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Saka

800 BC – 400
CultureAsia

Eastern Iranian nomadic peoples of the eastern Eurasian steppe and Tarim Basin, closely related to the Scythians, known for kurgan burials (Pazyryk, Issyk, Arzhan) and metalwork; a branch that migrated south became the Indo-Scythians of Bactria and northwest India.

Pressured by the Yuezhi migration in the 2nd century BC, many Saka groups moved south into Sogdia, Bactria, Sistan, and the Indian subcontinent; other groups persisted as oasis-kingdom populations in the Tarim Basin (Khotan, Kashgar) into the early centuries AD.

Borders in 129 BC · drawn from 3 sourced border frames
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Borders over time

The atlas holds 3 border frames for Saka — the shape you scrub through changes in 800 BC · 599 BC · 129 BC.

Further reading

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Sources