The Tagar culture was a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

archeological culture which flourished between the 8th and 1st centuries BC in South Siberia (

Republic of Khakassia A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people), typically through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although a ...

, southern part of Krasnoyarsk Territory, eastern part of Kemerovo Province). The culture was named after an island in the

Yenisei River The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

opposite

Minusinsk Minusinsk (; ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: 44,500 (1973). History "About 330-200 B.C. the iron age triumphed at Minusinsk, producing spiked axes, partly bronze and ...

. The civilization was one of the largest centres of

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

-smelting in ancient

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

History

The Tagar culture was preceded by the Karasuk culture. They are usually considered as descendants of the

Andronovo culture The Andronovo culture is a collection of similar local Late Bronze Age cultures that flourished 2000–1150 BC,Grigoriev, Stanislav, (2021)"Andronovo Problem: Studies of Cultural Genesis in the Eurasian Bronze Age" in Open Archaeology 202 ...

, and are frequently linked to

Indo-Iranians The Indo-Iranian peoples, also known as Ā́rya or Aryans from their self-designation, were a group of Indo-European speaking peoples who brought the Indo-Iranian languages to parts of Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia in waves from the f ...

. However, the Turkic Dinlin tribe was also a part of the Tagar culture. The Tagar people possessed a mixture of West and East Eurasian ancestry, with East Asian ancestry increasing in to the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

. From the 2nd century BCE, the Tagar period was succeeded by a period Hunnic influence linked to the rise of the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

. The "Tesinsky culture" was a culture of the Minusinsk basin, from the 1st century BCE to the 1st century CE. The Tesinsky culture was at the junction between the Tagar culture and the culture of the

and the

Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were an ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multiling ...

, and artistic evolutions can be traced to that period. The Tashtyk culture (1st-4th century CE) then followed.

Research

The Minusinsk basin was first excavated by Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt in 1722. Messerschmidt and

Philip Johan von Strahlenberg Philip Johan von Strahlenberg (1676–1747) was a Swedish Officer (armed forces), officer and geographer of German origin who made important contributions to the cartography of Russia. Life Strahlenberg was born in Stralsund, which then belonged ...

were the first to point out similarities between the Tagar and Scythian cultures further west. The first archaeological descriptions of the Tagar were made by Sergei Teploukhov. His periodization have formed the basis for later research.

Characteristics

The Tagar lived in timber dwellings heated by clay ovens and large hearths. Some settlements were surrounded by fortifications. They made a living by raising livestock, predominantly large horned livestock and horses, goats and sheep. There are evidence of farming with evidence of irrigation. The Tagar produced animal art motifs (

Scythian art Scytho-Siberian art is the art associated with the cultures of the Scytho-Siberian world, primarily consisting of decorative objects such as jewellery, produced by the nomadic tribes of the Eurasian Steppe, with the western edges of the region vag ...

) very similar to the

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

of southern

European Russia European Russia is the western and most populated part of the Russia, Russian Federation. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the country's sparsely populated and vastly larger eastern part, Siberia, which is situated in Asia ...

. Perhaps the most striking feature of the culture are huge royal

kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...

s fenced by stone plaques, with four vertical

stela A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

e marking the corners. Burials from the early Tagar period are characterized as single burials. In the later Tagar period, collective burials become more common. This has been interpreted as a sign of social evolution in Tagar society. Tagar Culture petroglpyhs

Physical characteristics

The Tagar people have been the subject of numerous studies by physical anthropologists. The Tagars have been described by researchers as having Europoid features.

Genetics

In 2009, a genetic study of ancient

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

n cultures, the

, the Karasuk culture, the Tagar culture and the Tashtyk culture, was published in

Human Genetics Human genetics is the study of inheritance as it occurs in Human, human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, populatio ...

. Twelve individuals of the Tagar culture from 800 BC to 100 AD were surveyed. Extractions of

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...

from ten individuals were determined to represent three samples of haplogroup T3, one sample of I4, one sample G2a, one sample of C, one sample of F1b and three samples of H (including one sample of H5). Extractions of

Y-DNA The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in therian mammals and other organisms. Along with the X chromosome, it is part of the XY sex-determination system, in which the Y is the sex-determining chromosome because the presence of the Y ...

from six individuals were all determined to be of Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a1, which is thought to mark the eastward

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

of the early

Indo-Europeans The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

. Based on an analysis of 10

SNPs In genetics and bioinformatics, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP ; plural SNPs ) is a germline substitution of a single nucleotide at a specific position in the genome. Although certain definitions require the substitution to be present in ...

, the majority of Tagar individuals were classified as being primarily of European ancestry, with the exception of one mixed ancestry individual. Of the specimens yielding a pigmentation phenotype, slightly more than half (5) were assigned blue eye color, while 4 were possibly blue or brown eyed. Most were assigned blond or light brown hair color. In 2018, a study of

from remains of the Tagar culture was published in PLOS One. Remains from the early years of the Tagar culture were found to be closely related to those of contemporary

on the

Pontic steppe Pontic, from the Greek ''pontos'' (, ), or "sea", may refer to: The Black Sea Places * The Pontic colonies, on its northern shores * Pontus (region), a region on its southern shores * The Pontic–Caspian steppe, steppelands stretching from n ...

. The authors of the study suggested that the source of this genetic similarity was a substantial increase in the frequency of

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

n maternal haplogroups in the Tagar population, which occurred during the

. Nearly 46% of Tagar samples carried an East Asian maternal haplogroup in the Iron Age, with lineages D and C more than tripling in frequency compared to the Early Tagar period. A genetic study published in ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' in May 2018 examined the remains of eight individuals ascribed to the Tagar culture. The three samples of Y-DNA collected all belonged to

haplogroup R1 Haplogroup R1, or R-M173, is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. A primary subclade of Haplogroup R (R-M207), it is defined by the SNP M173. The other primary subclade of Haplogroup R is Haplogroup R2 (R-M479). Males carrying R-M173 in modern pop ...

. The samples of mtDNA collected were N1a1a1a1, N9a9, H5a1, W1c, U2e2, A8a1, U2e1h and F1b1b. The Tagar had a higher amount of Eastern Hunter-Gatherer (EHG) ancestry than all other peoples of the

Scythian cultures The Scythian cultures was an archaeological horizon that flourished across the Eurasian Steppe during the Iron Age, from approximately the 9th century BC to the 2nd century AD. It included the Scythian, Sauromatian and Sarma ...

. They were determined to be of about 83,5% Western Steppe Herder (WSH) ancestry, 9%

Ancient North Eurasian In archaeogenetics, the term Ancient North Eurasian (ANE) refers to an ancestral component that represents the lineage of the people of the Mal'ta–Buret' culture () and populations closely related to them, such as the Upper Paleolithic individ ...

(ANE) ancestry, and 7,5% Siberian Hunter-Gather ancestry. A subsequent genetic study in 2020 modeled the Tagar specimens as deriving around 70% ancestry from the

Sintashta culture The Sintashta culture is a Middle Bronze Age archaeological culture of the Southern Urals, dated to the period 2200–1900 BCE. It is the first phase of the Sintashta–Petrovka complex, –1750 BCE. The culture is named after the Sintashta ...

, 25% from Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) Baikal hunter-gatherers, and 5% from the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex. File:SalbykKurgan221201683.jpg, Salbyk kurgan, the largest tumulus of the Tagar culture File:Salbyk kurgan reconstruction.png, Salbyk kurgan reconstruction. File:Salbyk kurgan megalith.jpg, Salbyk kurgan megalith File:Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Berlin 007a.JPG, Bronze weapons of the Tagar culture,

Krasnojarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, 7th-5th century BC. File:Karasuk to Tagar knives.png, Evolution of bronze knives, from the Karasuk culture to the Tagar culture File:Horse Accoutrement LACMA M.76.97.566.jpg, Horse accoutrement

Notes

References

External links

* * The Tagar culture is presented i
Hall 31 of the State Hermitage Museum (3D Tour)