page_title: Eurasian (mixed ancestry)
section_title: Central Asia
hierarchical_section_title: Eurasian (mixed ancestry) / Specific groups / Central Asia
caption_attribution_description: English: Ladislaus IV of Hungary
context_page_description: A Eurasian is a person of mixed Asian and European ancestry.
context_section_description: Historically, Central Asia has been a "melting pot" of West Eurasian and East Eurasian peoples, leading to high genetic admixture and diversity. Physical and genetic analyses of ancient remains have concluded that – while the Scythians, including those in the eastern Pazyryk region – possessed predominantly features found (among others) in Europoids, mixed Eurasian phenotypes were also frequently present, suggesting that the Scythians as a whole were descended in part from East Eurasian populations.
  The nomadic Xiongnu were nomadic warriors who invaded China and Central Asia. They were predominant Mongoloid, known from their skeletal remains and artifacts. Analysis of skeletal remains from sites attributed to the Xiongnu provides an identification of dolichocephalic Mongoloid. Russian and Chinese anthropological and craniofacial studies show that the Xiongnu were physically very heterogeneous, with six different population clusters showing different degrees of Mongoloid and Caucasoid physical traits. A majority (89%) of the Xiongnu mtDNA sequences can be classified as belonging to Asian haplogroups, and nearly 11% belong to European haplogroups. This finding indicates that contact between European and Asian populations preceded the start of Xiongnu culture, and confirms results reported for two samples from an early 3rd century BC Scytho-Siberian population (Clisson et al. 2002).
  Anthropologist SA Pletnev studied a group of burials of Kipchaks in the Volga region and found them to have Caucasoid features with some admixture of Mongoloid traits, with physical characteristics such as a flat face and distinctly protruding nose. They were nomadic people that, together with the Cumans, ruled areas stretching from Kazakhstan through Caucasus to Eastern Europe.
  The Hunnic invaders of Europe were also of mixed origins. Hungarian archaeologist István Bóna argues that most European Huns were of Caucasoid ancestry and that less than 20–25% were of Mongoloid stock. According to the Hungarian anthropologist Pál Lipták (1955) he believed Turanid race was most common among the Huns. He classified Turanid as a Caucasoid type with significant Mongoloid admixture, arising from the mixture of the Andronovo type of Europoid features and the Oriental (Mongoloid).
  The Eurasian Avars were group of sixth-century nomadic warriors that came from Northern Central Asia who ruled in what is today Central Europe. Anthropological research has revealed few skeletons with Mongoloid-type features, although there was continuing cultural influence from the Eurasian nomadic steppe. The early Avar anthropological material was said to be mostly Europoid in the seventh century according to Pál Lipták, while grave-goods indicated Middle and Central Asian parallels. Mongoloid and Euro-Mongoloid types compose about one-third of the total population of the Avar graves of the eighth century with the late Avar Period showing more hybridization resulting in higher frequencies of Europo-Mongolids.
  The Seljuk Empire which ruled from Central Asia, Middle East to modern Turkey, their descendants are the Iranian Turkmen and Afghan Turkmen and are mixture of East Eurasian and West Eurasian.
  Like the Kipchaks, the Cuman invaders of Europe were also of mixed anthropological origins. Excavations in Csengele, Hungary, have revealed normatively East Asian and European traits. Five of the six skeletons that were complete enough for anthropometric analysis appeared Asian rather than European.
  Many Eurasian ethnic groups arose during the Mongol invasion of Europe. The ruling Mongol elites of the Mongol successor states began a process of assimilation with the non-Mongol populations that they ruled over. The Golden Horde which ruled eastern Europe resulted in a assmilation and mixture of Mongols, Turkic, Finno-Ugrians, Sarmato-Scythians, Slavs, and people from the Caucasus, among others (whether Muslim or not). Partial Mongol descendants of people from Central Asia and North Caucasus, such as the Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and Nogais, also created many Eurasian ethnic groups under the empire
caption: King Ladislaus IV of Hungary. Ladislaus' mother was the daughter of a Cuman chief.
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