The Türks of Gurvan Dov

The First Türk Khaganate, founded in 552 CE, was the first empire to stretch across the steppe from Manchuria to the Black Sea, and it gave the word Türk its political currency. At Gurvan Dov near Delgerkhaan in Khentii, three rammed-earth mounds excavated between 2016 and 2019 held burials of that founding century. Only two people are represented here: a woman whose ancestry is essentially entirely Xianbei-related, and a man of the paternal line D-M174 whose ancestry was roughly half Xianbei-related and half Han-related. Both are East Asian in makeup and sit closest to ancient Trans-Baikal groups. That contrasts with Türk-period burials far to the west in Kazakhstan, where steppe and Anatolian-farmer-related ancestry mixed in: the khaganate absorbed the peoples it rode over rather than replacing them.

The genome-wide data behind this entry was published in Medieval genomes from eastern Mongolia share a stable genetic profile over a millennium.

Every Ancestry Map includes the free Notable Matches lens: your coordinates are compared to every sequenced member of every catalog entry, and the distance to the closest member is reported, a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional space the Distance lens uses. Because these are a small group of real individuals, not a population average, distances naturally run larger than population distances. That is expected, not a poor result. And one thing is never claimed: a small distance means similar ancestry composition, not that the Türks of Gurvan Dov are your ancestor. See how it looks in the live demo or read about Ancestry Map, the full Global25 report.

• 01

  Who were the Türks of Gurvan Dov?

  The Türks of Gurvan Dov (c. 540-635 CE, Gurvan Dov, Delgerkhaan, Khentii, Mongolia) are one of the Historical figures entries in our Notable Matches catalog, represented by 2 sequenced ancient genomes published in the study "Medieval genomes from eastern Mongolia share a stable genetic profile over a millennium".

• 02

  What does "matching" the Türks of Gurvan Dov mean?

  Your Global25 coordinates are compared to the entry's sequenced members and the distance to the closest one is reported, a Euclidean distance in the same 25-dimensional reference space the Distance lens uses. A notable entry is one person or one small burial group, not a population average, so distances naturally run larger than population distances.

• 03

  Are they my ancestor?

  No, and no DNA test can show that. A small distance means your genome sits near theirs in a shared reference space: similar ancestry composition, not descent. Ancestrify never claims a notable individual is your ancestor or relative.

• 04

  How do I see my own distance to the Türks of Gurvan Dov?

  Notable Matches is a free lens on every Ancestry Map, never sold separately. Order Ancestry Map, our Global25 analysis (29.99 EUR), and your report ranks your coordinates against the full catalog, with a portrait, dossier and map for every entry. The public demo shows the lens with example data.

The catalog holds every published entry across three tiers. Browse the full Notable Matches directory. Nearby entries:

• The Byzantine Villagers of Chhîmc. 430-760 CE

• Empress Ashina551-582 CE

• The Kunbábony Avar Khagan630-670 CE

• Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou543-578 CE

• The Early Medieval Georgiansc. 400-900 CE

• The Christians of Nicaea's Sunken Basilicac. 350-700 CE

• The Alans of the North Caucasusc. 350-1100 CE

• The Chen Clan of the Tang Frontierearly 8th century CE

• The Salme Ship Warriorsc. 750 CE

• The Early Medieval Slavs of Velimc. 650-950 CE

• The Georgians of Late Antiquity2nd-6th century CE

• Bishop Teodomiro of Iria Flaviad. 847 CE