Top Image: Sogdian merchants on a relief from Persepolis, Iran.

In a study that shines new light on the movement of people along the legendary Silk Road, a team of genetic researchers from China has successfully decoded the DNA of the Sogdians, a people from Central Asia known for their vigorous activities as merchants and migrants in ancient times.

By obtaining a more detailed genetic profile of this culture, the researchers have demonstrated that the Sogdians played a crucial role as intermediaries who helped connect the people of Europe in the west with the people of Asia in the east along the Silk Road, which was active as an international trade route from 130 BC to 1453 AD.

Who Were the Sogdians, and Why Does it Matter?

The Sogdians were well known in the second half of the first millennium in particular, as they were involved in trading, craft production, and entertainment in Central Asia and in the Far East. They established outposts at various points along the Silk Road, especially during the days of China’s Tang Dynasty (618-907), when the Silk Road was thriving. Many of these settlements were in China, and it seems the authorities in that country understood the role the Sogdians played in encouraging more trade.

By modern standards the Sogdians would be considered a western Asian people, as their homeland of Sogdiana included the lands of modern-day Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Unfortunately written accounts of their interactions with other cultures they might have met along the Silk Road route are extremely limited, which has given them the status of a mysterious people whose contributions to ancient economic and cultural development remain largely unknown and underappreciated.

A. Geographical location of the Guyuan Tang Dynasty tomb. B. Plan of the Guyuan Tang Dynasty tomb. C. The skeletal remains within Guyuan Tang Dynasty tomb. D. The figurine of Sogdian found in the tomb E. The figurine of Samurai recovered from the tomb. F.

But scholars who study the Sogdians know a little bit more about them now, as a result of the newly published genetic study of two Sogdian skeletons found in a Tang Dynasty tomb in Guyuan, northwest China. The DNA of these individuals was extracted from their remains, and that allowed the scientists involved in the new study to identify them as a man and a woman who were buried together (although not necessarily at the same time).

There were some differences between the two people at the genetic level, with respect to what comprised the DNA they inherited. The man, who was designated (SUTE1), exhibited a mix of local and Central Asian ancestry, the latter linking him to the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), with in turn was associated with populations living in southern Central Asia during the Middle Bronze Age (2,000 to 1,500 BC), specifically Turkic groups from Russia and Mongolia. In contrast, the woman (SUTE2) had a genetic inheritance that showed her ancestors came from the Yellow River region of China, and nowhere else, and had been around that part of China since the Neolithic period.

Despite their differences, the man and the woman were found buried together in what appeared to be a family tomb, which was originally excavated in 2014. In addition to the human remains archaeologists recovered coins, figurines, glass beads and frescoes that all came from the Sogdian culture, offered as burial goods.

Medieval painting depicting Sogdian merchants.

The contents of the tomb, plus its architecture, strongly suggested this was a family tomb that belonged to Sogdians who’d settled in ancient China near the Sik Road quite some time previously. Based on this knowledge, the researchers concluded that the man and woman found buried together must have been married – and that in itself was most revealing.

“Our findings suggest that Sogdians, who initially traveled to China for trade, settled, intermarried with local populations, and played a significant role as intermediaries in Silk Road commerce,” the study authors wrote about their findings, in an article published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. “This study highlights the importance of Sogdiana at the end of the first millennium BC, in fostering connections between the Hellenistic world and the Qin/Han dynasties, emphasizing early Sogdian identity traits that preceded their later prominence as key merchants of the Silk Road.”

Using Ancient Genes to Assess the Cultural Scene

Historical records support the idea that the Sogdians frequently used marriage to integrate into local communities, while maintaining their long-distance trade networks. Chinese sources of the era, including the  Wei Shu, tell of many Sogdian families arriving during the Wei Jin and Sui Tang dynasties, motivated by the desire to expand or strengthen their trade routes.

Heavenly devas dancing on small carpets like the early Silk Road dancers, showing the Sogdian Whirl appropriated into the high style of Tang dance and art.

It was because of patterns of behavior like this that the Sogdians were in a position to act as facilitators of Silk Road development. They functioned as mediators between cultures and therefore paved the way for long-distance cultural and economic exchanges that went on for centuries, influencing development on both ends of the route.

While the genetic researchers involved in this new study only examined the DNA of two people, they were still able to flesh out the full implications of their discoveries. They proved that the Sogdians had genetic roots in two places, consistent with their identification as key actors in the Road’s remarkable success and longevity. Their genetic fingerprints were all over the Silk Road, and if they had not played the role they did this 4,000-mile (6,400-kilometer) trade route (or at least the eastern half of it) might not have remained active and vibrant for nearly 16 centuries.