The Great Past of Small Peoples (the case of the samoyeds)

Abstract

Recent research suggests that the expansion history of the Uralic languages is closely connected with the so-called Seima-Turbino Transcultural Phenomenon (late 3rd to mid 2nd millennium BC), which involved trade in bronze objects from east to west along the northern border of the Eurasian steppes. The Seima-Turbino trade network may explain the rapid spread and differentiation of, especially, the central branches of Uralic in the Ural-Volga region. In this connection, the history of the Samoyedic branch of Uralic has remained without a generally accepted geographical and chronological context. It may, however, be argued that the Samoyedic linguistic homeland was located in the Minusinsk basin, where Proto-Samoyedic was the dominant language of the Tagar Culture (1st millennium BC). The intrusion of Proto-Yeniseic to the region in connection with the Tashtyk Culture (late 1st millennium BC to mid 1st millennium AD) triggered the expansion of Samoyedic towards the north along the Yenisei. In a similar way, a few centuries later, Yeniseic languages started spreading north under the pressure of the Turkic language of the Yenisei Kirghiz. The processes of linguistic expansion along the Yenisei can be seen as a chain reaction, for which parallels can be found in other parts of the world.

Keywords

• archaeolinguistics
• language spreads
• ethnic history
• samoyeds
• yeniseians
• turks
• minusinsk basin
• yenisei
• tagar culture
• tashtyk culture