Slab Grave Culture and Turkic Ethnogenesis
Elvin YıldırımUndoubtedly, Chinese sources are one of the most important sources about early Turkic history. Early Chinese sources were first written on turtle shells, animal bones, and bronze materials. Later, historical records were written on bamboo and paper. These records are, evidently, important reference sources for illuminating Turkic history and culture. In addition, when the material culture remains are evaluated together along with the historical sources, many issues that remain in the dark are elucidate. In the second millennium BC, an equestrian, nomadic, warrior community dominated nearly all of Southern Siberia for approximately 1,000 years. The remains of the material culture left behind by the society of this era, which is referred to in the literature as the Andronovo Culture, began to develop, and change since the first millennium BC. Specifically, the human typology in the graves begins to differ. Scholars observe that an Evropoid community began to mix with mongoloids. The material remains of this cultural period were found within the territory of Khakassia. However, scholars find that the traditions of this society continue to live on in the material remains of the cultural periods, which archaeologists call by different names today. In this respect, this study intends to reveal the cultural transition periods through which the people of the Andronovo Culture in the lands of Baikal and Mongolia beyond Khakassia passed to Mongolia and their kinship with the ancestors of the Turks. Moreover, the study emphasizes the connections of the tribes mentioned in Chinese sources by the ancestors of the Turks from the first millennium BC onward with the abovementioned nomadic warrior tribes.
Yassı Taş Mezar Kültürü ve Türk Etnogenezi
Elvin YıldırımErken Türk tarihi ile alakalı muhtaç olduğumuz kaynakların başında hiç şüphesiz Çin kaynakları gelmektedir. Çin kaynaklarının erken devirlerde ilk olarak hayvan derilerine kaplumbağa kabuklarına, hayvan kemiklerine ve tunç malzemelere yazıldığı bilinmektedir. Daha sonra bambu ve kâğıt üzerine tarihî kayıtlarının düşüldüğü görülür. Bu kayıtlar elbette Türk tarihi ve kültürünü aydınlatma hususunda önemli başvuru kaynaklarımızdır. Bunun yanı sıra maddi kültür bakiyeleri tarihî kaynaklarla beraber değerlendirildiğinde karanlıkta kalan pek çok hususun aydınlatılmasını sağlamaktadır. MÖ II. bin yılda Güney Sibirya’nın neredeyse tamamında atlı, konargöçer, savaşçı bir topluluk yaklaşık 1000 yıl boyunca tüm bu toprakların hâkimi idi. Andronovo Kültürü olarak literatüre geçen bu çağ toplumunun geride bıraktıkları maddi kültür kalıntıları MÖ I. bin yıldan itibaren gelişmeye, değişmeye başlamıştır. Mezarlardaki insan tipolojisi farklılık göstermeye başlamıştır. Evropoid bir topluluğun Mongoloidler ile karışmaya başladığı gözlenebilmiştir. Bu kültür dönemine ait maddi kalıntılara Hakasya topraklarından sonra tesadüf edilmemiştir. Fakat bu topluma ait geleneklerin bugün arkeologlar tarafından farklı adlarla anılan kültür dönemlerinin maddi kalıntılarında yaşamaya devam ettiği tespit edilmiştir. Bu bakımdan bu çalışma ile Hakasya ötesinde, Baykal ve Moğolistan topraklarında Andronovo Kültürü insanlarının hangi kültürel geçiş dönemleri ile Moğolistan’a geçiş yaptığı ve Türklerin ataları ile akrabalıkları ortaya konulacaktır. Bununla beraber MÖ I. bin yıldan itibaren Türklerin ataları tarafından Çin kaynaklarında zikredilen boyların yukarıda ifade edilen konargöçer muharip boylarla olan bağlantıları üzerinde durulacaktır.
Lake Baikal and its surroundings feature a grave-building culture that draws attention due to its unique style. These tombs, which are especially dense in the lands east and south of Lake Baikal, can be also found along the Orkhon Valley. Debates focus on the chronological beginning and end of this period, which is called the Slab Grave Culture. In addition, the opinions put forward are diverse, because the Huns also practiced this culture. In this respect, revealing the chronological relationships of the Slab Grave Culture with preceding cultures and its successors is necessary. The Karasuk Culture is one of those viewed as a chronological contemporary of the Slab Grave Culture. The material cultural elements of the Karasuk Culture period, which were determined to spread toward the lands in the north of China, the South Siberian Altai–Sayan environment and the lands of Kazakhstan, were similar to those of the Andronovo Culture to a large extent. It was named after the first findings, which were discovered near the Karasuk River and dated to 1200 BC. Against this background, inferring on the earlier ancestors of this community, which is considered to have spread from Baikal and to the homeland of the Turks, is possible. Understand the early dates of the graves of the Slab Grave Culture has become easy due to the fact that connections with the Karasuk Culture have been revealed, that is, they are direct heirs of the Andronovo Society. The era recorded in the literature as the Andronovo Culture was created by a nomadic, warlike community at the beginning of the second millennium BC. Originating from the Ural region, the people of this cultural period spread throughout Southern Siberia. Moreover, the Karasuk Culture followed this cultural society, whose last spreading area was Khakassia and its surroundings, in terms of traditions and customs. Although the Karasuk Culture now dominates Siberia and its environs, the Slab Grave Culture dominates further east, beyond Baikal, and in Mongolia. Additionally, many material culture remnants from the Karasuk Culture period have been obtained in the western territories of Mongolia. The Andronovo people, who controlled this vast area for approximately 1,000 years, have not been erased from history. It began to develop with environmental relations and turned into a more advanced society. Many developments have occurred in social life, governance, and technology. Migration also influenced cultural changes. This period marked the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age, which was not a sharp transition. Although iron products were obtained from graves, bronze also maintained its place to a certain extent. Products made from gold and silver have also been identified to some extent. Circa 1000 BC, the closest neighbour of the nomads began to give its first historical records. The Chinese contributed to the elucidation of the material culture periods in Siberia and Mongolia through their early historical records. The early history of the nomads who made Inner Asia their home and inscribed their names in early written sources necessarily intersects with the Andronovo Culture. This also becomes apparent with the existence of the Karasuk Culture. The period of tribes, which are seen as the ancestors of the Turks during the Zhou Dynasty era in Chinese sources, corresponds to the final stage of the Andronovo Culture and the beginning periods of the Karasuk Culture in Siberia. Experts examining the material remains of the Scythians, Vusuns, Huns, and Turks discovered common points in their comparisons with the Andronovo Culture. The fact that the Andronovo Culture is not visible within the territory of Khakassia can be explained by its transformation into the Karasuk Culture and its introduction into the Baikal region and beyond (at this point, it was called the Slab Grave Culture) and by the mention of tribes, such as Rong, Di, and Yi (their ancestors before the Huns as per the Chinese sources in this geography). Here, there is unquestionably a cultural continuity. This kinship relationship continued in a complex manner as the Andronovo, Karasuk–Slab Grave, Tagar–Taştık (Scythian Age), and Hun Cultures. Both burial practices and findings obtained from the graves clearly demonstrate this situation. This study examines the connections among the four cultures through the features of the grave structure and the products retrieved from the graves. Moreover, the study reveals the connections between the ancestors of the Huns mentioned in Chinese sources and these cultural periods based on archaeological studies. In this context, findings obtained particularly from archaeological studies conducted by Russian archaeologists have been considered. Efforts have also been made to utilize Chinese sources in addition to this. The main idea concept is that the Andronovo Culture entered Baikal and its environs and moved into Mongolia as the Slab Grave Culture. Scholars determined that the Xiongnu continued this burial culture. This rectangular burial culture, which came into the Orhun Valley, continued to be practiced by the Turks.
