Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, carried out enormous-scale studies of the genetic material of African peoples, which made it possible to put an end to the dispute about which nation is the most ancient on the planet. During the study, genetic portraits were compiled of more than 3 thousand inhabitants of the “Black Continent”, belonging to 121 nationalities. Then the scientists compared the obtained data with the genetic portraits of people inhabiting all other continents of our planet.
The result of the work done showed that the genome of the Bushmen people living in the territory of modern Namibia and Botswana is closest to the genome of the first representative of Homo sapiens, who lived more than 50 thousand years ago. Bushman means "man of the bushes" in Dutch. This is the collective name given by Dutch colonists in the 18th century to a group of tribes living on the border of the Kalahari Desert.
The Bushmen are a small group of hunting tribes in South Africa. The Bushmen preserved the most archaic forms of the socio-economic system, and along with it, religion. Now the Bushmen are already the remnants of a much larger ancient population of this part of Africa, pushed aside by later newcomers, agricultural and pastoral peoples.
Dutch-Boer and English colonization of the 17th-19th centuries. led to the extermination and death of most of the Bushmen tribes remaining by that time. Bushmen tribes were once scattered along the entire coast of the Namib Desert in southwest Africa, from the banks of the Kunene River to the Orange River, and even earlier they lived across much of the African continent.
The Bushmen have no concept of private property. They believe that everything that grows and grazes within the territory of their habitat belongs to everyone. This philosophy has cost the lives of many thousands of bush people.
For one cow killed by the Bushmen, 30 Bushmen were killed. Then, when this most severe measure did not help, the colonial farmers organized several punitive expeditions against the Bushmen tribes, destroying them like wild animals. They were raided using specially poisoned dogs, and dry bushes were burned along with the Bushmen hiding in them. Potent poison was poured into wells in the desert used by the Bushmen. Around one of these wells, 120 corpses of Bushmen were once discovered after tasting the poisoned water. They were destroyed by the Boers, the Dutch, the Germans, and the British. This was at the beginning of the century, but at the end of it little had changed.
Red Afrikaners in the fight against SWAPO partisans widely used the proven method of poisoning water sources. The partisans, including representatives of the Bushmen tribes in their ranks, before drinking water from the well, gave it to prisoners, if they had any at that time, or to dogs. There is no need to be indignant and indignant at the cruelty of blacks, propagated by the Western media, when a poisoned arrow carries away individual white enslavers to the next world. The Europeans who colonized Africa deserve to be treated this way, if not worse.
The Bantu-speaking tribes of Angola and Namibia - Kuanyama, Idongo, Herero, Ambuela and others, being pastoralists, idolize their domestic animals. And if the Bushmen begin to hunt their cows and goats, serious problems. Having lost the cow, they kidnap a young Bushwoman, making her a powerless “last” wife, in other words, a half-slave. Young Bushmen are beautiful, great lovers of dancing and singing.
The Bushmen do not have leaders, like other African tribes. Being in conditions of constant half-starved wandering in the desert, they could not afford such luxury as the existence of leaders, sorcerers and healers living at the expense of society. Instead of leaders, the Bushmen have elders. They are chosen from among the most authoritative, intelligent, experienced members of the clan, and they do not enjoy any material advantages.
Water is the basis of life in the Namib and Kalahiri deserts. Translated into Russian, Kalahiri means “tormented by thirst.” There is no water in the desert, but there is always underground water. Bushmen obtain it everywhere by digging shallow holes, bringing it to the surface with the help of plant stems, or sucking moisture through these stems. Sometimes the Bushmen dig wells six or more meters deep. In some wells the water lasts for a relatively long time, while in others it disappears after a few days. Among the Bushmen there are old people who know how to find disappeared water.
Each group of Bushmen in the desert has secret wells, carefully lined with stones and covered with sand so that not the slightest sign will reveal the location of the most precious storage.
These people have much of what we, the city dwellers, have lost. Their sense of mutual assistance is extremely developed. For example, a child, finding a juicy fruit in the desert, will not eat it, although no one would see it. He will bring the find to the camp, and the elders will divide it equally. And at the same time, when the Bushmen tribe migrates to a new area in search of wild animals and plants, the very old people, unable to go with the tribe, remain in the old place, they are abandoned so as not to be dragged through the desert: “There is no need to wait for many moons in a row until the old man or woman dies or recovers.”
Bushmen believe in an afterlife and are very afraid of the dead. They have special rituals for burying the dead in the ground, but they do not have the cult of ancestors that prevails among more developed African tribes.
Most characteristic in the religion of the Bushmen as a hunting people - a hunting cult. With prayers for success in fishing, they turn to various natural phenomena (the sun, moon, stars) and to supernatural beings. Here is one such prayer: “O moon! Up there, help me kill the gazelle. Let me eat gazelle meat. Help me hit the gazelle with this arrow, with this arrow, with this arrow. Help me fill my stomach."
The Bushmen turn with the same prayer to the mantis grasshopper, which is called tsg'aang or tsg'aangen, that is, lord. “Sir, bring me a male wildebeest. I love it when my stomach is full. Mister! Send me a wildebeest!”
The language of the Bushmen is very difficult for Europeans to pronounce. They have no numerals: one and all, and then many. They speak very quietly among themselves, apparently a habit of primitive hunters, so as not to frighten the game.
Wandering through the desert in search of edible plants or chasing antelopes, the Bushmen do not stay in one place. Where night finds them, they dig a shallow hole, build a screen on the windward side of grass, brushwood, and bush branches and lie down for the night. They usually set up their camp among the bushes, for which, apparently, they received the name “bush people” from the Europeans, that is, Bushmen. Permanent housing for the Bushmen differs slightly from temporary housing. They build it using the same materials and antelope skins. The Bushmen are nomads, and when food runs out, they leave the area and go further in search of it.
Having established a new camp, women make long journeys in search of ostrich eggs. Their contents are carefully released through a small hole made with a stone awl, and the shells are braided with grass. Bushmen make flasks for water from ostrich eggs, without which not a single Bushman would set off on a journey. Children, together with their mothers, collect shell fragments from eggs (after ostrich chicks hatch), carefully polish them, giving oval shape, use a sharp bone to drill a hole in the center of the oval and string it onto the tendon. Beads, earrings, pendants and monistas are made in this way. They are also used for dressing the skins of wild animals, decorating them with ornaments.
The Bushmen do not have their own livestock, so they do not know how to handle domestic animals. Only those who worked on white haciendas and farms learned, for example, to milk cows. If possible, Bushmen suck the milk of cows and goats directly from the udder. There are cases when Bushmen find female oryx antelopes in the desert and suckle milk along with the heifer. The case is incredible, but such mutual understanding takes place. They explain this as "an antelope's understanding of the desires of a bushman asking for milk."
No one in Africa can compare with the Bushmen in their knowledge of nature. Bushmen are unsurpassed hunters and trackers, artists and experts on snakes, insects and plants. They are the best dancers, endowed with an amazing ability to imitate. There is a belief that the Bushmen understand the “language” of baboons (baboons). It is clear that the language of the Bushmen has nothing in common with the “language” of baboons, but still it is primitive, ancient language, it cannot be attributed to any language group.
Once, watching through the optics the actions of a bushman when communicating with a female oryx, I thought that our distant ancestors, apparently, just like this bushman, lived among wildlife and domesticated the dog, cow, goat, horse, pig and other animals that are now called domesticated. Our outstanding zoologists and game managers have made and are making vain attempts to tame wild animals, for example, elk, bison, wolf, but the results of their efforts are scanty - humans don’t “smell” like that. Apparently, the invisible threads connecting man with the animal world, with nature, have been severed. It seemed to me that if the Bushmen were now engaged in the “planned domestication” of wild animals, they would get phenomenal results. Civilized man does not get along with timid wild animals; they can only be successfully domesticated by people who are at the same level as our distant ancestors, who tamed today's domestic animals.
Modern explorers of Africa call the Bushmen “rulers of the desert.” It's hard to disagree with this. We jokingly called them “primitive communists.”
Under natural conditions, the Bushmen are physically the strongest people that doctors have ever encountered. I remember a case when a Bushman wounded in the stomach was dragged by his comrades in arms on a makeshift stretcher for “seven moons” (seven days), after which only twenty hours later the opportunity to operate on him presented itself. Our surgeon cut out one and a half meters of intestines, but it was not possible to sew them up. According to the surgeon, with such a wound the white man would have died within 24 hours. Bushman underwent surgery, and two weeks later he could be seen among the convalescents, happily chatting and dancing.
Bushmen do not attach importance to even serious injuries. Doctors sometimes performed operations without anesthesia, and at this time the Bushmen being operated on talked animatedly.
In one Bushman settlement we saw an old disabled Bushman, he had no foot. As a child, he got his foot caught in a steel trap. Bushman understood that if he did not free himself from it, he would become prey for the leopard. He did not have the strength to unclench the steel arcs of the trap, and he cut off his foot at the tendon. Lost a lot of blood, but remained alive.
The vitality of the Bushmen is also evidenced by the fact that when a group of Bushmen wanders through the desert and at that moment one of the Bushmen is caught in childbirth, she simply leaves the group for a while, and then, with the born child, catches up with her relatives who have gone ahead.
Bushwomen breastfeed their children for several years, and until the next birth he suckles at the mother's breast, and the next birth may be three or four years later. According to the laws of the desert, a Bushman mother kills a newborn if it is born before the specified time in order to give the previous child the opportunity to survive.
The Bushmen do not have their own livestock, they get meat sporadically, and they also lack berries, roots, lizards and termites.
There is a high infant mortality rate among the Bushmen. Unlike pastoral African tribes, where there can be up to eight wives, in a Bushman family you can find 2-3 children, and the age difference between them is significant. Families with 5 children are very rare. But surviving children become almost invulnerable to disease and easily endure hunger if it happens.
Bushmen do not suffer from epidemic diseases that affect Europeans if they live freely. They have their own medicinal herbs and roots. For headaches, for example, they use the roots of special plants, heat them over a fire and apply them to the head.
The Bushmen use everything for food. They bake locusts and winged termites, lizards, caterpillars and centipedes on coals. They eat the roots and fruits of wild plants, but most favorite dish Bushmen - meat. If a Bushman has it, it’s happiness. And he has an excellent appetite: despite his very short stature and frail physique, the Bushman’s stomach can accommodate an incredible amount of meat. It is apparently capable of stretching like a rubber inner tube. A Bushman family can eat a medium-sized antelope in one meal; they eat like wolves for several hours.
Bushman women are characterized by steatopygia - disproportionately developed buttocks and hips. Nature itself made sure that there was a large layer of subcutaneous fat on the hips and buttocks of the Bushmen, which facilitates survival in times of famine.
No people could live in the conditions in which the Bushmen live: a bare desert, where there is no water or food, the temperature during the day stays at +500C. The ears swell from the scorching desert sun and become like boiled dumplings; due to the unbearable heat, a “chalky” dryness appears in the mouth. Mirages haunt you all the time: either emerald groves or turquoise lakes. And in these wild places forgotten by God you suddenly find traces, but this is no longer a mirage. These are traces of the Bushmen who constantly live in these places.
Even children carried by their mothers on their backs, because they are too small to walk independently with their parents, can drink bitter and stinking water like antelopes, because they know that the distance between this and the next sources of water is very long. In the savannah, during the dry season, when not a single drop of water falls from the sky for six months, all the springs dry up. Only isolated pits remain, the approaches to them are dotted with traces of various animals - both large and small. The water in these pits turns brownish-green. Everyone comes to her, fly and crawl to quench their thirst: elephants, buffalos and giraffes, storks and crows, lizards and monitor lizards, flies and spiders. I don’t know how many different “sticks” and “columns” there are in it. You can still drink this liquid once, but for the rest of your life? It’s simply incredible, and the Bushmen drink, live and thrive.
Bushmen know antidotes against poisonous snakes and scorpions. Some Bushmen swallow the venom of poisonous snakes and scorpions, thereby developing immunity. For the bites of poisonous reptiles they use the root creeping plant. They call this plant zoocam. They also use its seeds as an antidote. A tissue incision is made at the site of the bite. The one who sucks out the poison, if the bitten person cannot do this, chews this root in his mouth, turning it into pulp, leaves it in the mouth and sucks out the poison from the cut of the wound. Bushmen always carry this root with them around their necks in a special bag for immediate use in case of a bite.
To hunt wild animals, Bushmen widely use poisoned arrowheads. They lubricate them. Arrows with tips coated with snake venom are formidable weapons. No animal can survive if this poison enters the bloodstream.
Each Bushmen tribe has its own recipes for preparing poisons. Wandering across the savannah and desert, the Bushmen look for the plants needed to make them. Completely non-poisonous plants can also serve as components of the poison, but by mixing the juice and pollen of these plants with others, deadly recipes are obtained that are not inferior in strength to the venom of a cobra or mamba.
Bushmen who hunt game with poisoned arrows do not always cut out the place where the arrow hit: they believe that the meat around the wound is the most delicious.
Bushman arrows without fletching. They sneak up to the animal at a very close distance and shoot arrows. At a short distance, they accurately hit the target without losing direction.
Some Bushmen make poisoned tips from bone, but most use metal ones for hunting, store and carry them in special pencil cases or leather bags. When shooting, they connect the arrowhead to a shaft, which can be made of reeds or carved wood. All hunters in southern Africa have arrows that are a real work of art. Thin, light, carved from wood, with a dark brown or ocher pattern applied. Bows are primitive, but reliable.
Bushmen pull the bowstring with two fingers: index and middle. The Bushmen taught me how to shoot with their bows. At first it seemed to me that it was very simple, and I tried to pull the bowstring with my thumb and forefinger, but nothing came of it. The bow is quite tight, and I didn’t have enough strength to pull it this way. They showed how to draw a bow, and I succeeded - the arrow flew towards the target. Handling a Bushman bow requires a lot of training and skill.
Bushmen use removable tips to more reliably hit prey.
Bushmen hunt and hide the animal in the bush (bush), and if the tip is tightly connected to the shaft, the arrow can fall out of the body of the animal, which, after being wounded, rushes through the bushes, catching the arrow on twigs and branches. The tip, mounted loosely on the shaft, always remains in the body, and the poison reliably poisons the blood of the victim.
This tribe has interesting way poison ungulates, mainly antelopes, that come to drink. To do this, they use the poisonous plant Zuporbia candelabra. The Bushmen block off the source of water with a fence made of dry thorny bushes, next to it they dig a hole in the ground and fill it with water along the ditch, throwing branches there. poisonous plant. The released juice covers the water with foam. Antelopes come to the source, and, seeing the barrier, begin to poke around in search of an approach to the water. Having found it, they drink from the poisoned puddle. It all depends on the amount of water and zuporbia branches. If there is enough poison, the antelope may die not far from the source. Even such large animals as zebra or wildebeest become prey. The meat of animals poisoned in this way is not poisonous.
When hunting ostriches, antelopes, zebras, the bushman always uses appropriate camouflage and his ability to imitate the movements of animals. For ostriches, he uses their skin. Raising the bird's head high on a stick, he enters the center of a flock of ostriches, twitching his feathers as he goes, as birds do.
When hiding antelopes, a bushman always uses a bush of dry grass or bushes, such as those that surround grazing antelopes. When hunting, the bushman shows exceptional patience. If he wounds an antelope, he sometimes pursues it for several days, but will never part with his trophy. At the same time, he tracks the animal without rest, finding tracks even on rocky ground, where practically nothing is visible.
The Bushmen never kept livestock. The only domestic animal that always accompanies a Bushman is a dog. Apparently, this animal has been serving the Bushman for millennia. Bushman dogs are mongrels of a light brown color, with a dark or black belt on the back, with erect ears, an oblong muzzle, the size of our Russian hound. The dog is vicious. Silently the bushman and his dog move through the desert like shadows. Sensing danger, the dog will only yelp slightly, warning the owner.
Bushmen are among the shortest people on earth, but they are not dwarfs. Very proportionally built, their physical strength is disproportionately great compared to their height. The Bushmen are somewhat similar to the Mongoloids because of their eyes. The hot climate made their eyes narrow and formed characteristic folds around them. Their skin color varies between dark yellow and chocolate. Men have a sparse mustache and goatee on their faces.
The bushmen, who work on agricultural farms, have learned to skillfully ride horses and hunt antelope. Having caught up with the animal, the bushman jumps off his horse at full gallop and strangles his prey with a rawhide belt. They surprisingly quickly learned to plow and drive oxen.
The Bushmen are not such simpletons, no matter how primitive they may be. When one ancient Bushman was asked how old he was, the old man replied: “I am young, like the most beautiful desire of my soul, and old, like all the unfulfilled dreams of my life.”
Currently, the Bushmen do not paint and cannot say anything about the drawings left by their ancestors. However, there is reliable evidence that at the end of the year before last and the beginning of the last century, the Bushmen were engaged in drawing. Numerous caves contain amazing rock paintings unknown artists. On the walls are depicted buffalos, huge black figures of people, gazelles and birds, ostriches and cheetahs, eland antelopes. Later artists added other characters to them: people with crocodile faces, half-humans, half-monkeys, dancing people and eared snakes. These cave paintings are the most realistic images known to scientists.
By nature, Bushmen are very truthful. They do not know how to lie and be a hypocrite. They remember grievances for a long time. The Bushmen do not have an accurate understanding of time, they do not know what money is, and they do not look into the future. If they have water and meat, there is no more in Africa happy people than the Bushmen. These are real children of the wild.
Leave the bushman alone in the desert, naked, with empty handed, and he will get himself food, water, clothing, start a fire and live an ordinary life.
When you see the Bushmen in their native environment, you see your distant ancestors.
About 200 peoples live on Russian territory. The history of some of them goes back to distant millennia BC. We found out which indigenous peoples of Russia are the most ancient and from whom they originated.
There are many hypotheses about the origin of the Slavs - some attribute them to the Scythian tribes from Central Asia, some to the mysterious Aryans, others to the Germanic peoples. Hence the different ideas about the age of an ethnic group, to which it is customary to add a couple of extra thousand years “for the sake of respectability.”
The first who tried to determine the age of the Slavic people was the monk Nestor, taking the biblical tradition as a basis, he began the history of the Slavs with the Babylonian pandemonium, which divided humanity into 72 nations: “From these 70 and 2 languages the Slovenian language was born...”.
From an archaeological point of view, the first culture that can be called Proto-Slavic was the so-called culture of podklosh burials, which received its name from the custom of covering cremated remains with a large vessel, in Polish “klesh”, that is, “upside down”. It originated between the Vistula and Dnieper in the 5th century BC. To some extent, we can assume that its representatives were Proto-Slavs.
The Southern Urals and the adjacent steppes, the territories where the Bashkir ethnic group emerged, have been an important center of cultural interaction since ancient times. The archaeological diversity of the region baffles researchers and adds the question of the origin of the people to the long list of “mysteries of history.”
Today, there are three main versions of the origin of the Bashkir people. The most “archaic” - Indo-Iranian says that the main element in the formation of the ethnic group were the Indo-Iranian Sako-Sarmatian, Dakho-Massaget tribes of the early Iron Age (III-IV centuries BC), the place of settlement of which was the Southern Urals. According to another, Finno-Ugric version, the Bashkirs are “siblings” of the current Hungarians, since they together descended from the Magyars and the Eney tribe (in Hungary - Eno). This is supported by the Hungarian legend, recorded in the 13th century, about the Magyars’ journey from the East to Pannonia (modern Hungary), which they made in order to take possession of Attila’s inheritance.
Based on medieval sources in which Arab and Central Asian authors equate the Bashkirs and Turks, a number of historians believe that these peoples are related.
According to the historian G. Kuzeev, the ancient Bashkir tribes (Burzyan, Usergan, Bailar, Surash and others) emerged on the basis of Turkic early medieval communities in the 7th century AD and subsequently mixed with Finno-Ugric tribes and tribal groups of Sarmatian origin. In the 13th century, historical Bashkortostan was invaded by nomadic Kipchakized tribes, who shaped the appearance of modern Bashkirs.
The versions of the origin of the Bashkir people are not limited to this. Passionate about philology and archeology, public figure Salavat Gallyamov put forward a hypothesis according to which the ancestors of the Bashkirs once left ancient Mesopotamia and reached the Southern Urals through Turkmenistan. However, in the scientific community this version is considered a “fairy tale”.
The history of the Finno-Ugric people of the Mari begins at the beginning of the first millennium BC, along with the formation of the so-called Ananyin archaeological culture in the Volga-Kama region (VIII-II centuries BC).
Some historians identify them with the semi-legendary Fyssagetae - an ancient people who, according to Herodotus, lived near the Scythian lands. Of these, the Mari subsequently emerged, settling from the right bank of the Volga between the mouths of the Sura and Tsivil.
During the early Middle Ages, they were in close cooperation with the Gothic, Khazar tribes and Volga Bulgaria. The Mari were annexed to Russia in 1552, after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate.
The ancestors of the northern Sami people, the Komsa culture, came to the north in the Neolithic era, when these lands were freed from the glacier. The Sami ethnos, whose name translates as “land” itself, traces its roots back to the carriers of the ancient Volga culture and the Dauphinian to the Caucasian population. The latter, known in the scientific world as the culture of reticulated ceramics, inhabited a wide territory from the middle Volga region to the north of Fennoscandia, including Karelia, in the 2nd-1st millennium BC.
According to the historian I. Manyukhin, having mixed with the Volga tribes, they formed an ancient Sami historical community of three related cultures: late Kargopol in Belozerye, Kargopolye and South-Eastern Karelia, Luukonsaari in Eastern Finland and Western Karelia, Kjelmo and “Arctic”, in northern Karelia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and the Kola Peninsula.
Along with this, the Sami language emerged and the physical appearance of the Lapps (Russian designation for the Sami) took shape, which is characteristic of these peoples today - short stature, wide-set blue eyes and blond hair.
Probably the first written mention of the Sami dates back to 325 BC and is found in the ancient Greek historian Pytheas, who mentioned a certain people “Fenni” (finoi). Subsequently, Tacitus wrote about them in the 1st century AD, talking about the wild Fenian people living in the area of Lake Ladoga. Today the Sami live in Russia in the Murmansk region with the status of an indigenous population.
On the territory of Dagestan, where remains of human settlements dating back to the 6th millennium BC are found, many peoples can boast of their ancient origins. This especially applies to the peoples of the Caucasian type - the Dargins and Laks. According to historian V. Alekseev, the Caucasian group formed on the same territory that it now occupies on the basis of the ancient local population of the Late Stone Age.
The Vainakh peoples, which include the Chechens (“Nokhchi”) and Ingush (“Galgai”), as well as many peoples of Dagestan, belong to the ancient Caucasian anthropological type, as the Soviet anthropologist Prof. Debets, “the most Caucasian of all Caucasians.” Their roots should be sought in the Kura-Araks archaeological culture that lived in the territory North Caucasus in the 4th and early 3rd millennium BC, as well as in the Maikop culture, which inhabited the foothills of the North Caucasus during the same period.
Mention of the Vainakhs in written sources is found for the first time in Strabo, who in his “Geography” mentions certain “Gargarei” living in the small foothills and plains of the Central Caucasus.
In the Middle Ages on the formation of the Vainakh peoples strong influence had the state of Alania in the foothills of the North Caucasus, which fell in the 13th century under the hooves of the Mongol cavalry.
The small Siberian people of the Yukaghirs (“people of Mezlota” or “ distant people") can be called the oldest in Russia. According to the historian A. Okladnikov, this ethnic group emerged in the Stone Age, approximately in the 7th millennium BC in the east of the Yenisei.
Anthropologists believe that this people, genetically isolated from their closest neighbors - the Tungus, represents the oldest layer of the autochthonous population of polar Siberia. Their archaic nature is also evidenced by the long-preserved custom of matrilocal marriage, when after marriage the husband lives on his wife’s territory.
Until the 19th century, numerous Yukaghir tribes (Alai, Anaul, Kogime, Lavrentsy and others) occupied a vast territory from the Lena River to the mouth of the Anadyr River. In the 19th century, their numbers began to decline significantly as a result of epidemics and civil strife. Some of the tribes were assimilated by the Yakuts, Evens and Russians. According to the 2002 census, the number of Yukaghirs decreased to 1,509 people
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Educational scientists are collecting data about our ancestors bit by bit. Research suggests that at different times our planet was inhabited by mysterious civilizations. Some of them exceeded us in technical and scientific achievements. There are heated debates about other nations as to whether they actually existed. Let's dive into the mysterious facts by studying the TOP 10 most ancient civilizations in the world.
Most researchers consider it the very first civilization that arose over 80 thousand years ago. It was powerful, developed and existed for more than 50 thousand years. The cause of her death was strongest earthquakes. The peoples of Mu knew the laws of the Universe and the Earth. At the age of 28, each resident had already mastered all the wisdom. The peoples of Lemuria could erect buildings from stones that withstood earthquakes.
One of the most controversial civilizations, since scientists have not decided on its existence. The first mentions were found in the writings of Plato. They mentioned that Atlantis existed near the Strait of Gibraltar, which sank as a result strong earthquake. Its peoples were famous high level knowledge and technological development that exceeded current achievements.
Most of the buildings are located on the ocean floor, while the rest are scattered throughout the jungles of India. Despite this, the modern country has taken a lot from its ancestors. Cities ancient empire The organization is striking, especially the ancient sewage systems. It arose several thousand years ago.
It was located in a large valley on the site of the modern Mediterranean basin. The peoples of Osiris are the progenitors of ancient Egypt. Civilization has reached heights in construction, as it has learned to build megalithic houses that can withstand earthquakes. Locals knew about electricity, used transport inventions that moved through the air and land. It is believed that the civilization of Osiris perished as a result of flooding.
It was located on the site of the modern Gobi Desert and existed during the time of Atlantis. To date, no significant finds indicating its existence have been found. There are only ancient records that speak of aircraft civilizations called vimanas.
The construction technology used by ancient peoples led to the fact that buildings from those times still exist. At the same time, young buildings recently erected by the Spaniards are already being destroyed. It is believed that the peoples of Tiahuanaco died as a result of a pole shift that led to climate change.
It is impossible to imagine the TOP 10 most ancient civilizations in the world without this tribe. Everyone knows about him thanks to their predictions and achievements. The unusual pyramids built during their existence are amazing. The tribe had good knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. It is believed that Mayan writings are scattered in three places around the world, which will shed light on their knowledge and tell about other civilizations.
It began with a part of the Pacific continent Mu. The civilization was famous for its interesting discoveries. Their scriptures talk about celestial chariots. Today it has been proven that ancient peoples invented toilet paper, rockets, aluminum tapes.
9. Ancient Israel and Ethiopia
Its peoples were famous for their high technological achievements. Scientists are surprised by many discoveries of the peoples of those times. For example, the temple in Jerusalem was located on cut stones, which are similar to the buildings in Baalbek.
The sinking of Lemuria under water led to the formation of islands in Pacific Ocean. The peoples of Aroe settled on them. They succeeded in construction and left behind pyramids, roads, and statues. The found structures reach an age of 7-13 thousand years.
What other peoples existed on Earth, and whether they actually existed, scientists will still have to figure out. But we can conclude that our ancestors were powerful and educated peoples.
In progress historical development Entire states and peoples appeared and disappeared. Some of them still exist, others have disappeared from the face of the Earth forever. One of the most controversial issues is which of the peoples is the most ancient in the world. Many nationalities claim this title, but none of the sciences can give an exact answer.
There are a number of assumptions that allow us to consider some peoples of the world as the most ancient living on our planet. Opinions on this matter vary depending on what sources historians rely on, what territory they study, and what their origins are. This gives rise to many versions. Some scientists believe that Russians are the most ancient people on earth, whose origins go back to the Iron Age.
Khoisan people
The African inhabitants, called the Khoisan people, are considered the most ancient race in the world. They were recognized as such after a genetic study.
Scientists have found that the DNA of the San people, as they are also called, is the most abundant of any other group.
The people, who lived as hunter-gatherers for thousands of years, are the direct ancestors of the early modern inhabitants who migrated from the continent. In this way they spread their DNA beyond South Africa, making them the oldest people in the world.
A study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania found that all populations descended from 14 ancient African lineages.
The first humans appeared in southern Africa, probably near the border of South Africa and Namibia, and today there is more genetic variation on the continent than anywhere else on Earth.
Distribution of the Khoisan people
Researchers have found that these peoples began to form as independent peoples 100 thousand years before the beginning of the new era, before humanity began its journey from Africa around the world.
If such information can be believed, then about 43,000 years ago the Khoisan people split into a southern and northern group, some of them retained their national identity, others mixed with neighboring tribes and lost their genetic identity. “Relict” genes were discovered in the DNA of the Khoisan people, providing increased physical strength and endurance, as well as a high degree of vulnerability to ultraviolet radiation.
Initially, the differences between early pastoralists, farmers, and hunter-gatherers were not overwhelming, and different groups coexisted in many areas. The first evidence of pastoralism was found in the drier west of the continent. Sheep and goat bones, stone tools and pottery were found there. It is with the origins of these communities, and their evolution into modern societies South Africa is connected to the history of the continent.
Khoisan culture
The Khoisan languages arose from one of the hunter-gatherer dialects of northern Botswana.
According to data obtained from archaeological excavations, pastoralism and pottery in this culture arose at the end of the first millennium BC. appeared a little later. Iron farmers lived in western Zimbabwe or northeastern South Africa. The loosely organized shepherds expanded rapidly, driven by their need for new pastures. Along with pastoralism and pottery, other signs of change appeared: domestic dogs, advances in stone-working tools, new settlement patterns, and some finds pointing to the development of long-distance trade.
Life of the ancient African people
Most of South Africa's early agricultural communities shared a common culture, which spread significantly throughout the region from the 2nd century AD. e. From about the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. rural communities lived in relatively large, semi-populated villages. They grew sorghum, millet, and legumes, and also raised sheep, goats, and cattle. They made pottery and made iron tools.
Established relationships between hunters, shepherds, and farmers over more than 2,000 years of socioeconomic change ranged from general resistance to assimilation. For the indigenous peoples of South Africa, the boundaries between various types life support presented new dangers and opportunities. As it spreads new culture Larger, more successful agricultural communities were created. In many areas new image life was adopted by hunter-gatherers.
Basque
Trying to answer the question of which people are the most ancient, scientists studied the Basque people. The origin of the tribes of northern Spain and southwestern France is one of the strangest anthropological mysteries. Their language is unrelated to any other in the world, and their DNA has a unique genetic makeup.
It is a territory in northern Spain, bordered by the Bay of Biscay to the north, the French Basque regions to the northeast, and the regions of Navarre, La Rioja, Castile, Leon and Cantabria.
They are now part of Spain, but at one time the people of the Basque Country (as we know it today) were part of an independent nation known as the Kingdom of Navarre, which existed from the 9th to the 16th centuries.
Research has shown that the genetic patterns of the Basques differ from those of their neighbors. For example, the Spanish have been shown to have North African DNA, while the Basques do not.
Features of the Basques
Another example is their language - Euskera. Both French and Spanish (and virtually all other European languages) are Indo-European languages, which are descendants of a single prehistoric dialect that was once spoken during the Neolithic era. However, the Basque language is not one of them. In fact, Euskera is one of the oldest known dialects and is unrelated to any other language spoken in the world today.
The Basque Country is surrounded by sea and wild rocky coastline on the one hand, and high mountains- with another. Because of this landscape, the Basque territory remained isolated for millennia, was very difficult to conquer, and was therefore untouched by migration.
New research shows that the Basques are descended from early hunter-gatherers from the Middle East who lived about 7,000 years ago and mixed with local population before going into complete isolation.
All this suggests that the Basques are among the earliest human inhabitants of Europe. They arrived before the Celts, and also before the spread of Indo-European languages and the Iron Age migrations. Some believe that they may actually be related to Paleolithic Europeans during the Early Stone Age.
Chinese
The Han people are the largest ethnic group in China, with about 90% of the people in the mainland area being Han. Today they make up 19% of the total population of the Earth. This is the most Asian. The emergence of this nation occurred during the development of Neolithic cultures, the formation of which took place in the V-III millennium BC. e.
Han people for a long time flourished in China, and more and more people gradually settled throughout the world. They can now be found in Macau, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Japan, Laos, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Russia, USA, Canada, Peru, France and England. Almost one in five people on our planet are ethnically Han Chinese, although most live in the People's Republic of China.
Historical role
The Han people previously ruled and influenced China during the Han Dynasty, starting in 206 BC. Art and science flourished during this time, often referred to as the country's Golden Age. The period in which Buddhism emerged saw the spread of Confucianism and Taoism, and also gave impetus to the development of Chinese characters in writing. It was also the beginning of the creation of the Silk Road, an era when trade was established between China and many countries far to the west. The first state emperor, Huang Di, also called the Yellow Emperor, who unified the country, is considered the ancestor of the Han people. Huang Di ruled the Hua Xia tribe, which lived on the Yellow River, so he received the corresponding title. This area and the waters flowing here are considered by the Han Dynasty as the cradle of their civilization, from where the Han culture began and then spread everywhere.
Language, religion and culture
Hanyu was the language of this people, later it turned into earlier version Chinese Mandarin dialect. It was also used as a link between many local languages. Folk religion played a significant role in the life of the Han people. The worship of Chinese mythological figures and ancestors was closely associated with Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.
China's Golden Age brought a revival of national literature, philosophy and art. The main inventions of the early Han people, which spread everywhere, were fireworks, rockets, gunpowder, crossbows, cannons and matches. Paper, printing, paper money, porcelain, silk, lacquer, compass and earthquake detectors were also developed by them. The Ming Dynasty, ruled by the Han Chinese, contributed to the construction of the Great Chinese wall, which was started by the first emperor Huang Di. The Terracotta Army of the Ruler is one of the most famous cultural masterpieces of this people.
The most ancient people in Egypt
Egypt is located in North Africa. One of the most ancient civilizations appeared on this land. The origin of the name of the state is associated with the word Aegyptos, which was the Greek version of the ancient Egyptian name Hwt-Ka-Ptah ("Mansion of the Spirit of Ptah"), the original name of the city of Memphis, the first capital of Egypt, a major religious and shopping center.
The ancient Egyptians themselves knew their country as Kemet, or the Black Land. This name comes from the fertile, dark soil along the Nile coast where the first settlements were formed. The state then became known as Misr, which means "country", which is still used by the Egyptians today.
The peak of Egypt's prosperity occurred in the middle of the dynastic period (from 3000 to 1000 BC). Its inhabitants have achieved great heights in art, science, technology and religion.
Egyptian culture
Egyptian culture celebrating greatness human experience, is one of the most popular. Their great tombs, temples and works of art extol life and are constant reminders of the past.
For the Egyptians, existence on earth was only one aspect of an eternal journey. The soul was immortal and only lived temporarily in the body. After interrupting life on earth, you can go to trial in the Hall of Truth and, possibly, to heaven, which was considered a mirror image of life on our planet.
The first evidence of mass grazing of livestock on Egyptian soil dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. e. This, like the artifacts discovered, indicates a civilization that flourished in the region at that time.
The development of agriculture began in the 5th millennium BC. e. Communities belonging to the Badarian culture arose along the banks of the river. Industrial development occurred at about the same time, as evidenced by the earthenware trade at Abydos. Badarian was followed by the Amratian, Herzerian, and Naqadian cultures (also known as Naqada I, Naqada II, and Naqada III), all of which significantly influenced the development of what would become Egyptian civilization. Written history begins between 3400 and 3200 BC. during the Naqada III culture era. In 3500 BC. e. mummification of the dead began to be practiced.
Armenians
The territory of the Caucasus includes lands that are part of some modern states: Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey.
Armenians are considered one of the most ancient peoples of the Caucasus. For a long time it was believed that from the legendary King Hayk, who came from Mesopotamia in 2492 BC. e. to the territory of Van. It was he who determined the borders of the new state around Mount Ararat; he is considered the founder of the Armenian kingdom. According to scientists, the very name of the Armenians “hai” comes from the name of this ruler. One of the researchers believed that the ruins of the state of Uratru were an early Armenian settlement. However, according to the current official version, the proto-Armenian tribes are the Mushki and the Urumeans, who appeared in the second quarter of the 12th century BC. e., before the state of Urartu was formed. Mixing with the Hurrians, Urartians and Luwians took place here. Most likely, Armenian statehood was formed during the period of the Hurrian kingdom of Arme-Shubria, which arose in 1,200 BC. e.
History contains many secrets and mysteries, and even the most modern methods Research cannot find an exact answer to the question - which peoples are the most ancient living peoples?
It has always been fashionable to “extend” your history. Therefore, every nation strives to demonstrate its ancestry, starting it from the ancient world, or even better, from the Stone Age. But there are peoples whose antiquity is beyond doubt.
Armenians (2nd millennium BC)
Among the most ancient peoples of the world, Armenians are perhaps the youngest. However, there are many blank spots in their ethnogenesis. For a long time, until late XIX century, the canonical version of the origin of the Armenian people was their origin from the legendary King Hayk, who came from Mesopotamia in 2492 BC to the territory of Van. He was the first to outline the borders of the new state around Mount Ararat and became the founder of the Armenian kingdom. It is believed that it is from his name that the self-name of the Armenians “hai” comes from. This version was replicated by the early medieval Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi. He mistook the ruins of the state of Urartra in the area of Lake Van for early Armenian settlements. Today's official version says that the proto-Armenian tribes - the Mushki and the Urumeans - came to these territories in the second quarter of the 12th century. BC e., even before the formation of the Urartian state, after their destruction of the Hittite state. Here they mixed with the local tribes of the Hurrians, Urartians and Luwians. According to historian Boris Piotrovsky, the beginnings of Armenian statehood should be sought during the time of the Hurrian kingdom of Arme-Shubria, known since the 1200s BC.
Jews (II-I millennium BC)
There are even more mysteries with the history of the Jewish people than with the history of Armenia. For a long time it was believed that the concept of “Jews” was more cultural than ethnic. That is, that “Jews” were created by Judaism, and not vice versa. There are still fierce discussions in science about what the Jews originally were - a people, a social class, a religious denomination. If you believe the main source on the ancient history of the Jewish people - the Old Testament, Jews trace their origins to Abraham (XXI-XX centuries BC), who himself came from the Sumerian city of Ur in Ancient Mesopotamia. Together with his father, he moved to Canaan, where his descendants subsequently captured the lands of local peoples (according to legend, the descendants of Noah’s son Ham) and called Canaan “the land of Israel.” According to another version, the Jewish people were formed during the “Exodus from Egypt.” If we take the linguistic version of the origin of the Jews, then they separated from the Western Semitic-speaking group in the 2nd millennium BC. e. Their closest “language brothers” are the Amorites and Phoenicians. Recently, a “genetic version” of the origin of the Jewish people has emerged. According to it, the three main groups of Jews - Ashkenazi (America - Europe), Mizrahim (Middle East and North Africa) and Sephardim (Iberian Peninsula) have similar genetics, which confirms their common roots. According to the Abraham's Children in the Genome Era study, the ancestors of all three groups originated in Mesopotamia. 2500 years ago (approximately the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar) they split into two groups, one of which went to Europe and North Africa, the other settled in the Middle East.
Ethiopians (3rd millennium BC)
Ethiopia belongs to East Africa, the oldest region of human origin. Its mythological history begins with the legendary country of Punt (“Land of the Gods”), which the ancient Egyptians considered their ancestral home. Mentions of it are found in Egyptian sources of the 3rd millennium BC. n. e. However, if the location, as well as the existence of this legendary country, is a controversial issue, then the Nubian kingdom of Kush in the Nile Delta was a very real neighbor of Ancient Egypt, which more than once called the existence of the latter into question. Despite the fact that the heyday of the Kushite kingdom occurred in 300 BC. – 300 AD, civilization began here much earlier, back in the 2400s BC. along with the first Nubian kingdom of Kerma. For some time, Ethiopia was a colony of the ancient Sabaean kingdom (Sheba), whose ruler was legendary queen Savskaya. Hence the legend of the “Solomon Dynasty,” which claims that the Ethiopian kings are direct descendants of Solomon and the Ethiopian Makeda (the Ethiopian name for the Queen of Sheba).
Assyrians (IV-III millennium BC)
If the Jews came from the western group of Semitic tribes, then the Assyrians belonged to the northern. By the end of the 3rd millennium BC, they achieved dominance in the territory of Northern Mesopotamia, but, according to the historian Sadaev, their separation could have occurred even earlier - in the 4th millennium BC. The Assyrian Empire, which existed from the 8th to 6th centuries BC, is considered the first empire in human history. Modern Assyrians consider themselves to be direct descendants of the population of Northern Mesopotamia, although this is a controversial fact in the scientific community. Some researchers support this point of view, some call the current Assyrians descendants of the Arameans.
Chinese (4500-2500 BC)
The Chinese people or Han make up 19% of the total world population today. It originated on the basis of Neolithic cultures that developed in the 5th-3rd millennia BC. in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, in one of the centers of world civilizations. This is confirmed by archeology and linguistics. The latter distinguishes them into the Sino-Tibetan group of languages, which emerged in the middle of the 5th millennium BC. Subsequently, numerous tribes of the Mongoloid race took part in the further formation of the Han, speaking Tibetan, Indonesian, Thai, Altai and other languages, very different in culture. The history of the Han people is closely connected with the history of China, and to this day, they constitute the bulk of the country's population.
Basques (possibly XIV-X millennium BC)
A long time ago, in the 4th millennium BC, the migration of Indo-Europeans began, who settled most of Eurasia. Today, almost all nations speak languages of the Indo-European family. modern Europe. All, except Euskadi, are more familiar to us by the name “Basques”. Their age, origin and language are one of the main mysteries of modern history. Some believe that the ancestors of the Basques were the first population of Europe, others say that they had a common homeland with the Caucasian peoples. But be that as it may, the Basques are considered to be one of ancient populations Europe. The Basque language - Euskara, is considered the only relict pre-Indo-European language that does not belong to any existing language language family. As for genetics, according to a 2012 study by the National Geographic Society, all Basques contain a set of genes that significantly distinguish them from other peoples around them. According to scientists, this speaks in favor of the opinion that the proto-Basques emerged as a separate culture 16 thousand years ago, during the Paleolithic.
Khoisan peoples (100 thousand years ago)
A recent discovery by scientists has given first place in the list of ancient peoples to the Khoisan, a group of people in South Africa who speak so-called “clicking languages”. These include hunters - Bushmen and cattle breeders - Hohenthots. A group of geneticists from Sweden found that they separated from the common tree of humanity 100 thousand years ago, that is, even before the exodus from Africa and the settlement of people around the world. About 43 thousand years ago, the Khoisan people split into a southern and northern group. According to the researchers, part of the Khoisan population has retained its ancient roots; some, like the Khwe tribe, interbred for a long time with the alien Bantu peoples and lost their genetic identity. The DNA of the Khoisan people is different from the genes of other peoples of the world. “Relict” genes were found in it that are responsible for increased muscle strength and endurance, as well as high vulnerability to ultraviolet radiation.
Source: What are the most ancient living peoples?
Alisa Muranova. © Russian Seven
“Katsaps”, “Muscovites” and other “tyblas”
Today science deals with national nicknames. A neutral national nickname is scientifically called an exonym, and an offensive nickname with a negative connotation is called ethno-folism. Knowing the origin of national nicknames, you can understand a lot - both about yourself, and about your neighbor, and about your neighbor’s neighbor.
Katsap
The Russians received this humorous nickname from their brothers - “Khokhlovs”. Scientists are still arguing why. Some say “katsap” - means “like tsap” (goat). To a shaved Ukrainian, the bearded Russian looked like a goat. Others see Turkic roots here, and the word “kasap” is translated as “slaughterer, robber.”
There are also various derivatives of the word katsap: Russia is called “Katsapia”, “Katsapetovka”, “Katsapuria”, “Katsaplyandiya” or “Katsapstan”.
In literature and folklore you can often find the word “katsap”. Here is an example - “God created a tsap (goat), and the devil created a tsap” (Ukrainian proverb)
Moskal
A Russian, most often, comes from Moscow, which, even without being the capital, had enormous influence on Russian lands and on the state affairs of neighboring countries. The nickname did not immediately receive a negative connotation. During the campaigns, Russian troops did not live in barracks and camps, but in the huts of the indigenous people who fed them.
Whether a soldier (Muscovite) was full or hungry depended on his ability to “negotiate” food with the owners of the house.
In addition, Russian soldiers were not indifferent to local girls. However, the relationship lasted only while the Muscovites were guests of the village. And when duty called a soldier to other lands, relationships with local girls were forgotten. Then the verb “Moskalit” appeared - to cheat, to cheat.
Ivan
Since the Second World War, Russians have been called “Ivans” in Germany and the USA. In response, the Russians call the Germans “Krauts”, and, in addition, the Caucasians – “Khachiks”, “Khachs”. “Khach” means “cross” in Armenian, and is one of the most common names in Armenia. By the way, it was Muslims—Azerbaijanis and Turks—who were the first to call Armenians “Khachiks.”
Mauje
Nickname for Russians among Soviet Koreans. This word is the Chinese word “maozi” (or “mouzi”) pronounced in the Korean manner, which means “bearded man”, as the Chinese called Russians.
Venäläinen and Ryssia
The neutral designation for Russians in Finnish is “venäläinen”. “Russia” is derogatory. Currently, the word "Russia" is used in spoken language often in relation to all Russian speakers in Finland who come from former USSR, sometimes including children from mixed marriages. Initially, this nickname was used in relation to Orthodox population(mostly ethnically Karelian).
The spread of the word was facilitated by the fact that Swedish, which for a long time retained a leading position in Finland, Russians were and are called to this day by the word “ryss” (stylistically neutral). So in western Finland, which has a stronger Swedish influence, the word “ryssä” does not have a disparaging meaning. Not long ago, the “national question” came to court. A Lahti resident filed a lawsuit against his employer for calling his son “Russia”. The employer was ordered to pay large compensation.
It’s funny that the popular Black Russian cocktail in Finnish sounds like Musta ryssä - “black Russian”
The mirror offensive designation for Finns in Russian is “chukhnya”. In Dahl's dictionary: “Chukhonets, Chukhonka, St. Petersburg nickname for suburban Finns.”
Tybla, tibla
The Russians inherited this ethnofolism from their neighbors - the “Balts”, or more precisely the Estonians. “Tybla” came from the address “you, bl.” This is what the Red Army soldiers were originally called in Estonia in 1918-1920, 1940-1941 and 1944. The relatively small Russian minority in pre-war independent Estonia was not initially affected by this appeal. During Soviet rule, this expression began to be used only among the indigenous population. After gaining freedom of speech and independence in 1991, it firmly entered the lexicon as a contemptuous and offensive nickname for Russian-speaking residents of the country, especially those who do not speak the local language. The Media Council believes that the expression "tibla" is primarily used as a designation for Homo soveticus (Soviet man).
