In a groundbreaking study, scientists have unveiled the complex origins of the Sogdians, a mysterious group of merchants who played a key role in the success of the Silk Road. Through advanced ancient DNA analysis, researchers have uncovered the genetic makeup of these Central Asian traders, shedding light on their extensive cultural interactions and their pivotal role in connecting East and West.The underlying article has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol. 61: Unraveling the origins of the sogdians: Evidence of genetic admixture between ancient central and East Asians (Jiashuo Zhang, Yongdi Wang, Naifan Zhang, Jiawei Li, Youyang Qu, Cunshi Zhu, Fan Zhang, Dawei Cai, Chao Ning). It is behind the subscription wall, but you can read the abstract and excerpts for free.[...]
The Sogdians are of interest to PaleoJudaica because they preserved the Book of Giants in one or more translations into their language. Fragments of the Sogdian Book of Giants survive today. For more on the Sogdians and their language ("Sogdian"), see here, here, here, here, and links. For more on the Book of Giants and the languages in which fragments of it survive, see here and links. These consist of Aramaic fragments from Qumran and Middle Persian, Parthian, and Old Turkic fragments, almost all from Turfan.
As the latter link notes, all surviving translatable fragments from the Book of Giants are translated in our forthcoming volume, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, volume 2 (MOTP2). If you want to see what a Sogdian text looks like, the cover photo (follow the link) shows two leaves from a passage (7:KawH. So 14638) in which the prophet Mani relates stories from the beginning of the Book of Giants to "the King of kings" (King Shapur I?).
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