«Kipchaks» did not possess any special racial-anthropological differences from other Kipchaks.
The sixth part. See the previous one here
In the previous publications we have seen that the Kipchaks of Western Desht were called by the invented cabinet exoethnonym «Kipchaks». They did not call themselves so. In other words, this name is not the truth, but it is a pseudo-historical reason for mass misconceptions. And the saddest thing is that this «mistake» became the source for mass hallucinations of no less mass consciousness of different «Europologists»….
Briefly we will inform that «Kipchaks» did not have any special racial-anthropological differences from other Kipchaks. This is confirmed by objective evidence, namely anthropological indicators of skulls from burials and statues of Polov Kipchaks. To put it bluntly, the Polovtsians (including the Sary-Kypchaks) were representative Asians with a characteristic eye cut. And yes, in some part they were racially mixed Eurasians, but they were in no way blond-haired Caucasoids.
The yellow color of European hatred
Regarding the myth of the exceptionally red-haired Polovtsians, there is one nuance of historiographical psychology that borders on general psychiatry, or more precisely, on the historical subconsciousness of Europeans. Tales about red-haired nomads grew out of the historical subconsciousness and memory of nomads — Huns and Avars. And that is why they so naturally fell into the mass consciousness of Europeanized communities. Here it is a question of horror before redhead Attila… The scourge of God has made so indelible impression on people of the Roman world, that their ancient fear thanks to chroniclers has transferred to their continuers. And so yes, Attila was a redhead according to Priscus, but the venerable contemporary left us no evidence of other red-haired Huns. Attila is gone, however, and the prejudice remains.
In general, the number of red-haired people in the Kypchak and in general Turkic clans and ethnoses, indeed, could be significant. But, as in other ethnoses and peoples, it could not be so predominant that not only the whole people, but practically the whole Western Kipchak super-ethnos could be «christened» red-haired.
In order to imagine that the Kipchaks were redheads due to their mixed Eurasian origin, it is enough to present one antithesis. Among Europeans themselves, the percentage of fair-haired people is only 10-13 percent. That is, this version is «closed».
But if we connect the far-fetched redheadedness not with the «object of research» (i.e. with the Kipchaks), but with its «subject» — namely, with the historical memory of Europeans, then a different picture emerges. The Kipchaks themselves and the Turks in general do not have any racial complex. The Turkic super-ethnos itself is formed extra-racially, all Turks consider themselves brothers, from the pure Siberian Asians to the pure Mediterranean. There is some racial animosity only among provocateurs or Turkic marginalists with «vykrests» with their inferiority complex and resentment to someone, but not to «their own beloved».
So, the «redhead complex» sits in Europe itself, in its «dark ages» of the early Middle Ages. It was then that the fires of the Inquisition blazed, on which women — «red-haired witches» were burned …
In Europe, since the medieval twilight times, there was some kind of dislike for red-haired people. This subconscious hatred was probably related to the «deep memory» of Europeans of wars with certain red-haired Celts (if not with Neanderthals at all).
However, there is no factual basis for total identification of the Kipchaks with the red-haired people. Well, it is impossible to imagine the Kipchaks as an army of red-haired Irishmen in kilts and on horses! However, the Celts were not considered to be an «equestrian people».
It is true that the Kipchaks are neither Irish nor Scots.
But some prejudice with historical roots was transferred to the Kipchaks. And these «roots» are found in Roman historiography. In those times civilized Europe was Roman. And this Roman Europe remembered Attila, the invaders from ancient deep Asia. He was even religiously «canonized» as a threat to Christianity, as the «Scourge of God». And many of educated people of that time probably read Priscus of Panias that Attila was red-haired. So the religious threat was sort of identified with redheads.
At the same time, it is possible to «include» «Germanic red-headed version» that the historical basis for prejudices was quite scale in a peculiar ethnographic appearance. It was associated as if massively in the «red-headed» appearance of the Germans, both Ostgoths and Visigoths. For the average Roman in the appearance of both Hunnic and Roman allies, that the Ostgoths and Visigoths may not have been particularly differentiated. It is possible, however, that both groups were more red-haired than the Romans. But all these different Goths are not Huns or Kipchaks.
As a remark, let us add that by the time of the formation of the «redhead complex» Europe did not yet know the red-haired Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, their campaigns were still ahead of them.
Anthropology or banner Turks?
So, in general, the Sary-Kypchaks were quite anthropological people of deep Asia. The same anthropological Kipchaks as the others.
From the political point of view, the Kipchaks represented a vast, long-formed union of Asian kin. Over centuries of living together and warfare with steppe rivals, this people underwent unification, both political and anthropological. They were nomadic Turks, united by military twinning in endless wars for life. For our question, it should be noted that the Kipchaks were related to each other by close and distant kinship. In addition to this internal ethnogenetic consolidation, the Kipchaks were connected by marriage unions with other Turkic peoples of Western Siberia and the Kazakh Steppe. In fact, they were already unified in the descendants of these intra-Asiatic marriages. Well, where will blond-haired «Polovtsians» appear from?!
The center of ethnogenesis of the Kipchaks is the vast region of Western Siberia and Central Kazakhstan. In this region, by the way, nobody even suspected that some Yermaks would appear centuries after them. During the colonization of Siberia with its peculiar policy of its Slavic korenization, these very Yermaks were supposed to be some presumably fair-haired people in the center of Asia. Well, they are in no way local aborigines with «greedy and slanted eyes», well, what kind of Kipchaks are they?
But the Kipchaks were the original local people of Western Siberia for a millennium! And it was from Western Siberia that the Kypchak massif of tribes emerged.
Here it should be noted that due to their complex origin, the Kipchaks, in fact, were a super-ethnos consisting of various Turkic tribes and ethnic groups. As one of the components of the super-ethnos, first of all, one should recognize even more ancient than the Kipchaks, the imperial people of the Kimaks. They undoubtedly preserved their (albeit former post-imperial political) unity within the Kypchak union. The Kimaks on equal rights entered the Kypchak union, which was not an anthropological but an ethnopolitical formation, fused first of all by the history of wars for pastures with neighbors, and then by joint conquest of the surrounding lands. The Kypchak alliance spent more than a hundred years in such wars, which contributed to the consolidation of numerous tribes into a single unified military force. And they were all Asians, but in no way Celts or Irish or Yermaks.
So, the Kypchak tribes spent centuries of their joint life in a single economic area. During this time not only people, but also tribes unified practically by all indicators of material culture. At the same time, different tribes intermingled and, in the end, acquired a more or less uniform anthropological appearance, so that it was hardly possible to distinguish the same Sary-Kypchaks by phenotype.
Nevertheless, the thesis that Sary-Kypchaks differed from other Kipchaks by some yellow color is still in use in historical usage. As we have already seen, there is not a single reliable evidence that they differed from their other Kipchak brothers by the color of their hair or, worse, differed by the racially marked skin color! This thesis from the «classical» version about «yellow-haired» or «yellow-faced» Kipchaks is purely speculative, it is as if it is recognized as provable, while it is actually unsubstantiated. There are no direct European indications from the chronicles about the hair color of the Kipchaks and even less about their «izzhelta yellow» skin color.
In this connection, the assumption that the Sary-Kypchaks were distinguished by the yellow color of their banners, which the enemies could see from afar and remember as a danger signal, is more reasonable! Yes, this yellow-banner thesis cannot be confirmed by documents, but it cannot be refuted by documents either.
Banners of clan honor
The Kypchaks and even more so other Turkic ethnoses composing their unions were not a gray massif of monotonous tribes. Here is hidden that Turkic-Turan peculiarity, which preserved the relics of the most ancient ethnoses of Eurasia. Türks sacredly honored their ancestors and preserved their unity under the shadow of the names of forebears and their bequeathed banners. They were symbols of the clan, we can say that these symbols, like urans and tamgas, created and supported the clan and its clan unity. Therefore, anthroponyms and military insignia did not change, on the contrary, they were reproduced from generation to generation, because they preserved the clan and created a common self-identification for all tribesmen.
Symbols of clans and their military hereditary tradition were banners of different colors. They and their colors were the identifiers for the warriors of one clan-tribe. And though in general the question remains open what prevails in the name of Sary-Kypchaks, what is a sign of their name — banners of yellow color or the name of their ancestors, still it is necessary to give priority to the version of clan banners.
And what else distinguished the clans, including the Sary-Kypchaks!
Kipchaks were distinguished among themselves not by their racial type, but by their military-administrative characteristics: color banners, bunchuks, tamgas on shields and weapons, urans and other well-distinguishable identifying signs corresponding to the Turkic nomadic culture. And the banners in this row were the most notable. They were, probably, the only distinguishable signs in the dust storm during the battle. So that the bright element of military and political culture, which sharply distinguished their own and strangers, were the colors of the cloths.
Again we can assume that the most characteristic and distinguishing distinction of clans that we could imagine were the banners. So exactly yellow banners were a clear color distinction of Sary-Kypchaks from their kindred tribes.
Banner Kazakh clans
To substantiate the thesis about color differences between the clans, let us cite an ethnographic and military-administrative peculiarity of Kazakhs, recorded by A.K. Gaines in his «Diary of 1865. Travels on the Kirghiz steppes»: «…Military craft has long been recognized by the Kirghiz as the noblest occupation; almost every sufficient Kirghiz had a weapon, and in former times, at the first call of the ancestor, each of them joined the militia. Tested bravery and enterprise gave the right to be a leader, who was elected by the general voice of the people».
Gaines A.K. published a record, to which neither to add nor to add: «In case of war each Kirghiz clan had a special color banner or a piece of paper colored cloth, tied on a long pike; branches or aimaks and tyubyahs also had their own badges, corresponding to the colors of the clan banner. During the battle these badges served to control the fighting; the crowds always followed near their banners and badges — where they were visible, there the warriors crowded together, making a brutal fight: as soon as the army lost sight of the badges, they developed in disorder, considering themselves defeated.
Gathering for war began with the elder or sultan, who ruled the clan, displaying a banner at his kibit; immediately the whole clan rushed to arm themselves, and messengers flew from aul to aul, calling for a fight; everywhere there were clamors of the coming war; everywhere in the allied aimags there were also raised badges calling for the militia, which gathered to a common banner. When the warriors had assembled in one place, they were divided into parties, of which each formed its own circle, and chose the bravest to lead them; these latter elected two leaders from among themselves, known for their experience and courage. One of the leaders represented the head of the army or, rather, to be the chairman of the council, without which no enterprise was carried out, and the other was entrusted with keeping the tribal banner. If several clans participated in a military enterprise, four supreme commanders were elected, two of whom kept the main banner of the horde gathered for war, and the rest managed the council».
Also A.K. Gaines also pointed out such a Turanian tradition as the clan cry of warriors: «In order that the diversity and disorder of the formation could not give rise to confusion in battle, the Kirghiz clans had their war cries, by which the scattered warriors gathered and each recognized his crowd; these words or cliques were the name of some place or referred to the honor of some main clan; so, the Kirghiz of the Durt — Kirghiz clan shouted in battle «Ayary-tau», the Chiklins — «Bautubai», the Chumekivtsy — «Dunt», and the Turkestani as early as 1864 shouted «Ablai» … «.
To such testimonies of Gaines we can, taking into account the focus of our study, only add information from «Diary of a Journey from Orenburg to Abul Geyer» by John Castle:
«In time of war the young warriors or militia (Militz) are commanded by those petty officers who are considered the most intelligent. But all must obey the orders of the Khan. In the general turmoil the militia (Militz) must orient themselves by those rags or flags, which the fighters from their own horde tie to sticks or spears».