Posted on 11/23/2012 6:00:06 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Evidence of the potential genetic blending between Europeans and Asians has been discovered by a team of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) within the remains of Scythian warriors living over 2,000 years ago in the Altai region of Mongolia.
The Scythians were already documented as the first large Eurasian culture, but were believed to be the product of migration from Europe. The researchers now suggest that the genetic blending is actually a result of the expansion of Scythian culture over the mountains.
Studies on ancient mitochondrial DNA of this region suggest that the Altai Mountains played the role of a geographical barrier between West and East Eurasian lineages until the beginning of the Iron Age.
After the 7th century BC, coinciding with Scythian expansion across the Eurasian steppes, a gradual influx of East Eurasian sequences in Western steppes is detected. However, the underlying events behind the genetic admixture in Altai during the Iron Age are still unresolved: 1) whether it was a result of migratory events (eastward firstly, westward secondly), or 2) whether it was a result of a local demographic expansion in a 'contact zone' between European and East Asian people.
The Altai is a mountain range in Central Asia occupying territories of Russia and Kazakhstan to the west, and of Mongolia and China to the east.
(Excerpt) Read more at pasthorizonspr.com ...
It’s probably a matter of opinion, probably could be settled with a Gallop Poll.
Oh, sorry.
They evidently blinded those they took in war according to Herodotus (and had some real strange cultural quirks to boot.)
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Scythians.html
That is what my ancestry.com research seems to support.
Sounds like my family reunion.
lolz
bump
The Scythians were famous for inventing a chariot with rotating scythes on their chariot wheels that could mow down solders in battle and wheat in peacetime. It was the first convertible car.
at least you know that you are speaking with an equal ;)
Yes, but sometimes I’m not so sure
I am always disappointed when I lose the argument...
<— choked on ground beef patty
sorry for that....sometimes I amuse even myself
It was really funny
It's incredible the doors to our past that modern technology can open for us.
Alexander Blok
The Greek word for "scythe" was drepanon or drepane. Xenophon mentions the use of scythe-bearing (drepanephoros) chariots in the battle of Cunaxa.
Darius I campaigned against Scythians in southeastern Europe about 513 B.C. (the campaign is described at some length in Herodotus). Their language was part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family.
Medieval Buddhist manuscripts have been found in Chinese Turkestan with two Indo-European languages, known as Tocharian A and Tocharian B, now extinct, that are closely related to each other and resemble the languages of Europe (the "centum" languages) more than the Indo-Iranian or Slavic languages (the "satem" languages) which were geographically closer to them.
Thw Scythians also invented Scotch, which they took into battle to fortify their scythe chariot drivers to enable the driver to steer randomly in a nonsensical pattern so as to confuse their enemies. It was the first DWI. [Driving Warrior Intoxicated].
;’)
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