History of Siberia - Prehistory and Antiquity

Prehistory and Antiquity

According to the field of genetic genealogy, people first resided in Siberia by 45,000 BCE and spread out east and west to populate the Americas and Europe. According to Vasily Radlov, among the earliest inhabitants of Central Siberia were the Yeniseians, who spoke a language different from the later Uralic and Turkic peoples. The Kets are considered the last remainder of this early migration.

The shores of all Siberian lakes which filled the depressions during the Lacustrine period abound in remains dating from the Neolithic age. Countless kurgans (tumuli), furnaces, and other archaeological artifacts bear witness to a dense population. In fact some of the earliest artifacts found in Central Asia derive from Siberia

The Yeniseians were followed by the Uralic Samoyedes, who came from the northern Ural region. Some traces of them, like the Selkup, remain in the Sayan region. They are credited with leaving behind the very numerous remains dating from the Bronze Age which are scattered all over southern Siberia. Iron was unknown to them, but they excelled in bronze, silver, and gold work. Their bronze ornaments and implements, often polished, evince considerable artistic taste, and their irrigated fields covered wide areas in the fertile tracts.

Indo-Iranian influences in southern Siberia can be dated as far back as the 2300–1000 BCE Andronovo culture. Between the 7th and 3rd centuries BC the Indo-Iranian Scythians flourished in the Altai region (Pazyryk culture). They were a major influence on all later steppe empires.

As early as the first millennium BCE silk goods began turning up in Siberia having traveled over the Silk Road.

The establishment of the Xiongnu empire in the 3rd century BCE started a series of population movements. Many peoples were probably driven to the northern borders of the great Central Siberian Plateau. Turkic peoples like the Yenisei Kirghiz had already been present in the Sayan region. Various Turkic tribes such as the Khakas and Uyghur migrated north-westwards from their former seats and subdued the Ugric peoples. These new invaders likewise left numerous traces of their stay, and two different periods may be easily distinguished in their remains. They were acquainted with iron, and learned from their subjects the art of bronze-casting, which they used for decorative purposes only, and to which they gave a still higher artistic stamp. Their pottery is more artistic and of a higher quality than that of the Bronze period, and their ornaments are accounted included in the collections at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.