Андрей Тихомиров
From the history of Orenburg region
The spread of Nostratic languages was probably both through the settlement of ancient people of the modern type, and through contacts between their various tribal groups. There is reason to assume that in southeast Asia, at about the same time, another ancient linguistic macrofamily (or trunk) was formed – the Pacific Ocean, the differentiation of which led to the development of Sino—Tibetan, Austroasiatic and Austronesian languages. Other scientists (including many Soviet linguists) believed that the most likely time for the formation of language families were the later periods of history corresponding to the Neolithic (New Stone Age) and the Bronze Age of archaeological periodization (8-2 thousand BC). The formation of the oldest language families at this time was associated with the allocation of mobile, mainly pastoral tribes and their intensive migrations, which intensified the processes of linguistic differentiation and assimilation. It should be noted, however, that the real differences between both points of view are not so great, since the formation of different language families did not occur at the same time and was a very long process.
Earlier than others, there were probably ethnic communities speaking languages that are currently preserved among small peoples living on the periphery of the primitive ecumene – the land area inhabited by people (Greek. "eikeo" – to inhabit). These languages are distinguished by a wide variety of phonetic composition and grammar, often forming imperceptible transitions between themselves, perhaps dating back to the era of primitive linguistic continuity. Such languages, which are very difficult to classify geneologically, include the languages of American Indians, "Paleoasiates of Siberia", Australians, Papuans of New Guinea, Bushmen and Hottentots, and some peoples of West Africa.
Primitive humanity, settling from the west (Africa) to the east (the Arabian Peninsula) and developing new lands in the depths of Asia, split into two groups of populations in the Ancient Stone Age: black and white. This was due to a decrease in the amount of melanin, brown and black pigments. For groups of hunters and gatherers who constantly change their habitats in search of food, primitive forms of buildings in the form of wind barriers, tree dwellings or temporary huts made of branches, bark and leaves are still typical, which strongly reminds of Russian folklore, where Baba Yaga lives in a hut on "chicken legs" (fumigated with smoke so as not to rot) and "flies" on a broomstick. Yaga, like a lamb, is a victim in Sanskrit, and in ancient Russian (chaga) is a prisoner. Yaga – in German and Swedish – "to hunt, drive, hunt game." The male version of "huntsman" (from German – hunter). All these words have the same origin – from the Indo-European base. There is a version of the origin of the name Yaga from the ancient Slavic beregini (originally pre-Christian good spirits –patrons of the Slavs) – Yasha (Yagi), its name means that it comes from a Lizard, that is, the ancestor – the most ancient ancestor in the family, Yaga guarded the Fiery River, that is, the sacred border separating the earthly and otherworldly worlds. The guardian of this border should be harsh, therefore, negative traits were attributed to Yaga, after the adoption of Christianity, the image of the good Yaga became insidious and evil, she became an ugly witch who controls forest lands and feeds on human flesh.
"It has now been proven that Vera Island is the center of a megalithic culture that existed in the Urals from about III to IV thousand BC. By the way, based on the findings already made, we can say that at one time not only mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses lived in the Southern Urals, but also panthers. That is, the sign of a black cat running across the road could well have originated in the Southern Urals. It was very dangerous to meet such a "kitty", so you didn't have to go where she ran! The discovery of the megaliths of Vera Island led to the recognition of the antiquity of the dolmens of the Urals. They are the oldest on the planet. The simultaneous appearance of megaliths, ceramics of a new type and metallurgical production in the ancient world on the territory of the Urals suggests that about six thousand years ago a new people came to these territories – the future Indo-Europeans, who were fire worshippers. Megaliths on Vera Island were discovered in 2003 – these are dolmens, menhirs, quarries, dwellings – created in ancient times from stone. During the Ice Age, the Ural Mountains were for people a land bridge surrounded by cold seas. The Urals is a region that geographically has been a bridge from south to north since the Paleolithic period – this mountain highway from the Great Steppe to the Arctic turned out to be very important for the era of the initial settlement of Eurasia. It is no coincidence that they say "you can see better from the hill." In all mythologies, mountains are a divine sphere. In addition, all the early dwellings were in caves (man mastered the planet by driving out the cave bear). Mountains are a convenient place for "nests" where people live, it's good to hide in the mountains. It is no coincidence that the Urals was both expensive (there were at least seven "stone paths", and thorny, stable ones), and a cluster of "nests". There was a heavy traffic intersection on the one hand, and shelters on the other. And the Old Believers hid here, and the persecuted Mari people who were fleeing from colonization persecution, and many others. The Urals was a metropolis, from here the family of peoples settled in the spaces from Scandinavia and Hungary to Taimyr and Altai, and maybe Yukaghir up to Chukotka. The oldest monument of that era is the Shigir idol, he could see all this from a height.
It is in the Urals that the oldest civilization in the world arises, whose natives found the oldest states on the planet – in Sumer, Ancient Egypt, India, Persia and China. That is why the Sumerians who came to the Two Rivers laid the foundations of one of the greatest civilizations there, and that is why Sumerian writing was born "like a god out of a machine" – suddenly and immediately in a developed form, its foundations already existed among the ancient Indo-Europeans. The Sumerians confidently placed their ancestral homeland somewhere in the east. They did not know exactly where, although the central character of their epic Gilgamesh is called "The One Who has Seen Everything." The only sign of the ancestral homeland is the mountainous terrain. In the Sumerian language, the word "kur" retained a double meaning – mountain and country. Now it is safe to say that these are the Ural Mountains.
"29 ancient settlement cities in the Southern Urals are officially recognized: 23 in the Chelyabinsk region, 1 in Orenburg, 4 in Bashkortostan, 1 in the Kostanay region of Kazakhstan. Also, Savin-1 and Turgai geoglyphs have an undoubted relationship with the Arkaim-Sintasht archaeological culture" (Tikhomirov A.E., Science confirms – 26. "Ridero", Yekaterinburg, 2023, p. 5).
