Altai Mountains: Crossroads Where People Met and...Woo Woo!

A press release from Eureka Alert:

Public release date: 12-Nov-2012
Maria Jesus Delgado
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Mongolia and the Altai Mountains: Origins of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians

A group of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has discovered the first scientific evidence of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians in the remains of ancient Scythian warriors living over 2,000 years ago in the Altai region of Mongolia. Contrary to what was believed until now, the results published in PLoS ONE indicate that this blending was not due to an eastward migration of Europeans, but to a demographic expansion of local Central Asian populations, thanks to the technological improvements the Scythian culture brought with them.

The Altai is a mountain range in Central Asia occupying territories of Russia and Kazakhstan to the west and of Mongolia and China to the east. Historically, the Central Asian steppes have been a corridor for Asian and European populations, resulting in the region's large diversity in population today. In ancient times however the Altai Mountains, located in the middle of the steppes, represented an important barrier for the coexistence and mixture of the populations living on each side. And so they lived isolated during millennia: Europeans on the western side and Asians on the eastern side.

The research conducted by researchers from the UAB, the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC) sheds new light on when and how this Eurasian genetic blending took place.

At the UAB palaeogenetic laboratory researchers analysed mitochondrial DNA (inherited from the mother, it allows us to trace our ancestors) extracted from the bones and teeth of 19 skeletons from the Bronze Age (7th to 10th century BCE) and from the Iron Age (2nd to 7th century BCE) from the Mongolian Altai Mountains. The remains were extracted from the tombs discovered seven years ago, in which the skeletons of Scythian warriors were discovered and which represented the first scientific evidence of this culture in East Asia.

The results obtained demonstrate that the population from the Iron Age, corresponding to the time when the Scythian culture resided in the Altai Mountains, had a perfect blend (50%) of European and Asian mitochondrial DNA lineages or sequences. The discovery is relevant, taking into account that previous populations showed no signs of lineage mixture: the DNA analysed in the tombs located in Russia and Kazakhstan belong to European lineages, whereas DNA from the eastern part, in Mongolia, contain Asian lineages.

"The results provide exceptionally valuable information about how and when the population diversity found today in Central Asian steppes appeared. They point to the possibility that this occurred in Altai over 2,000 years ago between the local population on both sides of the mountain range, coinciding with the expansion of the Scythian culture, which came from the west", explains Assumpció Malgosa, professor of Biological Anthropology at UAB and coordinator of the research.

One of the Scythian tombs discovered in the Altai Mountains on the Mongolian side.  Source.

Studies conducted until now on ancient DNA samples from the Altai region already indicated that the Scythians were the first large population to be a mixture between Europeans and Asians. However, the only populations to be studied were those on the western part of the Eurasian steppes, suggesting that this mixture was due to population migrations from Europe to the east.

The current research is the first to offer scientific evidence of this population mixture on the eastern side of the Altai and indicates that the contact between European and Asian lineages occurred before the Iron Age when populations were present on both sides of the mountain. The study suggests that the Asian population adopted the Scythian culture, technologically and socially more advanced, and this made them improve demographically by favouring their expansion and contact with Europeans.

The idea poses a new hypothesis on the origin of today's population diversity in Central Asia and allows for a better understanding of the demographic processes which took place.

Frozen Scythian Warrior Tombs

From 2005 to 2007, UAB researchers worked jointly with French and Mongolian researchers in a European project to excavate Scythian tombs in Mongolia's Altai Mountains. In the three excavation campaigns carried out over twenty tombs were excavated. Many of them were frozen and contained mummified human remains of warriors buried with their possessions and horses. This was the first time Scythian warrior tombs had been discovered in Mongolia, since all other tombs previously found had been located on the western side of Altai.

The Scythians were an Indo-European people dedicated to nomadic pasturing and horse breeding. They crossed the Eurasian steppes from the Caspian Sea until reaching the Altai Mountains during the 2nd and 7th century BCE. The Scythians are known most of all thanks to ancient texts written by the Greek historian Herodotus.

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The photograph above accompanied the press release, and I find it particularly poignant because it contains what looks like the remains of a woman, a man, a horse, and an infant.  Was it a family?  Were the woman and infant sacrificed to accompany the man?  Were the man and infant sacrificed to accompany the woman?  Did the family die of some dread disease?  What is the story behind this burial?  If one family member died, was the entire family sacrificed accompany the deceased to the Land of No Return, including the horse? 

Scythian "Sun Lord" Discovered in Kazakhstan

From eurasianet.org
Kazakh Archeologists Discover Ancient Scythian “Sun Lord”
July 19, 2010 - 1:30am, by Joanna Lillis

Archeologists in Kazakhstan have discovered the grave of a gold-clad ancient Scythian warrior who has already earned himself a nickname: “The Sun Lord.” Researchers uncovered the find in a Scythian grave consisting of seven burial mounds in Karaganda Region east of the capital, Astana.

The opulence of the warrior’s burial indicates that he was a leader as well as a fighter, expedition leader Arman Beysenov explained. “He was probably a ruler and a warrior simultaneously,” Beysenov said in remarks quoted by the Kazinform news agency on July 16. (Here's the article - but it's in Russian. I can't read it - but it sure looks like they found a lot of gold - see photo - it's rather small but larger, it loses resolution. Amazing!) “The person’s torso was entirely covered with gold. The figure of a leader like this was associated with the sun. He was a sort of ‘sun lord.’”

The warrior was likely buried in the 4th or 5th century BC in a grave that was actually discovered half a century ago, though excavation work only started last year.

Robbers had looted the grave in ancient times, Beysenov said, but it still contained quite a horde of ancient treasure. One of the burial mounds alone yielded 130 gold objects that included the figure of a feline predator, pendants and parts of sword belts. Archeologists also found hundreds of gold beads and 14 bronze arrowheads in the grave.

Inevitably, the archeological discovery is being trumpeted as comparable to that of the Golden Man, found in the Issyk burial mound just outside Kazakhstan’s commercial capital, Almaty, in 1969. The Golden Man, who’s believed to have been a young Scythian prince who lived in the 4th or 5th century BC, was interred wearing some 4,000 gold ornaments.

He has become a national symbol -- the image of the Golden Man, with his trademark conical gold headdress, decorates the monument to independence on Almaty’s Republic Square, and in 2006 President Nursultan Nazarbayev unveiled a statue of him outside the Kazakh Embassy in Washington. The original is on display at Almaty’s Museum of Gold.

Archeologists are now hoping that their digs in eastern Kazakhstan will reveal more information about the glorious “Sun Lord,” the latest find from the Scythian past.

Buddha was a Scythian!

Hmmm.... Buddha was a Scythian Arian of Budins in Ancient Ukraine: scholar Moscow, Mar 15 : Valery Bebik, a prominent scholar of political science in the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine, has claimed that Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, belonged to the Scythian nation of Budins that lived on the territory of Ancient Ukraine during the first or second millennium B C. Bebik has published the sensational article in the official newspaper of the Ukrainian Parliament, 'The Voice of Ukraine.' Bebik is Doctor of Political Sciences, a professor, deputy principal of Ukraine University, the chairman of the board of the All-Ukrainian Association of Political Sciences. ''It is quite possible that Buddha belonged to the Scythian nation of Budins that lived on the territory of Ancient Ukraine during the first or the second millennium BC. The name of the nation is still preserved in the names of Ukraine’s contemporary settlements - Seredina-Buda, Buda, and some others,'' he said. ''Everything is clear from the ethnic point of view. Buddha was a Scythian Arian, a member of the Budin tribe. The descendants of the tribe still live in the Sumsky and the Chernigov region of Ukraine, as well as on the neighbouring lands of Belarus and Russia,'' he said. Bebik earlier also published a number of his articles in the official newspaper of the Ukrainian Parliament. He wrote his previous articles for the paper to 'prove' the remarkable role of the Ukrainian civilization, which endowed the world with spiritual enlightenment, outstanding prophets, philosophers and leaders. In 2008-2009, the Ukrainian professor shared his amazing observations of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and the ethnic origin of Jesus Christ. ''The name of Egypt's major temple, Het-ka-Ptah, sounds very much like Ukrainian words 'hata' and 'ptaha' ('house' and 'bird'). The pictures on the Egyptian pyramids show that Egyptian queens were blonde women with blue eyes, just like many Ukrainian women. One should also pay attention to the fact that the trident, which is currently the minor national emblem of Ukraine, can often be seen there too,'' he wrote. ''We have already outlined the facts that placed in question the official, the church version of the ethnic origin and the Biblical dates of the life of Jesus Christ and the historical epoch, in which the basis of Christianity was formed. It looks like Christ actually lived 3,000 years before his canonical birth and spoke the Coptic language, which is a close language to the ancestors of contemporary Ukrainians,'' the scholar wrote. --- UNI

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I understand that Buddha was cremated so I guess it's out of the question to take some DNA and do a comparison with the "descendants of the Budins" mentioned in the article. If it was possible, that would probably put to rest any theories that Buddha was a Scythian. Is there really a relationship between ancient Coptic and ancient Ukrainian? According to an old "language map" I have of languages descended from Proto-Indo-European, Ukrainian is descended from East Slavic, from Slavic, from Balto-Slavic, and is most closely related today to Byelorussian and Russian. Coptic isn't even on this language "map" - I thought it was a Semitic or Hamitic language? I understand that Coptic developed after Alexander the Great's take-over of Egypt in the 4th century BCE, and while using Greek lettering was nevertheless based on the ancient Egyptian language, incorporating many hieroglyphic symbols into the "new" language and script, developed from the Demotic. Please correct me if this is wrong, help! According to my language "map," Greek descended from Hellenic, which is directly related to proto-Indo-European circa 5000 BCE without any intervening steps. In a sense, Ukrainian and Greek ARE related to each other, as both are descended from proto-Indo-European. But that does not mean that Ukrainian and Coptic are related to each other, despite Coptic's use of the Greek alphabet! According to Wikipedia, we don't actually know when Buddha was born: The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians date his lifetime from c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE; more recently, however, at a specialist symposium on this question,[2] the majority of those scholars who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death, with others supporting earlier or later dates. [Note: (2) The Dating of the Historical Buddha: A Review Article.] Further, according to Wikipedia: Siddhartha was born in Lumbini[7] and raised in the small kingdom or principality of Kapilvastu, both of which are in modern day Nepal. At the time of the Buddha's birth, the area was at or beyond the boundary of Vedic civilization; it is even possible that his mother tongue was not an Indo-Aryan language.[8] [Notes: (7) http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/lumbini.htm (8) Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, page 49.] Did Scythians make it into Nepal and settle there sometime between 563 BCE and 400 BCE???

Frozen Scythian Mummies May Melt Away

Parzinger fears global warming may soon put an end to the search for Scythians. Rudenko’s dig diaries contain reports of weather far colder than what modern archaeologists experience in the Altai. “When you read descriptions from the 1940s and compare them with the climate of today, you don’t need to be a scientist to see there’s been a change,” Parzinger says. Geographer Frank Lehmkuhl from the University of Aachen in Germany has been studying lake levels in the Altai region for a decade. “According to our research, the glaciers are retreating and the lake levels are rising,” Lehmkuhl says. With no increase in the region’s rainfall, the change “can only come from melting permafrost and glaciers.” As the permafrost thaws, the ice that has preserved the Scythian mummies for so many centuries will thaw too. In the Olon-Kurin-Gol grave, the ice that once crushed the mummy against the roof of the burial chamber had receded nine inches by the time the chamber was opened. Within a few decades, the ice lenses may be completely gone. “Right now we’re facing a rescue archaeology situation,” Parzinger says. “It’s hard to say how much longer these graves will be there.” You can read the entire article at Discover Magazine Online: 06.25.2008 Frozen Siberian Mummies Reveal a Lost Civilization Global warming may finally do in the bodies of the ancient Scythians By Andrew Curry