The Tocharians or Tokharians (US: /toʊˈkɛəriənˌ -ˈkɑːr-/ toh-KAIR-ee-ən, -KAR-; UK: /tɒˈkɑːriən/ to-KAR-ee-ən) were speakers of the Tocharian languages, a group of Indo-European languages known from around 7,600 documents from the 6th and 7th centuries, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern-day Xinjiang, China). The name "Tocharian" was given to these languages in the early 20th century by scholars who identified their speakers with a people known in ancient Greek sources as the Tókharoi (Latin: Tochari), who inhabited Bactria from the 2nd century BC. This identification is now generally considered erroneous, but the name "Tocharian" remains the most common term for the languages and their speakers. Their endonym is unknown, although they may have referred to themselves as the Agni, Kuči, and Krorän or as the Agniya and Kuchiya known from Sanskrit texts.
Agricultural communities first appeared in the oases of the northern Tarim circa 2000 BC, represented by the earliest Tarim mummies. Genetic analysis reveals that nearly all (11 of 12, ~92%) of the early Tarim males carried R1a1a-M198, with additional individuals carrying R1b1b, establishing them within the paternal lineages of Ancient North Eurasian (ANE, ~72%) ancestry. However, the early Tarim mummies were not direct ancestors of the later-attested Tocharians. Instead, the Tocharian languages were likely introduced to the Tarim Basin later by Afanasievo-related migrants from the central steppes carrying the exact same paternal R-M17 during the Late Bronze Age (1600–1400 BCE).
