Saka and early Usun with Europoid-Mongoloid features.
The formation of the anthropological composition of modern Kyrgyz, like that of other peoples of Central Asia, was a long historical process that took place under complex historical conditions. However, compared to other ethnic groups in the region, this issue has been less studied.
Let us consider the processes of forming the anthropological appearance of the Kyrgyz over time and space.
Paleoanthropological series obtained over different years cover a long historical period from the middle of the 1st millennium BC to the present. Among the earlier finds, it is necessary to mention the bone remains of ancient humans from the Selungur cave site, located in the southern foothills of KatranTau on the western outskirts of the village of Haidarkan in the Osh region. These include teeth belonging to different individuals, at least two to four, as well as fragments of long bones. The found bone materials belong to a hominid — an archaic human (Homo ergaster). Its age dates back to the Lower Pleistocene. It was the first to leave Africa and continue migrating north through the Central Asian region {Islamov, Zubov, Kharitonov, 1988; Zubov, Khojayev, 2004; Zubov, Vasilyev, 2013}.
Cranial collections from Kyrgyzstan are divided into the following six historical periods: Saka, Usun, early medieval, developed medieval, late medieval, and a period close to modernity.
During the Saka period, tribal unions of the Saka and early Usun inhabited this territory.
Paleoanthropological collections from the Saka and early Usun periods from Alai and Tien Shan were studied by G.F. Debets (1948), V.V. Ginzburg (1950, 1954, 1960), N.N. Miklashevskaya (1959, 1964), I.V. Perevozchikov (1967), and S.S. Tur (1997). Thanks to these works, it was shown that the Saka of Alai and Central Tien Shan belonged to the circle of Europoid tribes; however, the former were mesocranial Europoids, while the latter were brachycranial, with Mongoloid admixture. Overall, in terms of morphological features, they occupy an intermediate position between the Saka of Pamir and Tien Shan.
A comparison of all materials from the Saka period from the territory of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Siberia, and Western Mongolia was conducted using multidimensional canonical analysis.
It was established that the paleo-populations of the Saka of Eastern Pamir are distinguished by pronounced South Europoid features: sharp dolichocrany, narrow, high-profiled face, and a strongly protruding nose. All Saka and Scythian series compared with them possess an opposite set of traits, namely: they are brachycranial broad-faced, with a less protruding face and also a less protruding nose. This applies to Scythian tribes from the foothills and mountains of Altai, Western Siberia, and the Minusinsk basin. However, they, in addition to the aforementioned traits, are distinguished by such a feature as a relatively low skull vault.
Some similarity with these groups of Saka from Eastern Pamir is found in the Saka of Alai, especially with groups from the river valleys of Pyanj and Istyk. This gives some grounds to suggest the presence of a slight admixture of traits characteristic of the South Europoid race among the Saka of Alai. At the same time, the Saka of Alai are very close to the Tumek group of Saka from Northern Turkmenistan and populations of the early Iron Age from Western Mongolia. The results of such analysis allow us to assert that the Saka of Eastern Pamir have different genetic roots than other tribes of Saka.
Burial mounds of this period are widely represented in the territory of Eastern Pamir, mainly located near lakes and river valleys that served as pastures. B.A. Litvinsky (1972) identified eight main sites, corresponding to these tribes. Based on this classification, cranial material was grouped into eight sites (Khojayev, 2008). The obtained data showed that all ancient inhabitants of Eastern Pamir are characterized by a combination of traits from two variants of the East Mediterranean race - gracile and maturized, regardless of their belonging to a specific site.
At the same time, the Tien Shan Saka turned out to be closest to the Kazakh and late Pre-Aral Saka.
Therefore, during this period, the Saka tribes of Tien Shan, Alai, Semirechye, Kazakhstan, Pre-Aral, and Northern Turkmenistan, with the exception of the Saka of Eastern Pamir, possessed a homogeneous morphological complex.
It is represented as brachycranial, sufficiently broad-faced, with a somewhat flattened facial skeleton and medium-protruding nasal bones. These morphological features characterize the early nomads of the northern steppe regions of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The differences between territorial groups lie only in the fact that Mongoloid admixture is present only among the plain Saka and absent among the mountain ones.
Thus, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC, the Saka tribes of Kyrgyzstan were characterized by a complex of traits of the northern variant of the race of the Central Asian interfluve. Early Usun, like the Saka, were characterized by Europoid features, sometimes with a slight admixture of Mongoloid race, which is manifested in a slight flattening of their face. Among the Usun of the southeastern part of Pre-Issyk-Kul, a slight presence of traits of the dolichocephalic Europoid Mediterranean type, characteristic of the Saka of Eastern Pamir, was identified.
The anthropological composition of the population during the Usun period (3rd century BC - 5th century AD), unlike that of the Saka, includes extremely diverse morphological complexes. The Tien Shan paleo-populations from the Ketmentyube valley, which left the burial mounds of Jalaryk, Torkent, and Karatektir, are defined as Europoid but with an undeniable admixture of Mongoloid traits (Perevozchikov, 1967). About 70% of them are carriers of signs of ring deformation.
From the materials of the Kenkol burial mound of the 1st-3rd centuries, located in the Talas river valley and studied by various authors (Retzius, 1918; Ginzburg, Zhirov, 1949; Miklashevskaya, 1957, 1964), it is evident that many skulls were also subjected to ring deformation.
The population buried in this mound is characterized by the type of Central Asian interfluve with a greater admixture of Mongoloid traits than the early Usun. The same morphological features are characteristic of the Usun who left the burial mounds of Karakol and Chilpek on the southeastern shore of Issyk-Kul {Debets, 1948}.
The early tribes of the Talas valley (3rd century BC - turn of the era) from Kotursay, Chetyndi, and Zheledobo are characterized by a complex of traits of the Europoid race with a slight Mongoloid admixture. The later group (1st-4th centuries) from the burial mounds of Joondobo and Cheshtebe turned out to be more Mongoloid, which is manifested in the increase of the specific weight of such traits as facial width and flattening, and a decrease in nasal protrusion (Miklashevskaya, 1964).
A multidimensional statistical intergroup analysis of all cranial series from the Usun period (from the 3rd century BC to the 5th-6th centuries) with synchronous series from Central Asia, Kazakhstan, the Volga region, Pre-Aral, and Mongolia revealed the following picture.
The population of Kyrgyzstan, which left the burial mounds of Ketmentyube, Kenkol, Karakol, and Chilpek, Joontobo, Cheshtebe, Jalpakdyube, and Tuyuk, being of Europoid-Mongoloid appearance, turned out to be close to a number of tribes from Central Asia and Kazakhstan. This is confirmed by materials related to series from the Central Kyzylkums (Dzhuzkuduk), Prisarikamysh (Tumekkichidzhik), Ancient Tashkent oasis (Kaunchinskaya culture), Southern Kazakhstan (Borijary), northern Fergana (Gurmiron), and Sarmatian series from Western Kazakhstan.
The population that left these monuments is characterized by Europoid-Mongoloid features. At the same time, it should be noted that the series from Karakol, Chilpek, Jondyube, and Cheshtebe turned out to be more Mongoloid than the series from Kenkol, Jalpakdyube, and Tuyuk.
All series from the Usun period in Kyrgyzstan, with more pronounced Mongoloid traits, were found to be distanced from the series of the jetysasar culture of the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, the kaunchinskaya culture of the Ancient Tashkent oasis (Kaunchi III), and the Sarmatian series from the Lower Volga. The tribes to which these series belong have more pronounced Europoid features and possess a lower height of the cranial vault and a more profiled face than the Usun of Kyrgyzstan.