Influence of migration on the formation of the anthropological composition of the ancient population of Buryatia

The paper deals with the migrations of ancient peoples across the territory of modern Buryatia and the Baikal region from the V century BC to about the II century AD. Based on archaeological and anthropological materials, as well as written sources, the processes of formation of the ethnogenetic composition of the ancient population of the region are analyzed. It has been established that in the Neolithic era there was a movement towards Lake Baikal of groups of mixed Caucasoid-Mongoloid population from the West and Mongoloid populations from the East, from Transbaikalia and Mongolia. In the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, a powerful migration flow from Western Mongolia and Altai of the Caucasoid population, carriers of the culture of the Khereksurs barrows, to the territory of Northern Mongolia and Transbaikalia, where the Mongoloid population of the slab-grave culture lived, was noted. At the subsequent historical stage, the Xiongnu and Xianbi tribes actively interact in the region. The Xiongnu had a mixed Mongoloid-Caucasoid anthropological composition, with a significant predominance of Mongoloids. The Xianbis were typical representatives of the Siberian Mongoloids. As a result, intensive metizational processes took place on the territory of Baikal Siberia, which led to the formation of medieval Turkic and Mongolian tribes, and later, modern peoples of the region.

Keywords: Buryatia; migration; Neolithic; Slab-grave culture; Khereksurs barrows culture; Xiongnu; Xianbei.