Kurykans

The Kurykans (Russian: Курыканы) were a Siberian tribe that inhabited the Lake Baikal area in the 6th century. They spoke a Turkic language; their demonym is akin to the Turkic term kurgan (denoting a form of burial mound) and the Mongol-Manchurian demonym Jurchen. Early Kurykans migrated from Yenisey river and mixed with indigenous Mongolic tribes of Baikal region.

Kurykans were largely displaced from their ancestor territories in the 6th c. AD. According to the inscription of the Bilge Kagan, Uch-Kurykans (Union of Three Kurykan tribes, Guligan of the Chinese chronicles) sent their ambassadors to the Bumyn Kagan funeral in 552 and/or his brother Istemi Kagan in 576. Kurykans are listed among the enemies of Ilterish Kagan (r. 682–694), father of Bilge Kagan (r. 717–734). Ilterish Kagan campaigned against Uch-Kurykans 47 times, and gave 20 battles. Kurykans were not the natives of their Western Baikal territory, their distinct burial tradition appears suddenly in the 6th c. Quite logically, they appeared in the Baikal refuge as exiles from some distant place, and equally logically they were a fraction of the larger tribe. The other fractions, most likely carrying their distinct burial traditions, their language, and their genetical makeup, fled in other directions at the same time, ca. 5th-6th cc.