Shiwei and Menggu
The Shiwei, though little is known, have been considered the ancestors of the Mongols according to ancient Chinese records. During the 5th century, they occupied the area east of the Greater Khinggan Range, what is the Hulun Buir, Ergune, Nonni, Middle Amur, and the Zeya Watersheds. They may have been divided into five to twenty tribes. They were said to be dressed in fish skins. They collected harvests of wheat and millet, and also kept dogs, pigs, oxen, and horses, but no sheep. Records say they lived purely on hunting. Fur and skins were traded with the neighboring kingdoms. They may have been nomadic, staying in the marshy lowlands in the winter and the mountains during the summer. The burial was by exposure in trees. Their language is described as being similar to Manchu-Tungusic languages and Khitan. The Türk dynasties (550-740) installed tuduns, or governors over the Shiwei and collected tribute. Other Shiwei may have stayed and become the Ewenkis. The Kitans conquered the Shiwei during the late 9th century. One Shiwei tribe, living near the Amur and Ergune rivers, was called the "Menggu" (Mongol). A few scholars believe they, other Shiwei tribes, and many other peoples from the area moved west from the forest to the Mongolian proper steppe.
Read more about this topic: Mongols Before Genghis Khan