ORIGIN OF THE TURKMENS

A BRIEF STUDY ON THE TOPIC ON ANCIENT LAYERS

IN ENTHOGENESIS OF OUR PEOPLE

When studying the ethnogenesis of any nation, historians ask themselves one of the main questions - whether the people being studied are of local (autochthonous) origin or whether alien tribes and peoples had a greater influence on their ethnogenesis. The question of the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens is no exception here, since the historians have been trying to unravel the origin of our people for at least a hundred years, although the issue of the genealogy of the Turkmens has in fact concerned historians for more than a century. Let us try to provide some evidence and facts of archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic and historical nature about the ancient strata in the ethnogenesis of Central Asian Turkmens who live in the territory of modern Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan.

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE TERRITORY OF TURKMENISTAN

Famously, over the past few decades, archaeologists have unearthed many of the oldest settlements (cities) on the territory of our country, whose age is estimated by experts at several millennia:

Altyn-Depe - a settlement of the Bronze Age (2300-1900 BC), discovered in the south-west of Turkmenistan. The city arose on the basis of the local agricultural community. It was surrounded by a rampart of raw brick. Clay figurines testify to the existence of wheeled transport. During the excavation of Altyn-Depe, signs were found that resemble proto-Elam and proto-Sumerian pictography, as well as Harappan script.

Namazga-Depe - the end of the 3rd - the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.e. The distinguishing artifacts here are uncharted pottery, two-tier pottery horns, copper and bronze cast products (knives, daggers, mirrors) and clay models of carts. The remains of multi-room houses separated by narrow streets were discovered. Namazga-depe of this time, along with Mundigak and Shahr-i Sokhta in Eastern Iran, is one of the important centers of urban civilizations located between Sumer and India.

Gonur-Depe is a Bronze Age hillfort (2,300 BC) discovered in southeast Turkmenistan. A huge necropolis dating back to III millennium BC. e., was found in the Mary oasis of Turkmenistan by the Margian archaeological expedition in 1972. It was the capital city and the largest in Margiana, with its own palace and several temples that could compete with the structures of Assyria and Babylon. Judging by various sources, the area of ​​the ancient city ranges from 20 to 50 hectares. The temple city lasted until the end of the XVI century BC. e.

All these ancient cities belong to the Bronze Age civilization (called the “Bactrian-Margian Archaeological Complex”), which was located in what is today southern and eastern Turkmenistan, southern Uzbekistan, northern Afghanistan and western Tajikistan from the 23rd to the 18th centuries. BC e. - at the same time as In civilization in Pakistan and the Old Babylonian kingdom in Mesopotamia. The world-famous archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi, who discovered Margiana (or Margush), called it one of the five most ancient centers of the emergence of world civilization.

As we see, cities and civilizations existed and flourished on the territory of Turkmenistan, whose age is estimated at several thousand years, and archaeologists continue to make new discoveries.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL, ETHNOGRAPHIC AND OTHER DATA ON ANCIENT RESIDENTS OF TURKMENISTAN

Do the inhabitants of the most ancient civilizations of Turkmenistan have ethnic ties with modern Turkmens? This question, apparently, is one of the most important in the study of the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens, and here it is necessary to turn, first of all, to the results of anthropological studies.

The Soviet scholar Lev Oshanin, who conducted a comprehensive anthropological study of the peoples of Central Asia, came to the conclusion that the roots of the Turkmen people go back to ancient times. In his book “The Anthropological Composition of the Population of Central Asia and the Ethnogenesis of its Peoples,” the famous scholar emphasizes that Turkmens are practically the only dolichocephalic (or long-narrow-headed) people in Central Asia, and therefore he sees their kinship with the Scythians and Sarmatians. “All of the above leaves no doubt that the dolichocephalic Caucasian race, which is still clearly predominant among the Turkmens, is a local, autochthonous race, which has apparently formed here, on the territory of the Transcaspian steppes. Initially, it was part of the local ancient tribes of Transcaspia, bearing the common name of the Saka (Scythian) tribes."

For a number of years, the Russian anthropologist N. Dubova examined the bones of the ancient inhabitants found during excavations of ancient Turkmen settlements and, in confirmation of Lev Oshanin’s conclusions, also came to the conclusion that most of the population of southern Turkmenistan, including residents of Gonur Depe, were dolichocephalic, as well as a significant part of modern Turkmen living in southern Turkmenistan and in other parts of our country: “Judging by the traces left on the sculls, almost immediately after the birth of the baby, a tight bandage was placed on his head, one part of which covered the back of the head, and the second was placed on the crown, closer to the forehead or behind - almost on the top of the head ... Modern Turkmens are no longer so widely use this tradition. Nevertheless, some of their groups have a significantly longer head than others. But the ancient custom, which, as we now know, has its roots in at least the 2nd millennium BC. (and may be even in an earlier time), remains almost throughout the territory of Turkmenistan, and its existence depends more on social preferences, rather than on the tribal affiliation of parents,” - writes N. Dubova in her work “Anthropological Cover of Turkmenistan in Ancientry and Nowdays”. As we can see, anthropological data indicate that modern Turkmens are the direct ancestors of the population of Turkmenistan since the ancient civilizations of the Bactrian-Margian archaeological complex, which existed and flourished several millennia ago.

In addition to anthropologists, scholars from various historical disciplines were involved in the study of the ethnogenesis of the Turkmen people. They also concluded that the ancient inhabitants of Turkmenistan are the direct ancestors of the Turkmen of modern time Turkmenistan. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan A.Jykyyev in his doctoral dissertation indicates that the ethnonym “Turkmen” "is only an episode in ethnic history, and not a fundamental point of reference for the beginning of the formation of an ethnic group." He considers it possible in the ethnic history of Turkmens to distinguish “the ethnos of the ancient era and the ethnos of the medieval era”. The famous Turkmen academician emphasizes that the Turkic tribes, especially the Oghuzes, played a decisive role in the formation of medieval Turkmens, but “the penetration of ancient Turks, which began at the junction of the old and new era and continued for many centuries, led to the formation in the 11^th century of a new ethnic community - the Turkmen nationality."

The famous Soviet historian, archaeologist and ethnologist Lev Gumilyov states that the ancient Parthians are actually the Turkmen, here are some of his quotes:

- “Of particular origin are the Turkmens. In ancient times they were known as Parthians, who in 250 BC. e. expelled the Macedonians from Iran, captured it entirely, but did not merge with the Persians, made up a layer close to the feudal aristocrats. And the Persians were peasants and made up the infantry. "

- “Parthians are about our Turkmens. Everyone remembers Pushkin’s poems: “ We recognize the Parthians puffy / By high hoods.” So, the Turkmens still wear tall hats. These are Parthian clothes. These people were very few, but very fighting and warlike They created a truly aristocratic system, the closest in political terms to feudal systems."

The Soviet historian G.Markov also always defended the idea of ​​the participation of both local farmers and a diverse cattle-breeding population in the ethnogenesis of Turkmens, wheras T. Zhdanko argued that the Turkmens are not merely cattle-breeders, but cattle-breeders and farmers.

Due to the fact that the ancient strata of the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens were largely represented by a settled agricultural culture, this is deeply honored by the Turkmens with bread. “The Turkmen rules of attitude to bread have reached the present day from our grandfathers and great-grandfathers from the depths of centuries. For example: you can’t put the bread with the back side up, step over the dough, put bread on the ground. You should eat bread, trying not to crumble, not to leave a piece half-eaten. The Turkmens, seeing a piece of bread on the ground, pick it up, put it on their forehead and carefully clean it somewhere higher so that no one steps on it, saying: “let it be given to the birds of God”. Among Turkmens, they rarely say “have breakfast”, “have lunch”, “have dinner”, they often say: “chorek iymek” - literally “eat bread”, it has been a tradition since ancient times, because the main food was bread. ”- writes in her article "Take bread with you on the road ..." Bahar Yagdyyeva. Such a deep reverence for bread is not characteristic of traditionally nomadic cultures (where bread is mainly not grown but bought), but rather settled ones.

Turkmen historian Marat Durdyyev in his book “Turkmens (Search for the ancestors of the Turkmen people and their historical ancestral home)”, published in 1991, cites a number of evidence in favour of the autochthonous, local origin of the Turkmen population of Turkmenistan. I consider it important to give here entire paragraphs from his book:

“Archaeologists and art historians find parallels between the modern Turkmen culture and the cultures that arose and developed on the territory of Turkmenistan several millennia ago. So, it is now considered proven that the Turkmen national ornament, including carpet, originated here in Neolithic and Eneolithic antiquity, that Turkmen carpets have existed for at least two thousand years. The same applies to the Turkmen national costume. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan G. A. Pugachenkova, who has studied in detail the iconography of the statuettes of the Great Margian goddess at the turn of our era, believes that the costume on the statuettes and the costume of modern Turkmen women are almost identical. Goddesses are usually depicted in a suit of local cut, with sewn-in, cut-out, typically Asian sleeves, with rich embroideries sewn onto the dress. On many figurines there is an ornament in the form of circles and ovals, as well as traces of red paint. Ornaments in the form of sewn-in plaques, red color of plaques, tiara-shaped hats such as the modern Turkmen "borik" inevitably suggest an analogy with the traditional Turkmen women's costume. These analogies are reinforced by the fact that on a number of figurines on the chest there are round ornaments in the form of a large plaque with six relief circles in an oval. G. A. Pugachenkova wrote about one of these figurines from Chichanlyk-depe: “The face of this goddess is long with sharp features ... far from ancient specimens. It very vividly resembles the faces of elderly Teke women, and ethnographic parallels can also be traced in a suit, the obligatory accessory of which is a tiara-like “borik” on the head of a Turkmen woman and a round flat medallion on her chest - a “gulyaka”, around which gold or silver plaques are sewn - “chapraz-changa." Apparently, by the beginning of our era, the localization of the image is determined by giving it local features both in the interpretation of the face and in changing the costume. ”

Speaking about the thousand-year-old traditions of the Turkmen national costume, it should be said that a significant range of materials from different eras indicates this. So, during excavations in the sites of Old and New Nissa, a mass of small plaques of gold and bronze were found sewn onto the female and male clothes of the Parthians. Their dating is the third century BC - the third century AD.

When examining the settlement of Old Kishman in the Murgab oasis in the layers of the sixth and seventh centuries, a sculpture of a woman in a dress with sewn round plaques was discovered. This tradition is not violated at a later time and is confirmed in the medieval archaeological material of Turkmenistan. Embroidered plaques were found during excavations of the Shekhr-Islam settlement north of modern Baharden. Yegen Atagarryev, Associate Member of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan, who studied them, finds direct analogies in a modern women's Turkmen suit.

Even similarities of the form of the beard of male figurines with the shape of the beard of modern Turkmens are striking. On the statuette found in the ancient city of Gaur-Gala of the Old Merv, it frames only the lower jaw, the cheeks and the space around the lips are carefully shaved or plucked, that is, it gives a sample of a typically Turkmen beard. This gave grounds to G. A. Pugachenkova to say that here is an image of a representative of that ethnic group that made up the Merv ethnic group in Parthian and Sassanian times.”

Also, M. Durdyyev points out that the ancientry of the Turkmens is reflected in the traditions of horse breeding and carpet weaving of our people. On the question of the deep ancientry of Turkmen carpet patterns, some very interesting examples can be cited in support of M. Durdyyev’s opinion. At the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC, decorative and applied art, in particular, ceramics, reached its peak.  At the settlements of this time (the monuments of Namazga-depe, Altyn-depe, Yylgynly-depe and others), archaeologists discovered ceramic dishes decorated with complex geometric patterns. Vessels decorated with several colors of paints look particularly spectacular. Based on the most characteristic monument this pottery was called the Goksur ceramics style. Geometric ornament of ceramics of the Goksur style - crosses, step pyramids, zigzags - are completely similar to the patterns of Turkmen carpets. So, the ornaments decorating the horizontal friezes along the upper part of the vessels are a duplication of one or more motifs, consisting of straight and stepped lines, forming a square or rhombus. The second characteristic feature of carpet patterns on ancient ceramic products is a motif of stepped lines. And finally, the third characteristic method is the two-sidedness of the ornaments. Geometric ornaments on ceramics represent two sides of the same figure, that is, the face and the wrong side. Here we see that the ancient Turkmens decorated dishes with their original patterns, and later used the same patterns in carpet weaving. 

When studying Turkmen female jewelry, the famous ethnographer G. Vasilyeva came to the conclusion that the common features of such jewelry of most Turkmen tribal groups, the manner of wearing them indicate a single ethnic tradition of the Turkmen people. In the study of archaeological finds in southern Turkmenistan and related areas of the 5-7^th centuries and 9-14^th centuries reveals their great similarity with the decorations of the modern Turkmen. Based on these data, the ethnic and cultural continuity of the Turkmen of the present time with the ancient population of the western part of Central Asia of the Hunnic (4-5 centuries AD) and even the Parthian-Kanguy (over 2 thousand years ago) periods becomes apparent.

One of the groups of Turkmen jewelry is characteristic for such large Turkmen tribes as Teke, Saryk and partially Arsary, which determined the original appearance of the Turkmen jewelry as a whole, they are silver, very massive, with a gilded pattern. This group of jewelry is associated with the Scythian-Sarmatian-Alanian tribes of the Caspian steppes and Mangyshlak. This group of jewelry resembles the jewelry of the peoples of the Volga-North Caucasus region and their Sarmatian-Alan ancestors. There is an obvious similarity between the jewelry of the Turkmen Yomuds and the decorations of the North Caucasian Alans of the 6^th -8^th centuries. in Ossetia, finds in the medieval burial grounds of Mountain Ingushetia, dating from the XV-XVI centuries.

G. Vasilyeva also notes that the entire set of ethnographic data indicates the presence of at least three main strata in the ethnic composition of the Turkmens: the ancient local; early Turkic and peculiarly Oghuz and Kypchak. In her opinion, the earliest basis in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens was the ancient local Iranian-speaking Dakho-Massagetian and Sarmatian-Alanian tribes of the steppes and residents of ancient states - Margiana, Parthia and Khorezm. Early Turkic people appeared in the Caspian steppes in the middle of 1^st millennium A.C. and Oghuzes (Seljuks), who played a major role in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmen people, in the 9-11^th centuries.

I fully agree with the M. Durdyev’s opinion that the direct ancestors of the Turkmen of modern day Turkmenistan and the neighboring countries lived here on these very lands in ancientry. I also believe that G. Vasilieva is right in defining the three main strata in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmen. Having agreed with the opinions of prominent scholars who did a great job of identifying the ancestors of the Turkmen people, one still cannot accept their statements that people of the ancient strata in the Turkmen ethnogenesis (Dakho-Massagetian and Scythian-Sarmatian-Alan tribes) were Iranian-speaking. The deeper and specialized studies of the origin of these tribes indicate that they were Turkic-speaking and further, I will provide convincing evidence in favour of this statement.

THE LANGUAGE OF TURKMENISTAN TRIBES WHICH WERE THE ANCIENT LAYERS OF THE TURKMEN ETHNOGENESIS

If we talk about the ethno-linguistic characteristics of the Massagetan tribes that were part of the most ancient stratum of the Turkmen people, then ancient sources give their names such as Apasyaks (Pasians), Khorasmians (Khorezmians), Asians, Khorasnians (Khorasans), Sakaravak, Tohars-Dakhs Augases, Atasians. At a later time, when the Oghuzes more actively moved from the eastern part of Central Asia to its western part, both the name of Oghuz (and later the Turkmen) and the names of Oghuz tribes begin to appear in the sources. If we compare the names of the Massagetan tribes with the Oghuz ones, as was first done by famous Soviet historian and archaeologist Sergey Tolstov, then we find a large number of coincidences: the Massageto-Turanian tribe Dakh-Tokhar is the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe Duger (the variants of the name are Togar, Duker, Tuver), Pasian is the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe of the Pecheneg (Bechene), Sakaravaka is the Turkmen tribe of Sakar, As is the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe of the Yazyr  (modern Turkmen Ases, Yazes ). The Turkmen historian of the Soviet period G.Karpov also compared tribal names, and came to the conclusion that the Massagetan Atassia tribe is the Turkmen tribe of Ata, the Atabenians are the Atabay of Yomud tribe of Turkmen, the Amirgian Saks are the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe of Eymir, and also the modern Turkmen tribe Emreli. The mentioned S. Tolstov identified the Turanian-Massagetian ethnonym "Augas" with the name "Oghuz". It iw well-known that the ancient Greek communication of the ancient name of Amu Darya river is Oks or Oxus, which is also a modified name of the ethnonym Oghuz, and the ancient channel of the Amu Darya flowing through the territory of Turkmenistan towards the Caspian Sea was called Uzboy (i.e. Oghuz tribe) in the Middle Ages. All these data, of course, are evidence in favour of the fact that these Massagetan tribes were actually ancient Oghuz-Turkic (Turkmen) tribes, and, as we see, they were recorded by ancient historians in the 1st  millennium BC. in the territory of modern Turkmenistan and other parts of Central Asia.

The inhabitants of Central Asia (including the territory of modern Turkmenistan), namely  the Massageto-Turanian tribes, which were also called “Sak” and “Scythian,” broke into Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Western Asia in the 7th century. BC., stirring up the ancient world. The Scythians are known from the writings of ancient authors, primarily the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. In the ancient Greek interpretation, the name of this people sounds like Skuta, Assyrian sources of the 7^th  century. BC. called Scythians as Išgūzai or Ašgūzai. It is known that 24 ancient Turkmen (Oghuz) tribes from ancient times were divided into two parts: Ichoghuz (Turkmen: Içoguz - internal Oghuzes) and Dashoghuz (Turkmen: Daşoguz - external Oghuzes; the modern Turkmen city of Dashoguz was named after this Oghuz division). The Azerbaijani historian R. Shukurova, in her preface to the Russian translation of the Turkmen heroic epic (dastan) “Oguz-name”, writes: “The main events set forth in the dastan occur between the dominion of Oghuz Khan and the tenth khan Inalsyr Yavkuy. This time, originating from the VII century. BC e., was very long and, according to Rashid ad-Din, who lived at the beginning of the XIV century, starting from Oghuz, lasted for about two thousand years. Such time space can be taken in view of the fact that Rashid ad-Din knew the Jewish traditions very well, according to which he attributed the history of the ancient Turks to the 7th century. BC e., when the penetration of the Central Asian tribes to the west began. "  Here we see that the time of events (7^th century BC) related to the penetration of the people of Išgūzai (Ašgūzai) into the territory of the Middle East according to Assyrian sources coincides with the time of the conquest of this territory by the Oghuzes according to “Oguz-name”. Based on this and making a simple linguistic analysis, we can confidently say that the Assyrian name of the Scythians Išgūzai (Ašgūzai) is a slightly distorted name of the ancient Turkmen (Oghuz) Ichoguz unit (Içoguz).

The Scythian agricultural ethnos Alazone (Halizonians, Alazones), who lived near the Black Sea west of the Dnieper River, was mentioned in the works of the ancient Greek historians Herodotus and Strabo. The basis of the term alazones is a form of the Turkic name of the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe Halach (Khalaj) adapted by the Hellenes and is included in a natural series of phonetic variants of the ethnonym: alaz ~ aladj ~ alatş (alaç) ~ alaş ~ halaç. The Sarmatian tribe "yazyg" is most likely the ancient Oghuz-Turkmen tribe "yazyr", which was part of the original 24 Oghuz-Turkmen tribes, originating from the grandchildren of Oghuz-Khan. Another confirmation that the Scythians (Sarmatians) belonged to the Turkic-speaking Oghuzes (Turkmens) is the restored clothing of the European part of the Scythians from ancient burials in the territory of modern Ukraine, which almost completely coincides with the traditional Turkmen clothes.

The Byzantine princess and historian A. Komnina called nomads “the Scythians” in the ancient manner. After analyzing her texts, we can make an unconditional conclusion that Scythians which she mentions are actually the Turkic tribes: these are primarily the Pechenegs (Oghuz-Turkmen tribe Bechene), Uzes (Oghuzes), Kumans (Kipchak tribe, which has an ancient Oghuz origin). Also, A.Komnina sometimes refers to the Oghuzes as the Huns, and sometimes as Savromats (i.e. Sarmatians), while she also uses other Turkic ethnonyms for them as synonyms - Uz, Pecheneg, Kuman. 

Anna Komnina’s following text is quite interesting: “One of the Scythian tribes (Soviet and Russian philologist and specialist in the Byzantine Y. Lyubarsky proved that it was Pechenegs-M.B.), which was subjected to constant robberies by the Savromats (i.e., Uzes or Oghuzes-M .B.) took off from their seats and went down to Danuwitz." The famous Soviet historian D. Yeremeyev writes about this in his book Ethnogenesis of the Turks. Despite the fact that A. Komnina lived in the 11-12^th centuries, and the Scythians were inhabitants of Eurasia from about the 9^th century BC up until the 4^th century AD, judging by the identification of the Oghuzes (Turkmens) with the Scythians, the Byzantines did not doubt that ancient Scythians were Turkic-speaking.

The Soviet historian O. Tumanovich in his book “Turkmenistan and Turkmens”, published in 1926, directly writes that about the dominant Scythian tribes were Turkic-speaking: “The origin of the Scythians (Saks, Skolots) is not uniform, and it is assumed that the leading mass of Scythian peoples is purely Turkic origin, and the subjugated, agricultural part - Aryan. Thus, we can assume that the Turks began to penetrate into Central Asia (in the total mass of Saks) long before the Christian era. " 

In his work “The Language of the Royal Scythians”, the famous Turkmen historian O. Gundogdyev writes that the Oghuz (Turkmen) tribes are referred to by the ancient Greek sources as Scythian-Sarmatian: “Bait” ​​(Ptolemy) - Oghuz tribe Bayat; “Abii” (Arrian) - Oghuz tribe Yva; "Gargar" (Strabo) - Oghuz tribe Garkyn (Karkyn); "Bards" or "Marda" (Pomponius Mela) and Hun tribe Bardor - Oghuz tribe Bayandyr; Sariges (Ovid Nason) - Turkmen tribe Saryk, etc. O. Gundogdyev also gives additional arguments in favour of the Turkic origin of Skythians : “All descriptions of ancient authors in relation to the life of the“ Scythians ”do not find analogies in any“ Iranian-speaking ”people. At the same time, they find parallels among Turkic-speaking peoples in different eras: milking mares with a bone tube “in the form of a flute” (Scythians and modern Altai Turks), a method of cooking meat in the stomachs of animals (Scythians and modern Kazakhs, Balkars, etc. ), fortune-telling on the rods (Scythians and Balkars), customs of escorting horses with exhibiting “statues” (Scythians and Huns, Pechenegs, Oghuzes), making bowls from the skulls of enemies (Scythians and Huns, Pechenegs), payment for the brought heads of enemies (Scythians and Oghuzes, Mongols), the use of koumiss (Scythians and Huns, Turks, Oghuz s, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Altaians, etc.), the installation of stone images on the graves of their ancestors (Scythians and Oghuzes, Kipchaks, Kyrgyz, ancient Turks), military tactics using false retreat, cavalry charge, etc. (Scythians and all Turks), the use of yurts - stationary and mobile (Scythians and all Turks), the manufacture of felt products (Scythians and all Turks), etc. The abundance of different names of Scythian-Massagetan tribes is explained by the fact that ancient authors gathered information from various sources, and in some of them the distorted names were taken for the names of new ethnic groups. Sometimes ancient authors put next to each other the name of the tribe, clan and ethnic group." O. Gundogdyev also indicates that: “An analysis of the sources showed that the Cimmerians, Scythians, Meots, Sarmatians, Alans - they are all tribes of the same ethnic substrate. All these tribes can be designated for our purpose by one generally accepted term - “Scythian”, displacing the more archaic name “Turs”. We only need to remember that the “Scythian” is one of the many tribes, and even when the Oghuz (Ishkuz) lost their power, the tribes continued to be called Scythians. Naturally, the culture of the entire “Scythian” area has its own local characteristics even on the territory of Turkmenistan. But we must remember that "... the people do not cease to be one, even if individual groups conduct different households, live in dwellings of different types and forms, wear different clothes, etc."

With regard to the origin of the Alanian tribes, a whole series of historical evidence can be cited. Famours Russian and Soviet historian and academician Vasily Bartold wrote that “Turkmens are mentioned only in the west, for the first time (in the transcription of te-go-men) in the 8^th century by Chinese encyclopedia Tongdian, ch. 193. According to Tongdian, the word te-go-men was another name for the country of Suk-tak, that is, the country of the Alans, the places of settlement of which at the beginning of our era reached the lower courses of the Syr-Darya in the east, where in Ѵ/X at. was the main area of ​​Oghuz settlement.” Turkmen historian S. Atanyyazov  also directly points to the Turkmen origin of the Alans, and the name "Alan" is one of the pronunciation variants of the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe Alayontli. Here is an excerpt from his Dictionary of Turkmen Ethnonyms, published in Ashgabat in 1988: “Alayontli - a medieval Turkmen tribe. Names: ala-yontli, ula-yondlug, alka-bulak, alat, alachi, alachin, alan, bulak-at and others. In the ancient Turkic language, the ethnonym meant 'pied horse', 'having pinto horses': from ala 'motley, pied pinto', yont 'horse' [Aidarov, 1971 p. 359], -y - affinity affiliation. In the Chinese documents of the Tang era and in the Chinese encyclopedia of the VIII century. “Tongdian”, this ethnonym was used in the forms of elozhi (that is, alat), Alan, Helan, meaning ‘pinto’ [Zuev, 1962, p. 107-108]. In ancient Chinese sources, the ethnonym Bo-ma is found, which is a direct tracing of the Turkic Alat." The Turkmen tribe Olam, which originates from the ancient Alans, still lives in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan: "Olam is a small Turkmen tribe (Hojambas district and the city of Samarkand); This is a clan of the Dagly division of the Emreli tribe. According to many scholars, the Olams and the Sarahs Alams are the remains of the ancient Alans or Ases who lived in the 9th-11th centuries on the shore of Lake Sarykamysh [Bakhtiarov, 1930, p. 39-40; Vasiliev, 1963]. "- writes S. Atanyyazov.

However, it seems that the Alanian tribes included not only the Alayontli-Alat-Alan tribe, but also other Oghuz tribes. It is known that one of the ancient Oghuz-Turkmen tribes was the above mentioned Duger tribe (Tokhar, Togar, Tuver). In the medieval Armenian geographic atlas of Ashkharatsuyts, several Alanian tribes are described, including the “Alanian people Ashtigor” or simply “the Dikor people”. Most likely, the Alanian people “Dikor” are the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe Duger, part of which joint the Ossetian people under the name “Digors”. Iranian-speaking Irons, who are another sub-ethnic group of Ossetians, do not understand the language of Digors, which is an indirect confirmation of the ancient Oghuz-Turkmen origin of Digors, which the Turkic-speaking peoples of the North Caucasus call “Dugers”. “It should be noted that the ancestors of the Turkmens - Alan-As tribes - arrived in the Caucasus in the first centuries of the new era. Not a single source says that they were Iranian-speaking. On the contrary, the Armenian and Georgian authors of the Middle Ages pointed out the Alans-Ases whom they knew by the name of the Ovsurs (the Oghuz-Turkmen tribe Avshar – M.B.) and Digors were Turkic-speaking,” - O. Gundogdyev writes in his book “Turkmens and Peoples of the World”. According to the legends about the origin of the Ossetian people, the founder of the Ossetians was Os-Bagatur, this name is identified with the name of one of the Ossetian tribes “As”, while “bagatur” is a word of Turkic origin (“batyr”) and means a “hero-khight”. One of the sons of Os-Bagatur was called Aguz, i.e. Oghuz, and the ethnonym "As" itself can also derive from the name "Oghuz" - Oghuz-Az-As. This is not surprising, because the Alan-As tribes appeared in the North Caucasus precisely from Central Asia - the ancient homeland and habitat of the Oghuz people. If we turn to Ossetian names and genealogies, then O. Gundogdyev, referring to the Ossetian philologist F. Gutnov, indicates that the names of the Ossetian princes and individual rulers were mainly of Turkic and Arab origin: Baysagur, Batyrbiy, Beslan, Elkan, Tengiz, Elkon , Asgirey, Aslanbek, Bikan, Botas, Polat, Sanjar, Tugan, Tembulat, Krimgir, Kudaberd, Temirkhan, Hanjeri, Buriberdy and others. Based on the above evidence, we can make an unambiguous conclusion that the Alans-Ases, who became one of the ancient strata in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens, were tribes of Oghuz-Turkmen (Turkic) origin.

One of the main evidence that the oldest strata of the Turkmen people were Turkic-speaking is the images of the Turkmen tamgas found during excavations of the oldest Turkmen cities.

- Images of tamgas found on statuettes of female idols and amulets-seals in ancient Merv, which date back to 2,000 BC, show their complete identity with the tamgas of such ancient Turkmen tribes as Yazyr, Duger, Bechen and Avshar. And tamgas printed on bricks made in Parthian time in Erkkala (Merv) in the 3^rd century BC. – 4^th century BC, completely coincide with the tamgas of the Turkmen tribes of Garkyn, Yaparly, Chepni and Alayontly (O. Gundogdyev).

- In 2001, a small seal with depicted signs was found in the archaeological excavations of the oldest layers of barrows in Annau, near Ashgabat. With a naked eye, you can determine that these signs are the ancient Turkmen (Oghuz) tamgas, and the age of this find is estimated at 3-4 thousand years.

- In the fall of 2012, a research expedition of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan worked in the village of Dashly-depe, located in the village of Yzgant of the Gekdepe district of our country. O. Gundogdyev writes that among the numerous finds dating back to different eras, a fragment of a ceramic vessel with tamga clearly marked with black paint was discovered - this is a trident. The shard was found in the layers of ancient time, and its sign was a patrimonial sign of the Parthian kings. The trident is depicted on the royal shield from Old Nisa, on the late Parthian bricks from Gaur-kala (Ancient Merv) and others. Centuries passed, the Parthian empire had long since disappeared, but the people themselves did not disappear. Over time, all the ancient ethnic groups of Turkmenistan formed a powerful Oghuz association. And the village of Yzgant was once one of the inner cities of the Oghuz: Yzgant - Oghuzkent (the "city of Oghuz").

- As noted above, the name of the ancient Tokhar people who founded the Kushan kingdom (1-3 centuries AD, the territory of modern Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India) is a slightly modified name for the ancient Turkmen tribe Duger. The proof that the ancient Tokhars is the Turkmen tribe Duger is the tamga of this tribe in the form of a four-prong, Abul-Ghazi points out this in his work “The Genealogy of Turkmens”. It is well-known that the tamga of the Kushan kings is also a four-prong.

Let us try to summarize our brief study on the given topic:

- The oldest cities and civilizations of Turkmenistan - Altyn-Depe, Namazga-Depe, Gonur-Depe and others - were created several millennia ago, and the territory of our country is one of the five earliest centers of the emergence of civilization;

- According to the results of studies conducted over several decades, the anthropological appearance of the inhabitants of the most ancient civilizations of Turkmenistan and modern Turkmens coincide. Famous scholars have also proved the continuity of the traditions of carpet weaving and horse breeding, styles and types of women's jewelry of the current Turkmen with those of the most ancient and ancient inhabitants of Turkmenistan.

- In-depth and specialized studies of the origin of the Scythian-Sarmatian and Dakho-Massagetian tribes (including the Alan-As), who inhabited the territory of Turkmenistan and the rest of Central Asia in ancient times (as well as spreading further to Europe, the Middle and Middle East), prove the Oghuz-Turkmen origin of most of these tribes.

Author: Merdan Bayramov