Late Prehistoric Kartvelian
Contacts with the Altai Region
Timothy P. Grove, Biola University
To
be published in a volume of Proceedings of
the
International
Conference Tao-Klarjeti
(Tbilisi:
Artanuji Publishers, in press)
Personal
Information:
Timothy P. Grove, Biola University, La Mirada, California,
U.S.A.
Mr. Grove is an Assistant Professor, and has taught English
at Biola’s English Language Studies Program and Talbot School of Theology since
1997. He has also taught English in
Myanmar and has conducted graduate research in the Republic of Georgia. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D in
Intercultural Studies under Dr. Douglas Hayward. His research interests include Neo-Latin literature, Italian
literature, the Western astrological tradition, and the history, literature,
culture, and folklore of Georgia and the Caucasus (17th-18th
centuries).
Abstract:
The Tao-Klarjeti region is thought to be one of the most ancient
habitations of the Kartvelian peoples, and the name Tao is probably connected to the ancient ethnic designations Diauehi and Taochoi used by the Assyrians and Greeks, respectively. Recent
discoveries may enable us to extend our knowledge of the early Kartvelians
still further back, into prehistoric times. In the course of my reading over
the years, I have come across several lines of evidence suggestive of extremely
ancient contacts between the South Caucasus (including Tao-Klarjeti) and
regions far to the east, including the Alborz Mountains of Iran and the Altai
region of central Asia.
I. Nasidze et al. (2006)
present evidence suggesting that the inhabitants of Gilan and Mazanderan (in
the Alborz mountains along the south coast of the Caspian Sea) formerly spoke a
Kartvelian language and are genetically related to the Kartvelian peoples.
J. Nichols (1992, 1997) also presents linguistic arguments connecting
the Kartvelian languages to the region south-east of the Caspian Sea and
possibly even further east, to “the vicinity of the eastern steppe or the north
Mongolian region.”
T. Sulimirski (1970) mentions the discovery in the Altai mountains of
“a Caucasian bronze helmet of the sixth century BC,” and certain passages in
the writings of Herodotus and Strabo indicate that the Altai region was an
important source of gold and other metals and that trade-routes to the west
were already well established in ancient times. Greek writers also record
certain cultural practices common to both the Alborz mountains and the Altai
region.
Articles by M.V. Derenko et al.
(2001) and by M. Reidla et al. (2003)
discuss the presence of mtDNA haplogroup X in both the South Caucasus and the
Altai region. They associate the diffusion of this haplogroup with a population
dispersal around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum. Reidla et al. connect the presence of
haplogroup X2 in the Altai region to a relatively recent migration from the
South Caucasus.
Both the Caucasus and the Altai region were covered by local ice-sheets
during the Last Glacial Maximum, so the evidence for late prehistoric
connections between the two regions may be a relic of extremely ancient west-east
migrations along an ice-free corridor. According to I. Skrede et al. (2005) and A. Murakami et al. (2006), near-identical strains of
a number of plant species, including Dryas
octopetala (mountain avens) and Humulus
lupulus (wild hops) appear to have survived in these two widely separated
glacial refugia.
Late Prehistoric
Kartvelian Contacts with the Altai Region
Timothy P. Grove,
Biola University, La Mirada, California
Introduction
The Greeks and Romans designated two nations as “Iberia”—one in Spain
and one in the Caucasus. Probably this is no coincidence. The Georgian people
themselves have always recognized a special relationship between the “two
Iberias”: The French traveler Jean Chardin, writing in the 17th
century, reports that the Georgian king asked him to convey his greetings to
the king of Spain, “referring to him as ‘my relative.’ Then the Georgian King
drank to the health of the King of Spain with a special goblet set with
precious stones and made Chardin and the Capuchin monks present at the
reception drink the toast.”[1]
According to Strabo, the Turdetanians [Tartessians] (a branch of the
western Iberians) “are ranked as the wisest of the Iberians; and they make use
of an alphabet, and possess records of their ancient history, poems, and laws
written in verse that are six thousand years old, as they assert.” (Geographia
III.i.6). This intriguing statement raises the possibility that the mysterious
Voynich Manuscript (which appears to have originated in Spain) may in fact
preserve an ancient Iberian text.
Numerous arguments have been presented linking the Kartvelians to such
ancient peoples as the Trojans, the Pelasgians, the Etruscans, the Minoans, the
Aquitanians (Basques), and even the Picts.
These ideas are well known, if somewhat controversial. However, there
is also evidence of prehistoric Kartvelian connections far to the East. In the
course of my reading over the years, I have come across several lines of
evidence suggestive of extremely ancient contacts between the South Caucasus
and regions far to the east, including the Alborz Mountains of Iran and the
Altai region of central Asia.
The evidence for such connections must be considered in the broader
context of the Prehistoric and Early Historic connections between the Caucasus
and Central Asia. These include the Scythian routes connecting the North
Caucasus to the Altai region (as described by Herodotus); the association of
the ancient Hurrians with the Caucasus, with the Alborz mountains of northern
Iran, and with Central Asia; and miscellaneous prehistoric connections between
the Caucasus and Altai regions.
The Scythians
The Scythians, a branch of East Iranians, occupied the Eurasian steppe,
an “immense plain which . . . forms a single geographical unit of natural
grassland.”[2]
The nomadic Scythians were skilled horsemen, accustomed to traveling great
distances, and the Scythian domains extended from the Dniester to the Altai
mountains, including much of the North Caucasus (where their descendants, the
Ossetians, still dwell).
The oldest evidence of Scythian habitation is associated with burials
in the Altai region at Pazyryk (excavated 1929) and at the Arzhan-2 site near
Kyzyl (Tuva) (excavated 1998-2003). Archaeological evidence suggests that the
distinctive Scythian culture arose in that area circa 1000 B.C.
The western branch of the Scythians (including the “Royal Scythians” of
Herodotus, among others) appears to have arisen somewhat later (7th
century B.C.) in the Ukraine. Although separated by 4000 km, it appears that
there were extensive contacts between the eastern and western Scythians.
The Altai mountains were an important source of gold. “There are a few
traces of western penetration in the Altai area. A Caucasian bronze helmet of
the sixth century B.C. was found in the mountains . . . It is difficult to
ascertain what goods were bartered for gold, but the trade was obviously
profitable to the western merchants.”[3]
E. D. Phillips notes that “A hoard of Pontic coins minted around 400 B.C. was
discovered in the north-western Tien Shan.”[4]
Herodotus (Persian Wars iv.24) states that “The Scythians who
make this journey communicate with the inhabitants by means of seven
interpreters and seven languages.” Herodotus describes the terminus of this
great trade route: “their country . . . is all a smooth plain . . .beyond you
enter on a region which is rugged and stony. Passing over a great extent of
this rough country, you come to a people dwelling at the foot of lofty
mountains, who are said to be all—both men and women—bald from their birth, to
have flat noses, and very long chins. These people speak a language of their
own, but the dress which they wear is the same as the Scythians. No one harms these
people, for they are looked upon as sacred—they do not even possess any warlike
weapons. When their neighbors fall out, they make up the quarrel; and when one
flies to them for refuge, he is safe from all hurt. They are called the
Argippaei.” (Persian Wars iv.23)
Based on the account of Herodotus, the Argippaei are most plausibly
associated with the Altai region, an extremely important ancient source of gold
and other metals. Indeed, the “sacred” Argippaei may have been early
practitioners of metallurgy and the custodians of metallurgical secrets: “It
has been suggested that the sacred immunity of the Argippaei may be compared
with that enjoyed by tribes of African blacksmiths: the Argippaei may have been
skilled miners, foundrymen and, above all, goldsmiths who worked for all the
neighbouring peoples.”[5]
Based on Herodotus’ physical description of them, it appears that the Argippaei
were a people of Mongoloid or Uralian race.
To the east of the Argippaei lived the Issedones (see below), and
according to Herodotus, “The regions beyond are known only from the accounts of
the Issedones, by whom the stories are told of the one-eyed race of men and the
gold-guarding griffins. These stories are received by the Scythians from the
Issedones, and by them passed on to us Greeks; whence it arises that we give
the one-eyed race the Scythian name of Arismaspi, arima being the
Scythic word for “one,” and spu for “eye.” (Persian Wars, iv.27)
The Subarians and
Hurrians
Going
back still further in time, we find that the Hurrians (Subarians) also had
connections to Central Asia. The Subarians were the pre-Sumerian inhabitants of
Mesopotamia, and are probably to be associated with the neolithic Halaf culture
of northern Mesopotamia (circa 6100-5400 B.C.). The Subarians are noted
for their advances in metallurgy; indeed, the Sumerians borrowed their copper
terminology from the Subarian language, along with many place-names. The
Subarians may also be linked to the later Kura-Araxes culture of the Caucasus (circa 3400-2300 B.C.), which is noted
for “a precocious metallurgical development which strongly influenced
surrounding regions."[6]
This same ethnic group, better known as the Hurrians, later re-expanded
into the Near East from their center in the Khabur valley (circa 2500
B.C.), forming numerous small states and kingdoms throughout Syria, northern
Mesopotamia, and Palestine. Some scholars connect the Hurrian language (along
with its descendant, Urartian) to the Northeast Caucasian linguistic phylum
(where it is considered to be most closely related to the Chechen, Ingush, and
Lezgian languages);[7] others
connect it to the Kartvelian phylum.[8]
Soviet archaeologist Sergei Pavlovich Tolstov (1907-1976) connected the
ethnonym Ḫu-ur-ri (Hurrian) to Khwarezm (Central Asia).[9]
Soviet archaeologists eventually unearthed the remains of an important Bronze
Age civilization known as the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC,
Oxus Civilization), which flourished in the region circa 2200-1700 B.C.
The Hurrians were skilled horsemen (and may have introduced horses into
the Near East circa 2000 B.C.); a famous Hittite text on horsemanship was
written by one Kikkuli, a Hurrian. These facts tend to support Tolstov’s
theory.
The most important Hurrian state was the empire of Mitanni, which
dominated the Near East circa 1450 - 1350 B.C. The Mitanni had an
Indo-Aryan ruling class, as demonstrated by the names of their kings and
deities—this clearly associates them with Central Asia, lending further support
to Tolstov’s theory.
It appears that the Hurrians made use of a long-established trade-route
which brought lapis lazuli into the Near East from its sources in Badakhshan
(northern Afghanistan) and beyond, in the Pamir Mountains and at the south end
of Lake Baikal.[10] This route
was in use by 4000 B.C., and passed through Khorasan and along the south coast
of the Caspian Sea before turning inland through the Zagros Mountains into
Mesopotamia.[11] The
Burushaski language, a linguistic isolate, still survives in the Badakhshan
region and is likely the remnant of an extinct phylum (“Burushic”) which was
formerly widespread in central Asia. It is very interesting to note that John
D. Bengtson has argued for a genetic connection between Burushaski and the
North Caucasian languages.[12]
It appears from this that there were at least two different ancient
routes across Central Asia—a northern route (passing north of the Caspian and
Aral Seas), used by the Scythians; and a southern route (passing south of the
Caspian Sea), used by the Hurrians. The later “Silk Road” incorporated both of
these ancient routes.
Prehistoric
Connections between the Caucasus and Altai regions
Going still further back, to prehistoric times, we find several lines
of evidence which specifically connect the Caucasus (and the Caspian littoral)
to the Altai region.
1. Mortuary
Cannibalism
The first of these is the cultural phenomenon of mortuary cannibalism.
In his description of the Derbīces,
an ancient people inhabiting parts of Turkmenistan and the southeast coast of
the Caspian Sea, Strabo includes the following statement:
The Derbīces worship Mother Earth; and they do not
sacrifice, or eat,
anything that is female; and when men become over seventy years of age
they are slaughtered, and their flesh is consumed by their nearest of
kin; but
their old women are strangled and then buried. However, the men who die
under seventy years of age are not eaten, but only buried. . . .” (Geographia xi.11.8)
St.
Jerome makes a similar statement:
The Derbīces think those persons most unhappy who die
of sickness,
and when parents, kindred, or friends reach old age, they are murdered
and devoured. It is thought better that they should be eaten by the people
themselves than by the worms. (Hieronymus, Contra Justinianum
II.xx)
According
to Herodotus, the Issedones lived just to the east of the Argippaei, apparently
somewhere in the Altai region. Herodotus states that the Issedones
are said to have the following customs: when a man's father dies, all
the
near relatives bring sheep to the house; which are sacrificed, and
their flesh
cut in pieces, while at the same time the dead body undergoes the like
treatment. The two sorts of flesh are afterwards mixed together, and
the
whole is served up at a banquet. His skull however they strip of the
flesh
and clean it out and then gild it over, and after that they deal with
it as a
sacred thing and perform for the dead man great sacrifices every year.
(Persian Wars, iv.26)
Mortuary
cannibalism is a highly unusual cultural practice, documented among only a few
of the world’s ethnic groups. These include the Fore people of New Guinea and
the Yanomamö, Wari’, and Matsés peoples of the Amazon basin. In ancient times,
however, this practice was particularly associated with Central Asia. Herodotus
notes its existence there among the Massagetae and Anthropophagi
(“man-eaters”), as well as the Issedones. Mortuary cannibalism was still
practiced in Tibet as recently as the 13th century (as reported by
Willielmus de Rubruquis in his Itinerarium,
circa 1260).
Since
the territories of the Derbīces
and the Issedones were connected by the ancient “southern route” across Central
Asia, the existence of mortuary cannibalism among these two widely-separated
peoples may suggest an ancient cultural connection.
2. Ancient
Metallurgy
A
second line of evidence which connects the Caucasus to the Altai region may be
seen in the development of ancient metallurgy. Bronze Age metallurgists were
dependent on two main sources of tin—one in the west (western Spain, Portugal,
Brittany, and especially Cornwall); the other in Central Asia (Karnab
[Uzbekistan], Mushiston [Tajikistan],[13]
and the Altai region, (which was also rich in gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc,
and iron).[14]
It appears that the western sources were not commercially developed until circa 1900 B.C; the Central Asian
sources, however, were developed much earlier (circa 3500 B.C.). Ancient workings of tin in the Altai region have
been found to contain bronze tools.[15]
Thus, it appears that Central Asia may have been the only significant source of
tin prior to 1900 B.C., when the Phoenicians began importing tin from the far
West. According to Christopher P. Thornton, “Pernicka et al. (2003: 165-7) suggest an importation of tin metal from
Central Asia based upon lead isotope data and the excavation of jade and
nephrite axes at Troy.”[16]
It
is also highly interesting that all three of the ancient tin-mining regions
just mentioned (Karnab, Mushiston, and the Altai Mountains) are located along
the same ancient trade-route, the “Southern Route” mentioned above. It appears
from this that long before silk became commercially important, there existed an
extremely ancient “Tin Road” linking the Near East to sources of tin in Central
Asia. It is also significant that the Caucasus, Alborz, and Altai regions were
connected by this Tin Road and are all associated with important advances and
innovations in metallurgical science.
It
is possible that the metal-workers of the North Caucasus were trading with the
Altai region by way of the “Northern Route” across the Eurasian steppe, while
those of the South Caucasus were obtaining tin from the Altai Mountains by way
of the “Southern Route.” If these two trade-routes were being supplied by two
different networks of mines, that might explain why bronze associated with the
Bedeni culture of eastern Georgia (circa
2200 B.C.) contains significant traces of zinc, while bronze from the North
Caucasus does not.[17]
3. Presence of
Early Man
A
further line of evidence connecting the Caucasus to the Altai Mountains is the
presence of early man in both regions. The hominid remains discovered in 1991
by David Lordkipanidze at Dmanisi, Kvemo Kartli (1.8 million years old) are the
oldest hominid fossils found outside of Africa.
Neanderthal remains have been found at Ortvale Klde (1973) and
elsewhere in the Caucasus (36,000-50,000 years old).
The Neanderthal range is now known to have
extended as far as the Altai region,[18]
and remains of a new hominid species were discovered at Denisov cave in the
Altai region in 2008.[19]
It appears that all three species (Homo sapiens, Neanderthal, and the Altai
hominid) coëxisted in the Altai region 30,000-48,000 years ago.
4. Glacial Refugia
Still
another, closely-related line of evidence is found in the fact that both the
Caucasus and the Altai Mountains served as places of refugial isolation for
various plant species during the Last Glacial Maximum (circa 20,000 years ago).
One example of this is the survival of identical strains of Dryas
octopetala (mountain avens) in both regions: “The two single populations analysed from the
Caucasus and Altai Mountains were most closely related to the Eastern lineage
but were strongly divergent from the remaining eastern populations, suggesting
survival in separate refugia at least during the last glaciation.”[20]
A further example is Humulus lupulus (wild hops). The haplotypes
exhibited by lineages of this species from the Caucasus and Altai regions were
found to differ by a single nucleotide. Moreover, “genetic differentiation of
European hops was found only in the Caucasus region. A phylogenetic tree based
on microsatellite DNA also showed the Caucasus hops to be deeply divergent from
a large cluster of European hops. This differentiation could have arisen if the
Caucasus region was genetically isolated from other European populations,
perhaps as one of the refugia located in southern Europe area during glacial
periods.”[21]
The survival of these botanical species suggests that these
widely-separated regions may have served as refugia for human
populations as well. The concurrent survival of three hominid species in the
Altai region also supports this hypothesis.
5. Reports of
Алмасты
Another very interesting phenomenon linking the Caucasus and Altai
regions is seen in the frequent reports of aлмасты (“wild men”), who are said
to inhabit unfrequented mountain areas. References to these wild men are
extremely frequent in the folklore of the Chechens and Ingush of the Northeast
Caucasus.[22]
Such reports are also common among the peoples of the Northwest Caucasus, among
whom “It would seem that terms for such a creature are widespread throughout
the language family. West Circassian, Abkhaz, Abaza, and Ubykh each have one
term. East Circassian has two.”[23]
John Colarusso relates that
There were Circassian men in the various communities in Turkey who had
gained great esteem for having gone into the mountains and traded with
this wild man when they were still young men back in the Caucasus. It
seems that at least two men were supposed to have gone as a team to a
clearing on a forested mountain slope. This area was known to be one of
several haunts of the wild man. The men would camp for some time with
their trading goods on the ground in the clearing. After a day or two
one of
the wild men would appear at the edge of the clearing . . . The men
would
open up their packages of goods and spread them on the ground. The wild
man would then come forward with something, and simple bartering would
take place. Despite several efforts, I was unable to ascertain what the
items involved on either side might have been except that the human items were
“trinkets” and the wild man’s contributions were “vegetables and
things.” Nothing of any great economic importance, at least to the Circassians,
was supposed to have been involved. The wild man was supposed to have
engaged in active dickering, making extensive use of gesture and trying
very inadequately to use a crude, broken Circassian. The dangerous part
of
this expedition was supposed to occur when the trading was finished and
the men made their way back through the forest. The wild man trader was
always presumed to be the head of a small band, the other members of
which remained concealed in the underbrush while they watched the
trading. The band would then stalk the men through the brush and would
often attempt to waylay them in order to get any remaining trinkets or
artifacts as well as to take back whatever items they had originally
given
the men. The bravery displayed by the men in risking this kind of
ambush
was the basis for the esteem which such trading expeditions conferred
upon
the participants. . . It was thought that a wild man could kill a man
in such
an attack, but that the wild man was not a carnivore or a particularly
fierce
or savage creature. On the contrary, the wild man was held to be quite
meek and furtive but inordinately fond of shiny artifacts and willing
to use
his cunning and strength to get them. For this reason, efforts were
made to
avoid him, and he was considered dangerous.[24]
A
similar creature has been reported in the Altai Mountains (indeed the word aлмас is of Mongolian origin). A famous
illustration of this creature appears in a trilingual medical manuscript
(Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese) dated to the 18th (or 19th)
century. “The book contains thousands of illustrations of various classes of
animals (reptiles, mammals and amphibia), but not one single mythological
animal such as are known from similar medieval European books. All the
creatures are living and observable today.”[25]
It
is very interesting that these reports (associated with the Caucasus, Pamir,
and Altai regions) correspond fairly well to the known range of the
Neanderthal. If there is any truth at all to these stories, the most plausible
explanation may be that small numbers of Neanderthal still survive in isolated
mountain regions.
Both
the Caucasus and the Altai regions were covered by local ice-sheets during the
Last Glacial Maximum, so the evidence of late prehistoric connections between
the two regions may be a relic of extremely ancient West-East migrations along
an ice-free corridor.
Kartvelian
connections to the Altai region (circa 4000 B.C.)
Now
that the broader context has been established, it is possible to consider the
specific evidence presented in a number of sources which suggests some sort of
connection between the Kartvelians and the Altai region during Late Prehistoric
times (circa 4000 B.C. and earlier).
My intention here is simply to present this information in the hope of
stimulating further discussion and study of this question.
1. Kartvelian
Linguistic and Genetic Associations with the Alborz Mountains
The
Alborz Mountains along the south coast of the Caspian Sea are a region of great
cultural and historical importance. The languages of this region include Gilaki
and Mazandarani, as well as the Tatic group (including Talysh). These
North-Western Iranian languages are highly divergent from others in that
family: “The Gīlakī vowel system sounds radically different from other Iranian
languages and seems quite elusive.”[26]
In another article, Donald Stilo states that “. . . the border between [the Gilaki and Talyshi] languages
is clear and abrupt. There are not transitional dialects between them and they
are for the most part not mutually intelligible. They coincide, however, in the
greater part of their phonological systems, if not all, and share many
grammatical patterns, some of which are uniquely characteristic to them and do
not exist in Iran outside of this geographic area. One possible explanation is
that these common unique features are the result of a mutual influence from a
previous substratum language.”[27]
Later in the same article, Stilo identifies this substratum language as
“pre-Indo-European.”[28]
According
to Ivan Nasidze et al. (2006),
It has been suggested that their ancestors came from the Caucasus
region,
perhaps displacing an earlier group in the South Caspian. Linguistic
evidence supports this scenario, in that the Gilaki and Mazandarani
languages (but not other Iranian languages) share certain typological
features with Caucasian languages. . . Based on mtDNA HV1 sequences,
the Gilaki and Mazandarani most closely resemble their geographic and
linguistic neighbors, namely other Iranian groups. However, their Y
chromosome types most closely resemble those found in groups from the
South Caucasus. A scenario that explains these differences is a south
Caucasian origin for the ancestors of the Gilaki and Mazandarani,
followed by introgression of women (but not men) from local Iranian
groups, possibly because of patrilocality.”[29]
The same article
goes on to state that these “Mazandarani and Gilaki groups . . . are
particularly close to the South Caucasus groups—Georgians, Armenians, and Azerbaijanians,”[30]
and that “. . . overall the Y chromosome data do indicate a closer relationship
of the Mazandarani and Gilaki with South Caucasian groups than with Iranian
groups.”[31]
The authors offer a very interesting explanation of these genetic and
linguistic data: “Given that both mtDNA and language are maternally
transmitted, the incorporation of local Iranian women would have resulted in
the concomitant replacement of the ancestral Caucasian language and mtDNA types
of the Gilaki and Mazandarani with their current Iranian language and mtDNA
types.”[32]
In the Alborz Mountains are found numerous pre-Islamic pagan temples
and other ancient archaeological sites, the most important of which is Marlik
Tepe, which “apparently represents the royal cemetery of a culture that first
settled in the highlands of the northern slopes of the Alborz mountains in the
mid-2nd millenium B.C.E. and flourished there for several centuries. This
highly developed culture, especially notable for its bronze industry, covered
the southern zone of the Caspian Sea and the northern slopes of the Alborz
mountains, and exerted a strong influence that spread throughout the ancient
world.”[33]
According to Negahban, the Marlik Tepe site shows clear cultural associations
with the Hurrians.[34] Subsequently, “the Gelae
(Gilites) seem to have entered the region south of the Caspian coast and west
of the Amardos River (later Safīdrūd) in the second or first century B.C.E.
Pliny identifies them with the Cadusii previously living there. More likely they
were a separate people, coming perhaps from the region of Dāḡestān, and
superseded the Cadusii.”[35]
If, along with these data, we consider the arguments for a Kartvelian
substratum underlying the Armenian language,[36]
it appears that Kartvelian-speaking areas may have formerly extended southeastward
from the Caucasus, reaching the Caspian Sea in the vicinity of Lenkoran; and extending
from there far southward and eastward along the Caspian littoral and deep into
the Alborz Mountains. Gernot Windfuhr
identifies several of the ancient peoples of the region as speakers of South
Caucasian (Kartvelian) languages, including the Caspii, the Cădūsii,
and the Gelae.[37] Even if
Madelung is correct in regarding the Gelae as a later intrusion from Daghestan,
Windfuhr’s hypothesis links the Marlik Tepe site to prehistoric Kartvelians.
Alongside these Kartvelian (or
“para-Kartvelian”) languages, a belt of Northeast Caucasian languages appears
to have extended intermittently from Chechnya and Daghestan into the Alborz
Mountains, continuing still further east to the Gulf of Astarabad and beyond,
into Khorasan and Turkmenistan.[38]
These included the languages of the Amardi [Mardi], the Tapyrii [Tapyri,
Tapuri, Tapyrrhi], the Hyrcāni, and the Derbīces [Derbiccae,
Derbecii, Derbii, Derbissi], as well as the languages of the Mătiāni of western
Azerbaijan and (possibly) the Mannaeans of Kurdistan.[39]
All of these “may have belonged to the sometimes postulated North
Caucasian-Central Asian continuum of languages, which was erased by the
Iranians. The earlier name of Gorgan [Astarabad] was Khnanta, whose
initial /khn/ is phonotactically non-Indo-European.”[40]
Windfuhr posits that this “Caucasus-Central Asian continuum . . . would have
met the western (South Caucasian) Caspians somewhere between Mazandaran and
Gilan.”[41]
The
implication of these arguments is that a patchwork of both Kartvelian and
Northeast Caucasian languages once extended throughout the Alborz Mountains,
and from there (in the case of the latter phylum at least) deep into Central
Asia. These languages were eventually replaced by Indo-Iranian languages.
In
light of the clear evidence of the involvement of both Kartvelians and
Northeast Caucasians with metallurgy and the associated trade-routes, it is
possible that linguistic enclaves belonging to both of these phyla were
formerly found all the way across Central Asia to the Altai Mountains.
2. Kartvelian
Linguistic Connections to Central Asia
According
to Johanna Nichols, “. . . Kartvelian (South Caucasian), . . . may be a
survivor of a pre-Indo-European spread along the route from Central Asia to
Anatolia. Kartvelian, with its personal pronouns *me(n)- ‘first
singular’, *šen- ‘second
singular’, belongs to the dozen or so north Eurasian stocks with what can be
called “me” – “thee” pronoun systems. Kartvelian is the sole exception to the
generalization that stocks with such systems can be traced to proto-homelands
in the vicinity of the eastern steppe or the north Mongolian region. If
Kartvelian survives from a pre-Indo-European expansion, then it has spread from
the usual center along the usual route, its pronouns reflect the usual type of
the original center, and the generalization about pronoun systems in northern
Eurasia is without exception.”[42]
In
a later article, Nichols writes, “Kartvelian seems to have moved to the
southern Caucasus sometime after the IE [Indo-European] dispersal, by which
time the westward trajectory of languages had certainly begun to operate.
Kartvelian is therefore likely to have emanated from somewhere to the
south-east of the Caspian, where it was in a position to be pulled into the
desert trajectory of language spreads, thus to spread westward to its present
location. The locus of PIE [proto-Indo-European] was farther east and farther
north, so that it spread to the steppe as well.”[43]
Thus,
surprisingly, Nichols posits an eastern origin for the Kartvelian language phylum
(contra Windfuhr, whose arguments
appear to imply that Kartvelians expanding from the west into the Alborz
Mountains encountered Northeast Caucasians coming from the east).
3. Genetic Associations
with the Altai region involving mtDNA haplogroup X2e
The
recent study of human genetics has revealed that mtDNA haplogroup X is
relatively rare but widespread. Its subclade X2 appears to be associated with the
expansion and dispersal of human populations at around the time of the Last
Glacial Maximum (20,000 years ago), and is most strongly represented in the
Near East, the Caucasus, and the Mediterranean. Particular
concentrations appear in Georgia (8%), the Orkney Islands (7%), and among the
Druze community (27%). From time to time, I have come across a claim (in
non-academic sources) that concentrations of X2 as high as 9.1% have been found
among the remains of ancient Basques.
The strong representation of haplogroup X in Anatolia supports
suggestions that the Kartvelian and Etruscan languages may be connected (since
the Etruscans migrated from Asia Minor). Its presence among ancient Basques (if
confirmed) would support the “Basque-Caucasian Hypothesis.” According to Classical sources, Tartessus (Tarshish) was founded in the
year 1100 B.C. by refugees from Troy—another link to Anatolia. A
strong representation of haplogroup X in the Orkney Islands suggests an
association with the ancient Picts (who apparently spoke a non-Indo-European
language), and may be related to the exploitation of British sources of tin.
This supports Theo
Vennemann’s hypothesis that Vasconic [Basque-like] languages were formerly
spoken throughout much of western Europe.[44]
The findings of Reidla et al. (2003) are extremely pertinent to
our discussion of the prehistory of the peoples of the Caucasus region: “Clades
X2e and X2f encompass the majority (87.1%) of the sequences from the South
Caucasus area and show coalescence times (12,000 ± 4,000 YBP and 10,800 ± 5,000
YBP, respectively) consistent with a Late Upper Paleolithic (LUP) origin and a
subsequent spread in the region. We found significant differences between the
haplogroup distribution between the North and the South Caucasian samples, a
result that indicates a major geographical barrier between the two regions.”[45]
While nearly absent from Asian populations, mtDNA haplogroup X is found
in the Altai region. Reidla et al.
connect the presence of haplogroup X2 in the Altai region to a relatively
recent migration from the South Caucasus: “Clade X2e . . . encompasses
all haplogroup X sequences in the Altaians . . . under the assumption that
these sequences are a random sample of the Altaian haplogroup X, an extimated ρ
value <0.33 (P<.05) was obtained. This value corresponds to a time depth
of <6,700 years, and it would suggest that Altaians have acquired haplogroup
X2 only relatively recently.”[46]
The editors of Wikipedia provide the following summary
of these findings: “The Altaian sequences are all almost identical (haplogroup
X2e), suggesting that they arrived in the area probably from the South Caucasus
more recently than 5,000 years ago.”[47]
These findings comport very well with the other lines of evidence for
some sort of late prehistoric connection of the Kartvelian peoples to the Altai
region, and the time-depth estimated for the spread of X2e to the Altai region
clearly associates it with early developments in metallurgy and the associated
trade-routes.
In
the New World, subclades X2a and X2g are found in North America among the
Algonquian peoples (25%), the Siouan peoples (15%), the Nootka (Wakashan
phylum] (11-13%), the Navajo [Na-Dene phylum] (7%), and the Yakama [Penutian
phylum] (5%).[48] All of
these Native American nations have some association with the Pacific Northwest.
Surprisingly, X2a is also found among the Yanomamö of the Amazon basin
(12%).[49]
X2a has also been identified in the bones of a chief of the extinct Beothuk
nation of Newfoundland,[50]
and in Florida burial sites from circa 6000 B.C.[51]
This might explain its occurrence among the Yanomamö; the (extinct) Timucua
language of Florida has been connected to the Warao language of Venezuela,
suggesting migration between the two continents by way of the Antilles.[52]
The presence of mtDNA haplogroup X in the New World is hard to
interpret. The prevailing opinion is that it entered North America by way of
the Bering Strait, but its presence in the Americas has also been seen as
evidence of an independent migration from Europe by way of the Greenland Ice
Sheet (the so-called Solutrean Hypothesis). Statements by Derenko et al. (2001) tend to support the former
position: “the Altaian X haplotypes occupy the intermediate position between
European and American Indian haplogroup X mtDNA lineages.”[53]
In
light of recent rapid advances in DNA research, it appears likely that within a
very few years, most of the hypotheses mentioned in this paper will be either
confirmed or laid to rest.
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[2]Tamara Talbot Rice, The
Scythians, 2d ed. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1957), 33.
[4]E.D. Phillips, “The Legend
of Aristeas: Fact and Fancy in Early Greek Notions of East Russia, Siberia, and
Inner Asia,” Artibus Asiae 18:2 (1955), 175.
[5]Sulimirski, 70.
[7]Muriel Tsaroieva, Racines mésopotamiennes et anatoliennes des Ingouches et des Tchéchènes (Paris: Riveneuve editions,
2005), 303-305; Johanna Nichols, “The Origin of the Chechen and Ingush: A Study
in Alpine Linguistic and Ethnic Geography,” Anthropological
Linguistics 46:2 (2004), 140; Amjad M. Jaimoukha, The Chechens: A Handbook (New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2005), 29.
[8]Wikipedia, s.v. “Hurrians.”
[10]Georgina Herrmann, “Lapis
Lazuli: The Early Phases of Its Trade,” Iraq
30:1 (1968), 28.
[11]Andrew
Sherratt, “Trade Routes: Growth of Global Trade. The West-Eurasia World System,
3600-1400 BC,” (2004), in ArchAtlas, 4th ed. (2010),
http://www.archatlas.org/Trade/WEtrade.php (accessed: 22 September 2010);
Wikipedia, s.v. “Lapis Lazuli.”
[12]John D. Bengtson, “Ein
vergleich von buruschaski und nordkaukasisch,” Georgica 20 (1997),
88-94.
[13]Jan Cierny and Gerd
Weisgerber, “The Bronze Age Tin Mines in Central Asia,” in Alessandra
Giumlia-Mair and Fulvia Lo Schiavo (eds.), The
Problem of Early Tin (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2003).
[14]J. Magens Mello, “The Dawn
of Metallurgy,” Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute 23
(1890), 285.
[15]C.E.N. Bromehead, “The
Evidence for Ancient Mining,” The Geographical Journal 96:2 (1940), 106.
[16]Christopher P. Thornton, “Of
Brass and Bronze in Prehistoric Southwest Asia,” in Metals and Mines:
Studies in Archaeometallurgy (London: Archetype Publications Ltd., 2007),
129.
[17]Thornton, 130.
[18]Johannes Krause et al., “Neanderthals in Central Asia
and Siberia,” Nature 449 (18 October 2007), 902-904.
[19]Johannes Krause et al., “The complete
mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia,” Nature 464 (8 April 2010), 894-897.
[20]Inger Skrede et al.,
“Refugia, differentiation and postglacial migration in arctic-alpine Eurasia,
exemplified by the mountain avens (Dryas octopetala L.),” Molecular Ecology 15:7
(2006), 1827.
[21]A. Murakami et al.,
“Molecular Phylogeny of Wild Hops, Humulus lupulus L.,” Heredity 97
(2006), 66-74.
[22]Muriel Tsaroieva, Mythes, légendes
et prières ancestrales des ingouches et tchétchènes (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2009), passim.
[23]John Colarusso,
“Ethnographic Information on a Wild Man of the Caucasus,” in Manlike Monsters on Trial: Early Records and
Modern Evidence, ed. Marjorie M. Halpin and Michael M. Ames (Vancouver:
University of British Columbia Press, 1980), 258.
[24]Colarusso, 257-258.
[25]Myra Shackley, Wildmen:
Yeti, Sasquatch and the Neanderthal Enigma (London: Thames & Hudson,
1983), 98.
[27]Donald Stilo, “The Tati
Language Group in the Sociolinguistic Context of Northwestern Iran and
Transcaucasia,” Iranian Studies 14:3/4 (1981), 143-144.
[29]Ivan Nasidze et
al., “Concomitant Replacement of Language and mtDNA
in South Caspian Populations of Iran,” Current Biology 16 (2006), 668.
[30]Nasidze et al., 669.
[31]Nasidze et al., 671.
[32]Nasidze et al., 668.
[34]O. Negahban, “The Seals of
Marlik Tepe,” JNES 36:2 (1977).
[35]Wilferd Madelung, Encyclopedia
Iranica, s.v. “Gilan (History in the Early Islamic Period)” (2001).
Linguistica
35:1 (2007), 36 n. 23.
[38]The Derbīces appear to have been intrusive
to the region, having recently expanded into the Caspian littoral from their
territories in Margiana.
[39]For the consideration of
comparative linguists, I have indicated vowel-lengths for several of these
ethnic designations as they appear in the Lewis and Short Latin English Lexicon.
[42]Johanna Nichols, Linguistic
Diversity in Space and Time (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992),
313 n. 3.
[43]Johanna Nichols, “The
Epicentre of the Indo-European Linguistic Spread,” in Archaeology and Language I: Theoretical and Methodological Orientations
(New York: Routledge, 1997), 128.
[45]Maere Reidla et al., “Origin and Diffusion of mtDNA Haplogroup X,” American Journal of Human Genetics 73:5
(2003), 1178-1190.
[46]Ibid.
[48]Michael D. Brown et al., “mtDNA Haplogroup X: An Ancient Link between
Europe/Western Asia and North America?” American
Journal of Human Genetics 63 (1998), 1852.
[49]Ruth D. Easton et al., “mtDNA Variation in the Yanomami: Evidence for
Additional New World Founding Lineages,” American Journal of Human
Genetics 59:1
(1996), 213.
[50]Melanie Kuch et al.,
“A Preliminary Analysis of the DNA and Diet of the Extinct Beothuk: A
Systematic Approach to Ancient Human DNA,” American Journal of Physical
Anthropology 132 (2007), 594-604.
[51]Robert L. Kelly and David
Hurst Thomas, Archaeology, 5th ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth,
2010), 255.
[52]Julian Granberry, A Grammar and Dictionary of the Timucua
Language, 2d ed. (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1993), passim.
[53]Miroslava V. Derenko et al., “The Presence of Mitochondrial
Haplogroup X in Altaians from South Siberia,” American Journal of Human Genetics 69:1 (2001), 237-241.
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