Yaghnobis

Their traditional occupations were in agriculture, growing produce such as barley, wheat, and legumes as well as breeding cattle, oxen and asses. There were traditional handicrafts, such as weaving, which was mostly done by men. The women worked on moulding earthenware crockery.{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.referatu.ru/1/94/678.htm Большая Советская Энциклопедия] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927064104/http://www.referatu.ru/1/94/678.htm |date=27 September 2007 }}

The Yaghnobi people originated from the Sogdians, a people dominant in the area until the Muslim conquests in the 8th century, when Sogdiana was defeated. In that period, Yaghnobis settled in the high valleys.

The ancient Sogdians fled to the Yaghnob Valley to escape the medieval Arab Caliphate. Their direct descendants, the Yaghnobi, lived there in peaceful isolation until the 1820s.Jamolzoda, A. Journey to Sogdiana's Heirs www.yagnob.org{{cite web|url=http://www.discovery-central-asia.com/archive/2007/autumn/autumn13.php|title=Discovery Central Asia: THE LOST WORLD OF THE YAGNOB|website=www.discovery-central-asia.com|access-date=16 May 2019|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191851/http://www.discovery-central-asia.com/archive/2007/autumn/autumn13.php|url-status=dead}}

Until the 20th century, the Yaghnobis lived through their natural economy. Some some still do, as the area they originally inhabited is still remote from roads and power transmission lines. The first contact with Soviet Union in the 1930s during the Great Purge led to many Yaghnobis being exiled, but perhaps the most traumatic events were the forced resettlement in 1957 and 1970, from the Yaghnob mountains to the semi-desert lowlands of Tajikistan.{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/country/?item_id=2279&vs=1 Вокруг света – Страны – - Таджикистан – Последние из шестнадцатой сатрапии] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017211954/http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/country/?item_id=2279&vs=1 |date=17 October 2007 }}{{cite web

| last =Loy

| first =Thomas

| url =http://www.inst.at/trans/16Nr/13_2/loy16.htm

| title =From the mountains to the lowlands – the Soviet policy of "inner-Tajik" resettlement

| publisher =Internet-Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften

| access-date =6 August 2006

| archive-date =4 March 2016

| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031257/http://www.inst.at/trans/16Nr/13_2/loy16.htm

| url-status =live

}}

File:Yaghnobi boy.jpg

In the 1970s, Red Army helicopters were sent to valleys to evacuate the population, ostensibly because Yaghnobi kishlaks (villages) were considered at risk from avalanches. Some Yaghnobis reportedly died of shock in helicopters as they were moved to the plains.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} Many were then forced to work at cotton plantations on the plains.{{cite web|url=http://www.yagnob.org/JtSH-Yagnob-AJ-Eng.pdf|title=Journey to Sogdiana's Heirs|last1=Jamolzoda|first1=Anvar|date=July–August 2006|website=yagnob|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313004918/http://www.yagnob.org/JtSH-Yagnob-AJ-Eng.pdf|archive-date=13 March 2012}}{{cite news |date=22 June 2012 |title=Tajikistan: The Sons of Somoni Strive to Preserve Distinct Cultural Identity |url=http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65590 |newspaper=EURASIANET.org |archive-date=7 December 2015 |access-date=28 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207203952/http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65590 |url-status=live }} As a result of overwork and the change in environment and lifestyle, several hundred Yaghnobis died of disease.{{cite web

| last =Loy

| first =Thomas

| date =18 July 2005

| url =http://cesww.fas.harvard.edu/cel/cel_publ67.html

| title =Yaghnob 1970 A Forced Migration in the Tajik SSR

| publisher =Central Eurasia-L Archive

| access-date =6 August 2006

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060901140224/http://cesww.fas.harvard.edu/cel/cel_publ67.html |archive-date = 1 September 2006}} While some Yaghnobis rebelled and returned to the mountains, the Soviet government demolished the empty villages and the largest village on the Yaghnob River, Piskon, was removed from official maps.

File:12Yagnobi people.jpg

Since 1983, families have begun to return to the Yaghnob Valley. The majority of those that remain on the plains tend to be assimilated with the Tajiks,{{cite journal |last1=Paul |first1=Daniel Paul |last2=Abbess |first2=Elisabeth |last3=Müller |first3=Katja |last4=Tiessen |first4=Calvin and |last5=Tiessen |first5=Gabriela |date=2009 |title=The Ethnolinguistic Vitality of Yaghnobi |url=http://www-01.sil.org/silesr/2010/silesr2010-017.pdf |journal=SIL Electronic Survey Report 2010-017, May 201 |publisher=SIL International |access-date=26 August 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210450/http://www-01.sil.org/silesr/2010/silesr2010-017.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last=Jenkins II |first=Mark D. |location=Dushanbe, Tajikistan |date=8 September 2014 |title=Being Yaghnobi: Expressions of Identity, Place, and Revitalization as a Minority in Tajikistan |url=http://researchfellowships.americancouncils.org/sites/researchfellowships.americancouncils.org/files/Jenkins_Final_Report.pdf |journal=American Councils Research Fellowships |issue=Title VIII Final Report |access-date=26 August 2016 |archive-date=13 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913155326/http://researchfellowships.americancouncils.org/sites/researchfellowships.americancouncils.org/files/Jenkins_Final_Report.pdf |url-status=dead }} as their children study in school in the Tajik language. The returnees live through the natural economy, and the majority remain without roads and electricity.

The Yaghnob Valley comprises approximately ten settlements, each housing between three and eight families.{{cite web|url=http://yagnob.org/home/|title=Ягноб – Древняя Согдиана: Прошлое, Настоящее и Будущее|access-date=16 May 2019|archive-date=14 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114192137/http://yagnob.org/home/|url-status=dead}} There are other small settlements elsewhere. The upper Yaghnob River Valley was protected by an until recently almost impenetrable gorge.{{cite book|last=Пагануцци|first=Н. В.|script-title=ru:Фанские горы и Ягноб|url=http://citadel.bstu.by/metod/prp_fany/|year=1968|publisher=Fizkultura i sport|location=Moscow|language=ru}}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} They also live in and about the Amu Darya River, the Yaghnob River, the Yaghnob Valley, the Qul River, the Varzob rivers and the town of Anzob.

The Yaghnobi people are Sunni Muslims.{{Cite book|title=Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union|last=Akiner|first=Shirin|publisher=Routledge|year=1986|isbn=0-7103-0188-X|location=London|pages=382}} Many elements of the pre-Islamic Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism are still preserved.According to http://www.pamirs.org {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219064352/http://www.pamirs.org/ |date=19 February 2008 }} Zoroastrian Designs on Embrodiary

The main paternal haplogroups of Yaghnobis are R1-M173 and J2-M172, both found at a frequency of around 32%. The second most common haplogroup is R1a1a-M17 at around 16%. The third most common haplogroup is L-M20, at a rate of approximately 10%. Other haplogroups include C-M130, K-M9 and P-M45, each at 3%.{{cite journal |ref={{harvid|Wells et al.|2001}} |vauthors=Wells RS, Yuldasheva N, Ruzibakiev R, Underhill PA, Evseeva I, Blue-Smith J, Jin L, Su B, Pitchappan R, Shanmugalakshmi S, Balakrishnan K, Read M, Pearson NM, Zerjal T, Webster MT, Zholoshvili I, Jamarjashvili E, Gambarov S, Nikbin B, Dostiev A, Aknazarov O, Zalloua P, Tsoy I, Kitaev M, Mirrakhimov M, Chariev A, Bodmer WF |display-authors=6 |title=The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=98 |issue=18 |pages=10244–10249 |date=28 August 2001 |pmid=11526236 |pmc=56946 |doi=10.1073/pnas.171305098 |bibcode=2001PNAS...9810244W |doi-access=free}}

Yaghnobi Tajiks are genetically more similar to "present-day western Eurasian populations and Iranians". They display high genetic affinities to Iron Age Central Asians. Genetic data further indicates that Yaghnobis "have been isolated for a long time with no evidence of recent admixture". Yaghnobi Tajiks derive around 93% of their ancestry from historical Indo-Iranian sources (represented by an Iron Age sample from Turkmenistan and Tajikistan and Western Steppe Herders) and around 7% from Baikal EBA groups (a population with 80-95% Ancient Northeast Asian and 5-20% Ancient North Eurasian ancestry).The ancient and present-day Iranian populations from Central Asia form together a cline between Iranian Neolithic farmers and Central_Steppe Bronze Age, with a clear shift in ancestry toward Steppe between Bronze Age and Iron Age, and a smaller shift toward eastern Asian ancestry between Iron Age and present-day. This shift is more pronounced for Tajiks than Yaghnobis. The present-day Turkic peoples "emerged later from the admixture between a group related to local Indo-Iranian and a South-Siberian or Mongolian group with a high East Asian ancestry (around 60%)".{{Cite journal |last1=Guarino-Vignon |first1=Perle |last2=Marchi |first2=Nina |last3=Bendezu-Sarmiento |first3=Julio |last4=Heyer |first4=Evelyne |last5=Bon |first5=Céline |date=14 January 2022 |title=Genetic continuity of Indo-Iranian speakers since the Iron Age in southern Central Asia |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=733 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-04144-4 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=8760286 |pmid=35031610|bibcode=2022NatSR..12..733G }}

The Yaghnobi Tajiks may be used as proxy for historical Central Asian Steppe ancestry associated with the initial spread of Iranian languages.{{Cite journal |last1=Cilli |first1=Elisabetta |last2=Sarno |first2=Stefania |last3=Gnecchi Ruscone |first3=Guido Alberto |last4=Serventi |first4=Patrizia |last5=De Fanti |first5=Sara |last6=Delaini |first6=Paolo |last7=Ognibene |first7=Paolo |last8=Basello |first8=Gian Pietro |last9=Ravegnini |first9=Gloria |last10=Angelini |first10=Sabrina |last11=Ferri |first11=Gianmarco |last12=Gentilini |first12=Davide |last13=Di Blasio |first13=Anna Maria |last14=Pelotti |first14=Susi |last15=Pettener |first15=Davide |date=April 2019 |title=The genetic legacy of the Yaghnobis: A witness of an ancient Eurasian ancestry in the historically reshuffled central Asian gene pool |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.23789 |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |language=en |volume=168 |issue=4 |pages=717–728 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.23789 |pmid=30693949 |issn=0002-9483 |archive-date=3 December 2023 |access-date=3 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203201910/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.23789 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Yagnobi people}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/19990209034125/http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/yaghnabis.shtml The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire]
• {{cite encyclopedia |title=YAGHNOBI |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yaghnobi |date=15 August 2006 |last=Bielmeier|first=Roland }}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqumZCtBU-k On the Edge of the Snow - A Documentary (A Long Draft Trailer)]

{{Ethnic groups in Tajikistan}}

{{Iranian peoples}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Yaghnobi Tajiks}}

Category:Ethnic groups in Tajikistan

Category:Central Asia