Golden Horde
Genetics

A 2016 study analyzed the DNA of 5 skeletons in Tavan Tolgoi, Mongolia dated between 1130–1250 AD, which are believed to be members of the Mongol Golden Family based on contextual evidence. The male individuals possibly associated with the Golden Family belonged to the West Eurasian paternal haplogroup R1b-M343, while one male of commoner status belonged to R1a. Four of the skeletons belonged to the East Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups D4 and CZ. All the skulls dated from Tavan Tolgoi graves were anthropologically Mongoloid. Despite their East Asian physical appearance, their genealogical admixture reveals a admixture of East Asian and Caucasian ethnic groups which was attributed to inter-racial marriages between Mongolian plateau females and male migrants from Europe; however the authors could not determine when and how these intermarriages took place but it was likely to have existed through generations of intermixing through their ancestors, before the existence of the Golden family.

The study proposed multiple theories as to how the bodies were related to the Golden Family. The Tavan Tolgoi bodies could have been product of marriages between the female lineage of Genghis Khan’s Borjigin clan and the male lineage of either the Hongirad clans or the Ongud. The Ongud were a tribe that may have originated in West Asia and were descended from the Shatuo Turks, suggesting that they may have had a Caucasoid appearance based on the fact they were carriers of haplogroup R1b. Contemporary records from the Later Tang (923–937 AD) described some male Shatuo Turks as having deep set eyes with whiskers as well as slim bodies with light complexion. Many Ongud were resettled in the Golden Horde as administrators. Authors suggested that the Genghis Khan’s male lineage may have had some Caucasoid-specific genetic features because of descriptions in Rashid al-Din Hamadani 's "Compendium of Chronicles" written in the 14th century. The bodies could have been related to Genghis Khan's male lineage, which they propose had R1b. It is also possible the bodies were related to Genghis Khan's relatives or his generals who were not part of the male-lineage Borjigin clan.

These authors noted that there is a close link between the current day distribution of haplogroup R1b and the spread of the Mongol Empire, especially in the Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanate; and that the descendants of the Tavan Tolgoi specimens are now located mainly in West Eurasia, rather than Mongolia. A close association was observed between haplogroup R1b-M343 and the descendants of the Golden Horde, with a high frequency of R1b-M343 among Bashkirs and Eastern Russian Tatars, implying they may be direct descendants of the Tavan Tolgoi specimens. However R1b is largely absent from Mongolia, which the authors propose may have been caused by mass migration of Golden Family members and the Ongud to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, or massacres of Borjigin members there while West Eurasia was relatively safe.

A 2018 genetic study published in Nature examined the remains of two males buried in the Ulytau District in Kazakhstan c. 1300. One male, who was a Buddhist member of the Golden Horde army, was of East Asian ancestry and carried paternal haplogroup C3 and the maternal haplogroup D4m2. The other male, who was of West Eurasian (European) ancestry, was a carrier of the paternal haplogroup R1 and the maternal haplogroup I1b. According to the authors, this could suggest assimilation of distinct ethnic groups in to the Golden Horde, however he could also be servant or slave.
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