The Origin and Affinities of the Tagar People: A View from Half a Century Later

Abstract

To revise the origins and external relationships of the Tagar population (800–300 BC) nearly half a century after my book (1977), 36 male Tagar cranial samples were compared with 117 samples representing other periods and regions using multivariate statistical methods. To date, the principal contenders for the role of Tagar ancestors are the Andronovans, whose key role is supported by genetic facts. The pre-Andronovo substratum was likely represented by the Chaa-Khol’ people of Tuva and the Yelunino people of the Upper Ob. The Karasuk tribes do not appear to have taken part in Tagar origins. Among the neighbors of the Tagar people, the closest to them are the Pazyryk people of the Ursul, Altai, and certain Sagly people of Aimyrlyg, Tuva. Judging by the dates, those groups resulted from a southward migration of certain Tagar populations at the Saragash stage. Since the Chaa-Khol’ people, as I showed previously, were extremely close to Scythians of the steppes, and among the Tagar people, to those of the Saragash stage, it appears that the Saragash people or their descendants had migrated not merely to the Altai-Sayan region but also much further west – to the Eastern European steppes. The archaic Scythian culture, which preceded this migration, may have spread along the same route, but by way of diffusion.