The linguistic and population-genetic history of the Pamirs and Hindu Kush people
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30842/30346800.2025.1.2.7Keywords:
буриши, генетика, языки, памирские языки, дардские языки, балти, Тибет, индоевропейцы, калашиAbstract
In this article we combine linguistic and genetic data to reconstruct the history of the populations of the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush. According to linguistic classification, the languages of this area belong to the following groups: Iranian, Nuristani, Indo-Aryan, and Dardic (parts of the Indo-European family), Western Tibetan (part of the Sino-Tibetan family); and Burushaski as a language isolate. The languages of these groups also form contact zones with each other and with the languages of neighboring regions. Comparing available modern linguistic and genetic data, we conclude that the pre-IndoEuropean inhabitants of the region could be proto-Burushaski-speaking and related to the pre-glacial Paleolithic population of the Siberian Mal’ta culture. Their genetic component has been preserved to the greatest extent in the Kalash gene pool. The modern populations of the region were formed during the period of migrations of speakers of the Dardic and Pamiri languages, wherein the Pamiri peoples are genetically related to the Iranian groups of Central Asia (the Tajiks and the Yaghnobis), and the Dardic-speaking population is genetically related to the Indo-Aryan and Iranian native speakers of Pakistan (Sindhi, Punjabi; Pashtun, Baloch). Later the Pamiris absorbed immigrants from Xinjiang 3 kya, and the ancestors of the Balti absorbed migrants from Tibet 1 kya.
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