Video 8 Mass Migrations in 3rd millennium BCE Flashcards
By who were the Pontic-Caspian steppes in Russia inhabited by the end of the 4th millennium BCE?
Nomadic people, ‘Yamnaya’ groups
What did Yamnaya groups do with their dead?
Buried in round burials mounds
What was Yamnaya groups’ way of life?
Moved around through the landscape with wagons
Why is the Yamnaya culture also called the Yamnaya cultural horizons?
It consists of different groups
Why have archaeologists assumed that Yamnaya nomads also wandered into eastern Europe from time to time?
Graves similar to Yamnaya graves have also been found in Romania and Bulgaria
Who are the genetic ancestors of the Europeans?
1 Indigenous hunter/gatherers
2 Neolithic people
3 Large part: Prehistoric people who lived on the Russian steppes
What are the characteristics of Yamnaya DNA?
- Taller
- Lactose tolerance
- Gene for bland hair
Theory’s about why Yamnaya people are such a large part of modern-day European ancestry (2)
- People from steppe got much more children
- ‘Neolithic’ population decreased: pandemic?
Question still unresolved
What is clear about what happened during the 3rd millennium BCE, related to the large amount of current-day Yamnaya ancestry?
A major social transformation took place that completely upset European Society
Evidence for theory that pandemic among Neolithic societies caused population decline in 3rd millennium BCE?
Bacterium which causes the plague already active
What would need to be true for the theory of the plague causing population decline among Neolithic societies in 3rd millennium BCE to be true?
The people from the steppe would have to have more resistance against this same Plague (this is not known)
What could mass graves from the 3rd millennium BCE explain about the Neolithic population decline?
That the people from the steppes were more violent, taking Europe by force.
Why is the theory that the people from the steppes were more violent, taking Europe by force, not likely?
In most regions we do not see any signs of violence in the archaeological record
What can indicate that the relation between people from the east and Neolithic people was peaceful?
In the DNA of the average European evidence of 3 prehistoric groups is present: hunters, Neolithic people and Yamnaya -> people had sex and mixed
