The discovery of Andronovo culture remains in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is the direct evidence to support the theory that the Uyghurs are culturally and genetically linked to the Andronovo culture. The Andronovo people belonged to R1a/Z93 mixed with Q1a2a1/L54 and the R1a frequency in the Uyghurs amounts to 28.6%. The Uyghurs are usually classified as a Turkic ethnic group without a clue about their ethnic origins but they are most likely to have descended from the Andronovo people who spoke early Indo-Iranian languages. A young Uyghur woman
Geographical distributions of Y-chromosomal haplogroups. (A) Populations sampled. (BF) Haplogroup frequencies: circle area is proportional to sample size and sector area to haplogroup frequency. (BE) Haplogroups are sorted into those showing predominantly northern (B), western (C), southern (D), and eastern (E) distributions. (F) The overall frequency of the most common haplogroup, O. Moreover, the frequencies of R1a and P*(xR1a) in Korea are 2% each, which shows that there are genetic ties between the Uyghurs and Koreans. Up to 2% of Koreans are naturally born with light eyes, which is associated with the R1a haplogroup. It's plausible that ancient Korean kingdoms were originally founded by the R1a people from Xinjiang.
