Elements of ethnogenesis of the Hazareas according to population genetics

Abstract

In Afghanistan, Hazaras live in the central part of the Hindu Kush (Hazarajat), Afghan Turkestan and Badakhshan. They also live in the northern part of Pakistan. They are Shiites. At the beginning of the 20th century spoke Mongolian. Today the Dari dialect is spoken, with the inclusion of Mongolian and Turkic words. According to natural scientific data (ethnography, ethnic anthropology, population genetics), it has been clearly established that the Mongols also took part in the ethnogenesis of the Hazaras. Y-chromosome haplogroup C is a genetic marker of the Mongols, including the Kalmyks (Oirat Mongols). Its carriers are found among the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Bashkirs, Tatars, Nogais, Hazaras and other populations. In the populations of Central Asia, Inner and Outer Mongolia, carriers of this haplogroup have developed a cluster of haplotypes called the Star Cluster. The life time of its progenitor was 400-1600 years ago. Mongols have the highest cluster haplotype frequencies — 61.5%, while Kalmyks have an abnormally low frequency — 1.1%. This paradox can only be explained in one way. The Kalmyks lost contact with the bulk of the Mongols before the emission of the basic Star Cluster haplotype into the region of their original residence (Western Mongolia). The date of this event is reliably established from written evidence — the beginning of the 17th century. Among Hazaras, carriers of haplogroup C, Star Cluster frequencies are 32-40%. Their ancestors could not have left the territory of Mongolia earlier than the ancestors of the Kalmyks left, that is, earlier than the 17th century. According to population genetics (YTree), the Hazaras are descendants of one clan of the Oirat Mongols and the closest genetic relatives of the Volga Kalmyks. According to written evidence, these are the Kalmaks of the Dzungar Khanate (3 thousand families), who came to Badakhshan in 1759. Later, their descendants, having received the ethnonym «Khazar», settled in the territories of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.

Keywords

• hazaras
• ethnology
• ethnography
• ethnic anthropology
• population genetics
• written evidence