Academic walked 7,500 km in Siberia to reveal origin of Turks

ISTANBUL

A Turkish academic has revealed that the Andronovo culture forms the roots of the Turks after walking nearly 7,500 kilometers in Russia, Turkic states, China, and Mongolia in a month within the scope of her comprehensive field research and study.

“For the first time as a Turkish historian, I tried to reveal that the Andronovo culture formed the roots of the Turks by making this research in southern Siberia,” Elvin Yıldırım, a prominent historian and academic from Istanbul Aydın University, told Milliyet daily.

Her research named “Birth of Turkish Steppe Culture: Andronovo Culture” was also deemed worthy of the TÜBA (Turkish Academy of Sciences) Social Sciences Honorable Mention Award.

Noting that the Andronovo culture continued its existence between 2,500 and 1,000 BC in an area stretching from the east of the Ural River to Khakasia, she said that it was understood that Abakan city located in today’s Russia was among the first homelands of the Turks.

The name of Andronovo culture derives from the village of Andronovo in Siberia where the Russian archaeologist Arkadi Tugarinov discovered between 1914 and 1925 several graves with skeletons in crouched positions buried with decorated pottery, according to her.

“We see these motifs even in Anatolia, as well as in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lake Baikal, Altai, and the Tian Shan Mountains, since the period when the Turks appeared on the stage of history,” Yıldırım said, noting that the roots of Turks spread from Altai Sayan steppes to Anatolia over the centuries.