Population of Kyrgyzstan from Ancient Times to the 6th Century
The first reliable traces of humans on the territory of Kyrgyzstan date back to the Paleolithic — the Old Stone Age (800,000 - 100,000 years BC). The oldest settlement is On-Archa, which is 800,000 years old. The oldest monument of art in Kyrgyzstan consists of drawings in the Ak-Chunkur cave. During the Neolithic era, a tribal structure formed. Overall, the development of Kyrgyzstan during the Bronze Age is characterized by the active use of metal, the growth of pastoral and agricultural practices, the emergence of the first nomadic herders, and the property and social stratification of people into nobility and ordinary members of the community. People of this time had a Europoid appearance and spoke one of the Eastern Iranian languages.
In the 8th to 3rd centuries BC, vast territories of Central Asia, including modern Kyrgyzstan, were inhabited by numerous nomadic tribes, referred to in ancient Persian cuneiform texts as Saka — "free man, valiant man (warrior)". Ancient authors called them Scythians, ancient Indian sources referred to them as Turans, and Chinese sources referred to them as the Se people. Surviving sources indicate that the Saka spoke an ancient Turkic language and externally belonged to the Europoid race. At the same time, the Saka Tigrahauda were characterized by Mongoloid features. This and other data allow us to consider the Saka as ancestors of Turkic-speaking peoples, including the Kyrgyz. In the 2nd century BC, the Saka territories located beyond the Syr Darya River were seized by the Yuezhi (Tochars), who were later displaced from Eastern Turkestan by the Huns (Xiongnu). Entering into an alliance with the Saka, they conquered the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in Central Asia. In the mid-2nd century BC, the Saka tribes inhabiting Central Tien Shan faced another invasion from the Usun, who were moving from Eastern Turkestan. The Usun, having significantly strengthened during the power and flourishing of the Xiongnu Empire, sought independence. This forced the Saka of Semirechye to migrate westward into the inaccessible mountainous territories of Central Asia in search of refuge. The remaining Saka, assimilating with the Usun, later contributed to the formation of new ethnic groups.
The ethnonym "Usun" entered history from Chinese dynastic chronicles and translates from ancient Turkic as "the people of ten clans" (us — clan, un — ten). Analyzing numerous genealogical materials and Turkic genealogical legends allows us to say that the Usun were a branch of Turkic peoples, although their anthropological type was not characteristic of the indigenous population of Turkestan: they were red-bearded, blue-eyed people.
In the state of Dayuan, there lived at least half a million people, and according to Chinese sources, about 300,000. Anthropological research data showed that its inhabitants belonged to the Europoid race: they had deep eye sockets and thick beards. The main producers of public wealth were free community members — peasants and artisans. The labor of slaves was also utilized.
The main structural unit of Xiongnu society was clans and their associations — tribes. In turn, the clan was divided into jurt — groups united by familial ties and living in compact small camps. In Chinese sources, they are called bulo (compare with Kyrgyz bulo, uy-bulo — family). Clans and tribes were united not only by common genealogical roots but also by shared traditions, religious beliefs, customs, and linguistic features.
The very first mention of the ancient Kyrgyz that has reached us appears in Chinese historical writings and dates back to 201 BC. As mentioned earlier, the Chinese historian Sima Qian in his work "Shiji" ("Historical Records", 1st century BC) wrote that in 201 BC, the ruler of the Xiongnu Shanyu Mode set out to conquer neighboring northern and northwestern territories and subdued the independent tribe of Gyangguney (Gegun). Scholars have proven that the Gyangguney (Gegun, Qigu, Kigu, and other variants) were the ancient Kyrgyz referred to by the Chinese. This information, being the first mention of the ethnonym "Kyrgyz," is of great significance for the history of Kyrgyzstan.
Thus, the Kyrgyz existed as early as the 3rd century BC and had their own possessions, and the ethnonym "Kyrgyz" is the oldest of all modern names of peoples derived from common Turkic roots. Turkic ethnonyms such as "Uzbek," "Uyghur," "Kazakh," "Turkmen," "Tatar," "Bashkir," and others appeared much later.
In the 3rd century BC, the ancient Kyrgyz were conquered by the Huns. However, about a hundred years later, specifically in 99 BC, when the Chinese general Li Ling, who had joined the Huns, was appointed ruler of the Kyrgyz, a new royal dynasty of the Kyrgyz began. According to several scholars, it lasted until the 13th century, that is, until the invasion of Genghis Khan. In the mid-1st century BC, the Huns experienced intensified infighting for power. Taking advantage of this, the Kyrgyz achieved independence in 56 BC, but in 49 BC they again fell under the rule of the Huns. At the beginning of our era, the Kyrgyz still remained in the eastern region of Tien Shan. Chinese sources indicate that the Kyrgyz inhabited "north of Yanqing (Kara-Shaar), near Ak-Tuu" and that some part of the Huns merged and assimilated with the Kyrgyz during this period. In the 3rd to 5th centuries AD, they gradually moved to the Yenisei and assimilated the local Europoid tribes of the Dinlins.
