The series of articles presented to your attention, WHITE NOMADS OF EURASIA, was prepared using the idea and a large amount of source material, a constant reader of the channel M. Kinashev.
Continued, read the beginning: White nomads of Eurasia. What historians have hidden from us? / White nomads of Eurasia. The Tokhars are the first Aryans.
White noise
There was always a lot of noise around the Northern Black Sea region and the Azov Sea region. Who else has not disputed the primordial rights to these territories! Archaeologists, linguists, amateur researchers, and political populists have all sought to substantiate their point of view.
Many peoples tried to derive their origin from the peoples inhabiting this region, appealing to one or another written source and thereby substantiating their antiquity ("primogeniture"). What, in their opinion, allows them to claim some exclusive rights.
This time, the dispute can be considered over - data from DNA geneticists appeared on some burials raised in those regions. It should be immediately noted that the data will undoubtedly be replenished and updated, combined with the data of geneticists on the burials of other regions of the same time, but some conclusions can already be drawn.
The Cimmerians and Scythians were at one time allies of the Assyrians, but later each went their own way.
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Who is the oldest in that place?
An international group of researchers analyzed the remains from 35 burials of different periods in the Black Sea-Caspian region. They belonged to the carriers of the Timber / Alakul culture (Bronze Age, 3900 - 3200 years ago), Cimmerians (3100-2700 years ago), Scythians (2700-1400 years ago) and Sarmatians (2600-1600 years ago).
According to their data, for a long time this region was inhabited by representatives of the Srubnaya / Alakul culture, who showed genetic kinship with northern and northeastern modern Europeans. Men were mainly carriers of R1a, while women belonged to European haplogroups. This is fully consistent with the migration of proto-Aryans from Central Europe to the Russian Plain 4500 years ago (for more details read: White nomads of Eurasia. Tokhars - the first Aryans.).
The Aryans and autochthonous Europeans who passed from west to east (who, repeating the mistake of ancient Greek sources, were called Tochars), caused serious indignation in the habitat of the peoples inhabiting Central Asia and the South Urals.
Nomad warriors.
This caused the movement to the west of the Cimmerians (haplogroups R1a and Q), who squeezed out representatives of the Srubna / Alakul culture from the Black Sea region. However, they did not rule over these steppes for long. The Scythian tribes who followed them from the east (the main haplogroups: R1a and R1b) drove the Cimmerians back.
Almost simultaneously with the Scythians, the Sarmatians appeared in the region (the main haplogroups are also R1a and R1b), which were apparently one of the largest tribal Scythian associations. As a result, the Sarmatians almost completely replaced the Scythians in the western part of Great Scythia.
The Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarmatians had traces of mitochondrial (female) haplogroups from Central Asia and even from the Far East. Apparently, these are traces of women who entered the gene pool of all three groups during the period when their ancestors roamed in Asia. They also have traces of the genes of women from the ancestors of the Mordovians and Caucasian peoples.
Romans and Cimbri (Cimmerians?).
Cimmerians
No one can say for sure where the Cimmerians came from. By indirect indications, this is an Iranian-speaking people from Central Asia, who had a material culture similar to the Scythian. The Cimmerians are reported in many ancient written sources - from Assyrian to Greek.
From Herodotus, we know a large number of different place names localized in the Kerch Strait region: the Cimmerian Bosporus (the strait itself), the Cimmerian walls, the Cimmerian crossings. All ancient authors unanimously affirm that the Cimmerians were driven out by the Scythians who approached from the eastern steppes.
They went to the southern coast of the Black Sea, where in 715 BC. defeated the king of the state of Urartu Rus I, who tried to subdue them. Further, this people was divided into two parts. One (conditionally "eastern") began to lead a settled life on the eastern outskirts of Assyria, gradually merging with their kindred Assyrians.
Map of Asia Minor.
The second (conditionally "western"), passed into the western part of Anatolia for a long time tormenting Assyria with raids, crushed Phrygia, and then Lydia. They also fought with success against the Greek city-states in Asia Minor.
According to some reports, the "western" part of the Cimmerians crossed over to Europe, stopping somewhere in the Balkans. There are opinions about the movement of the Cimmerians from the Balkans to the north and northeast. in any case, there are no more reliable references to this people in the annals.
Although, perhaps they continued to move to the West, through Central Europe, where, in alliance with the Germanic tribes, they clashed with the Roman Empire (under the name of Cimbri). This was the first serious war between the Romans and the barbarians, which served as the impetus for the reform of the army of Rome (instead of the militia - contract soldiers).
Scythians from the Sarmatians
These peoples are special for the history of Russia, therefore they deserve a separate story in the next parts of the series White nomads of Eurasia.
To be continued…