Those Mysterious Indo-Europeans
Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for posting another really long entry. I thought it would a shorter, quick entry, but the subject matter wouldn't let me. It deserves more than a Reader's Digest, mamby pamby, condensed, contentless entry. Even so, this is a mere overview.
There are many questions surrounding these mysterious people who ended up populating and controlling much of our planet. Although we think of them as being European, their roots actually came from west-central Asia. They were an Asiatic race. Their physical characteristics though, were what we think of as European, Western, or Occidental. Perhaps they think of themselves as European, and anyone that doesn't look like them or talk like them as foreign in the same way the the Anglo-Saxons thought of themselves as British and the Cymri (the Welsh) as foreigners (the Anglo-Saxon word "Waelas" means foreigner).
Today, with the exceptions of the Hungarians, the Finns, and the Basques, all the "traditional" races of Europe have descended from them. Besides these many, peoples of Asia are also their descendants, both still existent, and races that have disappeared. These included(ed) the Persians, the Aryans, the Medes, the Vedi (in India, also known by their Sanskrit writings, the Vedics), the later Akkadians, the Assyrians, the Scythians, the Sarmatians, the Tocharins, and people the Chinese called the Yue Chi. They were also the progenators of the the later Hittites (not the people of Hattusa, but a later people who also occupied Asia Minor, and had a similar name), and and those equally mysterious people, the Hyksos - the people who scared the pants off of the ancient Egyptians.
Perusing the writings of the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean there is no record of these Asiatic nomads at all much before about 2000 BC. Archeological record shows that they lived in the region of the Kirghiz Steppes around 2200 BC or earlier to 3000 BC. Between about 2000 to 1800 BC they descended upon the known civilizations out in every direction. The Scythians, Sarmatians, Tocharins, and Yue Chi moved out into the Tarim Basin, Western Mongolia, and Western China as far as the upper reaches of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. The Vedi invaded the Harappan civilization of the Indus River Valley, and then into the rest of India. The Aryans, Persians, and Medes overran the lands of the Elamites, while first the Akkadians, then the Assyrians took over northern Mesopotamia (from the original Akkadians). The Hatti, went into Asia Minor and carved out a place for themselves there. First they fuoght against the Hittites, but eventually allied and mingled with them. And then those crazy Hyksos invaded and conquered Lower (northern) Egypt. All the while there was a steady flow of them into continental Europe, until they finally reached the British Isles.
They were horse people, and also had something that was not seen before - the chariot. In their panic, the Egyptians described them as "large, hairy, white men with red hair and beards, who rode like thunder and lightning on carts being pulled by ferocious, wild asses." Previous to this, most people of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean Levant only had donkeys for their equine experience. It may have actually been a Hyksos king who was the "Pharaoh" who promoted Joseph, and then let his family come into the land. After the Hyksos were driven out and/or assimilated it would logically follow that the "Pharaoh who knew not Joseph" was the actual Egyptian dynasties returning to power in the north. Maybe.
They caused absolute chaos when they "migrated" into Egypt
At the same time another tribe of them did the same thing in India
Previous to the arrival of the Indo-Europeans into continental Europe, the land was occupied by the Mycenaeans in what we now call Greece, the Etrscans and other related tribes in Italy, and those we call the Minoans on the Aegean islands. Throughout the rest of mainland Europe there was a people who unfortunately on almost all sources I've looked at are only called "Neolithic Western Mediterranean Cultures" and "Neolithic Western European Cultures." These guys who named them need a better imagination. The Solutreans have been given a name, but their culture was not neolithic, and was from 8,000 to 13,000 years before this (and who knows where they went? [ besides to North America ] They could have become the "Neolithic Western Mediterranean Cultures" and "Neolithic Western European Cultures," but for other reasons that is highly unlikely. They could have eventually gotten out of their location of being boxed in by the ice and the sea and wandered out to the Fertile Crescent in search of game to hunt, or even to the western Steppes. Who knows? Nobody's tried to answer that. Maybe they died out. It's so hard to say where they went, because a lot can happen in a few thousand years, let alone 10,000 years).
The "Neolithic Western Mediterranean Cultures" and "Neolithic Western European Cultures" were agricultural people and not hunter-gatherers. During the early Neolithic, groups of farmers and herdsmen wandered out of the Fertile Crescent and colonized their way across Europe till they finally reached the Orkney Islands at Skara Brae. Some of the original hunter-gatherers adopted farming from these newcomers, but most of them kept their distance and lived as they always had lived. Who knows where they all went either?
Some of these agricultural people grew to great populations and developed major cultures and cities of their own, such as the major ones previously mentioned Of the rest of them there is not much known. This is because the invasion of the Indo-Europeans was so complete.
Due to some cultural specifics, and identical building styles, I have solid reason to believe that some of these "Neolithic Western Mediterranean Cultures" and "Neolithic Western European Cultures" escaped the invasion by sea and came to resettle in areas of North America (and the Solutrean-Asian mixed people who were already here said, "there goes the neighborhood."). By this time, however they were already sharing space in western North America with people who fled Catal Hoyuk and Asikli Hoyuk from continual attacks by hungry nomadic hunter-gatherers, and South and Central America already was filled with people who had come over from Egypt and Mesopotamia. The copper mining colonies on the southern shores of Lake Superior were already here too.
Among the "Neolithic Western Mediterranean Cultures" and "Neolithic Western European Cultures" that did not become major civilizations with big cities, the only hold outs from them that we know today are the Basques. The mountainous Pyrenees protected them from invasion. During the early years of Islam's campaign of "conversion by the sword" neither the Moorish forces nor the forces of Charlemagne penetrate their natural stronghold. Before that not even might Rome controlled them. It was within the areas defined on Roman maps, but they were actually never under Rome's control.
Three of the four (well) known ancient, mainland European cultures previous to the Indo-European invasion spoke related languages, and had related or similar alphabets. It would only stand to reason then that the Basque language would also be related. The Basque language could be the key to unlock the puzzle of the Etruscan, Mycenaean, and Minoan code. It's just a thought. It also makes me wonder if the people of Skara Brae and the original Stonehenge people also had languages related to Basque.
During the time of the last glacial maximum, while the Solutreans were stuck in France, the people who became the Indo-Europeans were hemmed into a small area of north central Asia. As you can see in the map below, they were trapped between ice age glaciers, expanded mountain glaciers, and vast lakes and swamps created by rivers blocked by the glaciers.
Asia during the last glacial maximum. There sure wasn't much room.
Interestingly, they would have been hemmed in to this region with the same people, some of whom later migrated across Beringia and mingled with the Solutreans in North America - in other words one of the races that became the American Indians. One such people, the Kett, who still live in the Yenesic River region, live in Tipis, and speak an Athabaskan language (the same language group as Dené, Athabaskan, Tlingit, Navaho, Apache, and Tohono o' Odham, among others). Although the area they lived in was about the same as the inhabitable area of Pleistocene North America, it was broken up by many overflowing, and dammed up rivers. The actual livable area was smaller.
Would they have mingled together? Think about it. They were stuck together in an area smaller than the United States, for about five thousand years. That's a long time. Even the strongest xenophobic psychosis wouldn't be able to keep them completely apart in such limited space for that long. I imagine that the genetic mutation that made them lose pigment in the skin, eyes, and hair didn't happen until long after most of their neighbors left for America. After the mutation they were probably avoided like the plague by their neighbors. During their time together there were a few customs and beliefs they shared that they each kept until recent and modern times. Of the two symbols below, for both cultures the were symbols for the earth, the sun, and the elements of the earth and of life. For the Indo-Europeans they were also the designations for a compass. Black was north, white was west, red was south, and yellow (or sometimes green) was east. They still used these color designations when they founded the four Russias. That's why we still have Black Russia, and White Russia today (Red Russia was the Ukraine, and Yellow Russia was lost to the Golden Horde during the Middle Ages). They used this symbol on their shields too.
As the climate warmed up, and they adapted to life on the Steppes, their population began to grow. It must have grown to massive proportions. In about 2000 BC something catastrophic must have happened. It was then that the Indo-Europeans blew out in every direction, devastating one major civilization after another and all the small ones in between. They moved fast and resettling was their goal.
The secret of their speed was their use of hoses and chariots It only took a couple of minutes for the people they ran into to see the value of the chariot. It took them a lot longer though to develop the chariot themselves. Some people like the Egyptians made major improvements on the design. The spread of the use of the chariot coincided with the Indo-European expansion.
When they got fully settled in Europe they still hadn't learned the use of metals. They were still just a bunch of rock breakers. During this same time in North America there was a copper culture that was in the beginning stages of bronze age.
There are still a few questions concerning these mystery people. What caused their population to get so huge, and what the heck happened that made them swarm out over the world like a cloud of locusts?
Hi, does anyone know who is the author of these great maps? I would like to use the 'last glacial maximum' (altaifloods.jpg) one in a book and need to know how to attribute. Any help gratefully received!
ReplyDelete