The Research On The Racial Anthropological Structure Of Ancient Xinjiang Population

Xinjiang, as an important part of the Silk Road in the history, has been an area with multi nationalities for long time. Along with the development, the integration and genic communication among the different peoples has got more and more complicated and finally evolved into what it is now with quite a few minorities living together in Xinjiang. The distribution of the ancient residents– Europoid, Mongoloid and the mixed type of the two– has changed constantly and formed the racial diversity of ancient people in Xinjiang.On the basis of research on bone materials from Xinjiang ancient cemeteries and the findings of history, archaeology and ethnology, the dissertation analyzes the distribution and migration of Europoid, Proto-European type, Mediterranean type, Pamir-Ferghana type, Mongoloid ancient population and the mixed type; and researches into the racial anthropological structure and origin of Loulan, Wusun, Cheshi and Uyghur ancient population.This dissertation consists of 6 chapters.Chapter one is the Preface. It introduces the geography, peoples of Xinjiang; defines the time and space frame, the objects, and the archaeological background of the research; illustrates the purpose and methodology of the research.Chapter two is about Loulan. According to the analysis of current ancient anthropological materials, ancient Loulan population mainly belongs to the eastern branch of Mediterranean type. When southern Pamirs Saka moved eastward into Xinjiang and further along the Tarim Basin, they integrated with the local residents. Ancient Loulan has existed from as early as Han Dynasty. With the initiation of the Silk Road, by Eastern Han and Wei Jin period, Zhangshi of turkestan started to garrison Loulan and opened up wasteland to grow food grain. This is a period during which most Han people entered this region. During this period, the eastern branch of Mediterranean type and Mongoloid integrated with each other gradually. This can be seen from the anthropological materials from the Eastern Han grave in suburb of Loulan city. At the end of 4th century AD, due to the natural environment deterioration, this group of people finally quit Loulan and distributed into eastern Xinjiang.Chapter three is about Wusun Type. The main part of Wusun people belongs to Pamir-Ferghana type. They inhabited in the wide range around Hami– from west of Hosi Corridor and Dunhuang to east of Xinjiang Tianshan Mountains– in the early phrase. In BC 2nd century, they migrated westward and occupied wide area with Yili River basin and Issyk Lake as the centre. They integrated with local Saka and Yueh-chih. With the migration and integration of the peoples and ethnics around Tarim Basin, this fusion merged into different ethnic groups; the percentage of Mongoloid increased continuously and consequently formed a transition type of Mongoloid and Europoid– South Siberia type. Their gene existed in modern Central Asian peoples, such as Kazak, Kirghizia, etc.Chapter four is about Cheshi people. Based on the findings of the physical anthropological research on the relative materials from Alagou, Yanhai and Subeixi ancient cemeteries, ancient Cheshi people are established on two kinds of mixed types: 1) the mixture of Pamir-Ferghana type, the eastern branch of Mediterranean type, ancient European type and their mixture, 2) the mixture of Mongoloid and Europoid. The different branches of Cheshi originated from different archaeological cultures. Europoid part is linked with the entering of western culture; Mongoloid is associated with the influence of traditional eastern cultures. At least from Warring States period, Subeixi culture has linked to eastern and western cultures simultaneously. After the collapse of Cheshi, they merged into various ancient Xinjiang peoples.Chapter five is about Uyghur people. The main body of Ancient Uyghur people belongs to Northern Asia Mongoloid. After AD 840, it separated into three parts. The northern Asian people characteristics of Ganzhou Uyghur was gradually diluted by eastern Asian Mongoloid and evolved into Yugu finally. The anthropological characteristics of them could be identified clearly from the providers in Dunhuang Murals and the appearance of modern Gannan Yugu people. Gaochang Uyghur integrated with local Europoid and Mongoloid types gradually. But the figures of the providers in murals of Gaochang Uyghur temple in Beiting remain the Mongoloid characteristic. Congling Uyghur, which move to Central Asian Steppe, occupied the region west of Pamirs at first and established the powerful Qarakhnid Dynasty in the 9th-12th century. This part of Uyghur in Central Asian integrated with the local peoples and then moved their capital to Kashkar on the upper reaches of Tarim River. They finally annexed Gaochang Uyghur. With the Uyghurizing and Islamizing in Tarim Basin, Xinjiang Uyghur formed a new community– Uighur during the long integration process over 6-7 centuries.Chapter 6 is the summary. This dissertation researched into the racial anthropological structure, the origin and the evolution of Loulan, Wusun, Cheshi and Uyghur ancient population on the basis of anthropological research. It concludes that the whole Central Asia including Xinjiang is an area where the Europoid type and Mongoloid type blended and integrated. The two types of peoples finally evolved into many mixed races and as a result led to the polymorphism and complexity on the genetic structure of Xinjiang peoples.