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The popular belief that one in 200 men is related to Genghis Khan, first Khagan of the Mongol Empire, is not true, a study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has claimed.
Rather, the genetic legacy of the empire, the largest contiguous land-based empire in human history, is far more complicated than has been assumed till now.
Genghis, born Temujin in 1162, assumed the name he is now known globally by in 1206. He united the Mongol tribes and soon conquered large parts of the Eurasian landmass.
Genghis died in 1227. In 1294, the empire split into four ‘Khanates’, each ruled by a ‘Khagan’ or ‘Khan’. These were: The Yuan Dynasty (the Chinese part of the empire), the Chagatai Khanate (Central Asia), Ilkhanate (Persia and West Asia) and the Golden Horde (the Russian and East European part of the empire).
Genghis was known to have been fathered several progenies from his wives and concubines.
In 2003, researchers found that eight per cent of men living in Central Asia (0.5 per cent of the global male population) carried fragments of DNA found on the Y-chromosome, called the C3* cluster.
The Y-chromosome is passed on from father to son. The researchers hypothesised that the unique lineage could be traced back to a common ancestor around 1,000 years ago. Since Genghis had sired several children and the fact that the whole of Central Asia was part of his empire and also that he lived 1,000 years ago, the ancestor was thought to be him. Hence the popular belief that one in 200 men globally was related to him.
The current study analysed the DNA of four individuals who belonged to the elite of the Golden Horde, the northwestern Khanate that rose after the division of the empire and was ruled by descendants of Jochi, eldest son of Genghis. They were three men and one woman.
Ayken Askapuli, lead author of the study and PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, along with his archaeologist colleagues in Kazakhstan decided to investigate whether the belief regarding Genghis was true, in collaboration with researchers at the National Institute of Genetics, Japan.
The four individuals were found to have ancestry from the Mongolian plateau, heartland of the Mongol empire. Evidence was also found of their Y-chromosomes being part of a ‘branch’ of the C3* cluster.
However, this particular ‘branch’ of the cluster appears in the genome of modern individuals at a much lower frequency, according to a statement by the university.
“With ancient DNA results, we can distinguish different branches of the genome that are close to each other but are not identical,” the statement quoted university professor and paper co-author John Hawks. “The one that Askapuli has found in the Golden Horde ruling elites is a branch of the C3* cluster but it’s not as common as the larger branch.”
“That leaves the question: Which genetic branch, if any, is in Genghis Khan’s genome? It could make sense for the ruling elite class of an empire to share a similar genomic background. If the Golden Horde was established by descendants of Joshi, could the genomes of these elites be similar to that of the famous ruler’s?” the statement notes.
It adds that until Genghis’ own burial place is discovered, researchers can’t say for certain.
However, for the moment, science has raised a question mark over one of the most popular beliefs regarding one of the most influential figures in human history.