Shirenzigou culture

The Shirenzigou culture (, ca. 410–190 BCE), also referred to as Dongheigou (东黑沟), or Heigouliang-Dongheigou (黑沟梁-东黑沟), is an archaeological culture from the Shirenzigou site in Barkol County, to the east of the Tarim Basin.

Skeletal evidence from sites in Shirenzigou and Xigou in eastern Xinjiang indicate that by the fourth century BCE both horseback riding and mounted archery were practiced along China's northwest frontier.

Genetic studies on Iron Age individuals of the Shirenzigou site dated to circa 200 BCE have shown a fairly balanced admixture between the West Eurasian and East Eurasian genetic pools. The West Eurasian component was Yamnaya-related, while the East Eurasian component was Northeast Asian-related. The Yamnaya component suggests a strong probability that the Shirenzigou populations were derived from the Afanasievo culture to the north, and spoke an Indo-European language. This reinforces an Afanasievo origin hypothesis for the Tocharians, often called the "Steppe hypotheses", rather than an hypothese favouring BMAC and Andronovo culture origins, the "Bactrian Oasis hypotheses".

Culturally, the Shirenzigou site showed strong affinity with the neighbouring Yanbulake culture close to the east and the Pazyryk culture to the northwest (deer-shaped griffin motifs) from the Altai region. The Shirenzigou culture is sometimes considered as the easternmost expansion of the Pazyryk culture. Beads were also imported from China.

Looking at the archaeological and genetic evidence, the region has been suggested as an area of origin for the Yuezhi: the Yuegongtai-Xiheigou (岳公台-西黑沟) archaeological sites, corresponding to the Barkol culture in the Barkol County of Xinjiang. This would have positionned the Yuezhi between the Subeshi culture to their west, the Yanbulaq culture to their east, the aftermaths of the Chemurchek culture to the north, and a wide desertical area to south about a thousand kilometers away from the Central Plains of China.