Ancient DNA is transforming the conventional view of the Saka people. Research indicates that Iron Age nomads in the territories of Kazakhstan, Southern Siberia, and Altai were a population of complex mixed origin, El.kz reports.
They cannot be accurately described using modern ethnic categories. The Saka lived long before the formation of medieval Turkic states, and their genetic history was composed of several ancient Eurasian lineages.
What the Ancient DNA revealed
Large-scale studies of ancient genomes show that Iron Age Scytho-Saka groups were not a single "people" in the modern sense. Instead, they were nomadic communities with related lifestyles occupying a vast territory stretching from the Black Sea to Altai and Central Asia.
Scientists identify several sources of origin in their genomes. These include Late Bronze Age steppe pastoralists, Southern Siberian groups, populations with West Eurasian roots, and components associated with more southern regions of Central Asia.
This picture explains why archaeologists find shared cultural elements among the Saka while also recording significant regional differences. Burial rites, horse tack, jewelry, and weaponry might have been similar, even though the origins of individual groups differed.
Kazakhstan, Altai, and Southern Siberia
For eastern Scytho-Saka groups, Altai is particularly significant. Ancient DNA research shows that this region was one of the major hubs from which Iron Age nomadic groups spread west and south.
In Kazakhstan, this genetic data aligns well with archaeology. Various local traditions existed here, including Saka and Tasmola sites associated with the early nomads of the steppe.
A common "Scythian world" did indeed exist. However, it lacked the genetic homogeneity that people often try to retrospectively attribute to ancient nations.
Why Old Racial Terms Are an Obstacle
Formulations such as "Caucasoid" (Europoid) are ill-suited for describing ancient DNA. Modern archaeogenetics works with lineages of descent, ancient populations, and admixture components rather than crude racial labels.
It is more accurate to speak of West Eurasian, East Eurasian, Siberian, and Central Asian components. While these terms may sound more clinical, they more precisely convey the data recovered from ancient remains.
Furthermore, a genome cannot be directly equated with language, culture, or modern nationality. The same archaeological horizon could unite people of different origins, especially in the steppe, where alliances, migrations, and intermarriage constantly shifted the population's composition.
Were the Saka Turks?
The Saka lived before the era of the medieval Turkic Khaganates. Therefore, calling them "Turks" in a direct historical sense is incorrect.
Late Turkic-speaking groups of Central Asia formed during a different era, characterized by increased eastward migrations and the emergence of new political unions in the steppe. These processes belong to a later period than the classical Saka era.
At the same time, part of the ancient steppe population likely integrated into subsequent peoples. This is the common path for Eurasia: groups did not disappear entirely but were absorbed into new alliances, changed their language, political affiliation, and cultural environment.
What Language Did They Speak
Historians and linguists most often associate the Scytho-Saka world with the Iranian language family. Almost no direct written texts from the Saka themselves have survived, so conclusions are based on names, external written sources, and comparative material.
This does not mean that every group from the Black Sea to Altai spoke the same way. In such a vast steppe zone, different dialects and multilingualism likely existed.
According to the current state of science, Scytho-Saka languages are closer to the Eastern Iranian branch. Turkic languages began to play a key role in the region later, following the emergence and rise of Turkic political entities.
How This Changes Our Understanding of History
Ancient DNA data shows that the history of the Saka was more complex than the "one people, one culture, one lineage" model often found in school textbooks. We are looking at nomadic communities that formed at the intersection of the Steppe, Siberian, and Central Asian worlds.
This is particularly important for the history of Kazakhstan. The Saka were part of the region's early nomadic history, but centuries of migration, wars, alliances, linguistic shifts, and the formation of new states lie between them and the modern peoples of Central Asia.
The most accurate definition is this: the Saka were mixed nomadic populations of the Iron Age, linked to West Eurasian, Siberian, and Central Asian ancestral lineages.
