On the origins of the Sakhas' paternal lineages: Reconciliation of population genetic / ancient DNA data, archaeological findings and historical narratives

Abstract

Sakhas are Turkic-speaking people from Northeastern Siberia, constituting the largest ethnic population in Yakutia. According to popular legends, two heroes who arrived from the Asian Steppe during the late medieval ages, namely Elley Bootur and Omogoy Baay, are the progenitors of all Sakhas. While there is ample historical evidence towards the existence of such legendary characters, archaeological findings and ancient DNA studies provide further insights on actual Sakha ethnogenesis. This study aims to establish the genetic basis of the legendary characters Elley and Omogoy, at least through their paternal lineages, and then to reveal the prevalence of these Y-chromosomes among the contemporary Yakut population. To this end, an attempt was made to delineate fact from fiction with respect to the Sakhas’ paternal lineages through a reconciliation of population genetics data on contemporary and ancient Sakhas, along with archaeological evidence and well-recorded historical narratives. To achieve this, 17-loci Y-chromosomal STR and haplogroup analyses were conducted on a contemporary Sakha who was presumably a direct descendant of Elley’s paternal line. Furthermore, 367 Sakha Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes were compiled from the literature and elsewhere, and searched against the Y-chromosome STR Haplotype Reference Database to find potential matches with non-Sakha populations. Sakhas’ paternal lineages were found to comprise 6 major descent clusters, each corresponding to an ancient clan. The most prevalent haplotype indeed corresponded to that of the contemporary Elley descendant. Furthermore, data presented in the current work suggests a Khitan origin for this paternal line. As shown before, Sakhas’ paternal lineages were found to be very homogenous and exhibit signs of a strong population bottleneck. Reconciled genetic and archaeological data agree well with Sakhas’ historical narratives, whereby, at least from a paternal lineage perspective, only a few individuals may have arrived from Central Asia and had reproductive success that led to the Sakha Y-chromosomal diversity today.