Editing Xiongnu (section)

====Relationship between ethnicity and status among the Xiongnu====
[[File:Map of Mongolia (Early Iron Age).png|thumb|left|upright=1.45|Pre-Xiongnu populations. The [[Slab Grave culture|Slab-grave]] people were uniformly of [[Ancient Northeast Asian]] origin ([[Ancient Northeast Asians|ANA]] <small>{{Color sample|green|0.6}}</small>), while [[Saka]] populations to the west combined [[Sintashta]] (<small>{{Color sample|orange|0.6}}</small>) and Ancient Northeast Asian ([[Baikal EBA]] <small>{{Color sample|#3CB371|0.6}}</small>) ancestry, with some [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] <small>{{Color sample|#8B4513|0.6}}</small> component.]]
Although the Xiongnu were ethnically heterogeneous as a whole, it appears that variability was highly related to social status. Genetic heterogeneity was highest among retainers of low status, as identified by their smaller and peripheral tombs. These retainers mainly displayed ancestry related to the [[Chandman culture|Chandman/Uyuk culture]] (characterized by a hybrid Eurasian gene pool combining the genetic profile of the [[Sintashta culture]] and Baikal hunter-gatherers ([[Baikal EBA]])), or various combinations of [[Chandman culture|Chandman/Uyuk]] and Ancient Northeast Asian [[Ulaanzuukh]]/[[Slab Grave]] profiles.<ref name="JLEE"/>

On the contrary, high status Xiongnu individuals tended to have less genetic diversity, and their ancestry was essentially derived from the Eastern Eurasian [[Ulaanzuukh]]/[[Slab Grave culture]], or alternatively from the [[Xianbei]], suggesting multiple sources for their Eastern ancestry. High Eastern ancestry was more common among high status female samples, while low status male samples tended to be more diverse and having higher Western ancestry.<ref name="JLEE"/> A likely ''[[chanyu]]'', a male ruler of the Empire identified by his prestigious tomb, was shown to have had similar ancestry as a high status female in the "western frontiers", deriving about 39.3% [[Slab Grave culture|Slab Grave]] (or [[Ancient Northeast Asian]]) genetic ancestry, 51.9% [[Han people|Han]] (or Yellow River farmers) ancestry, with the rest (8.8%) being [[Saka]] ([[Chandman culture|Chandman]]) ancestry.<ref name="JLEE">{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Juhyeon |last2=Miller |first2=Bryan K. |last3=Bayarsaikhan |first3=Jamsranjav |last4=Johannesson |first4=Erik |last5=Ventresca Miller |first5=Alicia |last6=Warinner |first6=Christina |last7=Jeong |first7=Choongwon |date=14 April 2023 |title=Genetic population structure of the Xiongnu Empire at imperial and local scales |journal=Science Advances |language=en |volume=9 |issue=15 |pages=eadf3904 |bibcode=2023SciA....9F3904L |doi=10.1126/sciadv.adf3904 |issn=2375-2548 |pmc=10104459 |pmid=37058560 |quote="In this genome-wide archaeogenetic study, we find high genetic heterogeneity among late Xiongnu-era individuals at two cemeteries located along the far western frontier of the Xiongnu empire and describe patterns of genetic diversity related to social status. Overall, we find that genetic heterogeneity is highest among lower-status individuals. In particular, the satellite graves surrounding the elite square tombs at TAK show extreme levels of genetic heterogeneity, suggesting that these individuals, who were likely low-ranking retainers, were drawn from diverse parts of the empire. In contrast, the highest-status individuals at the two sites tended to have lower genetic diversity and a high proportion of ancestry deriving from EIA Slab Grave groups, suggesting that these groups may have disproportionately contributed to the ruling elite during the formation of the Xiongnu empire." (...) "a chanyu, or ruler of the empire. Like the elite women at the western frontier, he also had very high eastern Eurasian ancestry (deriving 39.3 and 51.9% from SlabGrave1 and Han_2000BP, respectively, and the rest from Chandman_IA; data file S2C)" (...) "Chandman_IA was representative of people in far western Mongolia associated with Sagly/Uyuk (ca. 500 to 200 BCE), Saka (ca. 900 to 200 BCE), and Pazyryk (ca. 500 to 200 BCE) groups in Siberia and Kazakhstan." (...) "This further suggests the existence of an aristocracy in the Xiongnu empire, that elite status and power was concentrated within specific subsets of the broader population."... Although not conclusive, this suggests that the ANA ancestry source of the Xiongnu-period individuals may not be exclusively traced back to the Slab Grave culture but may also include nearby groups with a similar ANA genetic profile, such as the Xianbei. ... Last, our findings also confirm that the highest-status individuals in this study were females, supporting previous observations that Xiongnu women played an especially prominent role in the expansion and integration of new territories along the empire's frontier.}}</ref>
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