. This technique continued to be in use from the 6th to the 4th century CE in a much wider area, as with the gold-inlaid knife handle of the of Shibe barrow in Southern Siberia, or

7626-675: The vicinity of Kashgar, and Kanchaki is thought to belong to the Saka language group. It is believed that the Tarim Basin was linguistically Turkified before the 11th century ended. The Saka were pushed out of the Ili and Chu River valleys by the Yuezhi . An account of the movement of these people is given in Sima Qian 's Records of the Grand Historian . The Yuehzhi, who originally lived between Tängri Tagh ( Tian Shan ) and Dunhuang of Gansu , China, were assaulted and forced to flee from

7719-498: The woman was killed to keep the king company in the afterlife. The tomb also had thousands of beads, including over four hundred made of Baltic amber . The Arzhan-2 kurgan was found to be broadly contemporaneous with the Early Saka Shilikti kurgans in eastern Kazakhstan . Several petroglyphs with designs similar to those of Deer stones , such as individuals with weapons, horse charriots, deers or shields were discovered at

7812-524: Was Jusadanna (瞿薩旦那), derived from Indo-Iranian Gostan and Gostana , the names of the town and region around it, respectively. Much like the neighboring people of the Kingdom of Khotan, the people of Kashgar , the capital of Shule, spoke Saka, one of the Eastern Iranian languages . According to the Book of Han , the Saka split and formed several states in the region. These Saka states may include two states to

7905-568: Was Maues . An Indo-Scythian kingdom was established in Mathura (200 BC – 400 AD). Weer Rajendra Rishi , an Indian linguist, identified linguistic affinities between Indian and Central Asian languages, which further lends credence to the possibility of historical Sakan influence in North India. According to historian Michael Mitchiner, the Abhira tribe were a Saka people cited in the Gunda inscription of

7998-566: Was added after the Darius's campaign north of the Danube : An additional term is found in two inscriptions elsewhere: Moreover, Darius the Great's Suez Inscriptions mention two groups of Saka: The scholar David Bivar had tentatively identified the Sk tꜣ with the Sakā haumavargā , and John Manuel Cook had tentatively identified the Sꜣg pḥ with the Sakā tigraxaudā . More recently,

8091-584: Was called the "land of the Sək ", i.e. "land of the Saka", in the Book of Han . The Scythian/Saka cultures emerged on the Eurasian Steppe at the dawn of the Iron Age in the early 1st millennium BC. Their origins has long been a source of debate among archaeologists. The Pontic–Caspian steppe was initially thought to have been their place of origin, until the Soviet archaeologist Aleksey Terenozhkin suggested

8184-532: Was derived from West Eurasians ( BMAC and Afanasievo ), with the admixture occurring around the year 500 CE. The ruling clan of the Turkic peoples, the Ashina tribe, was found to display close genetic affinities with the earlier Slab Grave and Ulaanzuukh culture remains. Genetically, ANA/Amur ancestry peaks among modern Tungusic , Mongolic and Nivkh -speaking populations of Northeast Asia. ANA ancestry (represented by

8277-565: Was found to be genetically closely associated with Ancient Northeast Asians (with 97.7% Northeast Asian ancestry, 2.3% West Eurasian ancestry dating back to around 3000 years ago, and no Chinese ("Yellow River") admixture), which according to Yang et al supports a Northeast Asian origin of the Ashina tribe and the Göktürk Khanate . These findings refute "the western Eurasian origin and multiple origin hypotheses" in favor of an East Asian origin for

8370-449: Was of Saka origin, or at least significantly influenced by their Eastern Iranian neighbours. Some scholars contend that in the 8th century BC, a Saka raid from the Altai may be "connected" with a raid on Zhou China . The Saka are attested in historical and archaeological records dating to around the 8th century BC. The Saka tribe of the Massagetae / Tigraxaudā rose to power in the 8th to 7th centuries BC, when they migrated from

8463-417: Was some sort of king, wore a golden torc , a jacket decorated with 2,500 golden panther figurines, a gold-encrusted dagger on a belt, trousers sewn with golden beads, and gold-cuffed boots. The woman wore a red cloak that was also covered in 2,500 golden panther figurines, as well as a golden-hilted iron dagger, a gold comb, and a wooden ladle with a golden handle. The couple was buried together, suggesting that

8556-539: Was the term Sakā , from which came the names: From the Indo-European root (s)kewd- , meaning "propel, shoot" (and from which was also derived the English word shoot ), of which *skud- is the zero-grade form, was descended the Scythians' self-name reconstructed by Szemerényi as [*Skuδa] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) (roughly "archer"). From this were descended

8649-760: Was used by the ancient Persian to refer to all the Iranian nomadic tribes living to the north of their empire , including both those who lived between the Caspian Sea and the Hungry steppe , and those who lived to the north of the Danube and the Black Sea . The Assyrians meanwhile called these nomads the Ishkuzai ( Akkadian : 𒅖𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀 Iškuzaya ) or Askuzai ( Akkadian : 𒊍𒄖𒍝𒀀𒀀 Asguzaya , 𒆳𒊍𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀 mat Askuzaya , 𒆳𒀾𒄖𒍝𒀀𒀀 mat Ášguzaya ), and

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