EVOLUTION AND SPREAD OF MAN-PART III

La tercera parte de la serie de artículos escritos por mi amigo Thomas Moore, espero les guste y proximamente tendremos la cuarta Parte.

EVOLUTION AND SPREAD OF MAN-PART III
 
SOME COMMENTS: When we speak of the early spread of humans , we need to realize that the spread was a slow process lasting thousand of years
just for one group. Also, traditional anthropology states modern man flowed out of Africa about 20,000 years ago. Well, we know humans and humanoids
were out of Africa long before that. The Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon man were in Europe and Northern Asia at least 180,000 ya (years ago). There were
early humans in Asia and SE Asia by then. I believe, and now there is some evidence that suggests a number of varieties of humanoids co-existed in Europe
and Asia very early. I feel that there were more than one wave of human and humanoids coming out of Africa, and probably a constant trickle of individuals
spreading out ever since humanoid and pre-humanoids began to walk on two feet, maybe even million years ago or more.
 
We can observe the behavior of modern people, and the behavior of animals, especially carnivores and draw conclusions. Hunters follow the game. And as
populations increase beyond what the food supply will support, some of the individuals move on. And maybe, even in animals, there are a few adventurous
individuals that just keep moving. The spread of pioneers in our country's early days is an example also.
 
I will use modern place names mostly for ease of understanding. Place names were usually different in ancient times.
 
SPREAD INTO ASIA, SIBERIA AND EUROPE: Most likely a tribe or village would move a ways, or split as populations increased, and one part move on
for new hunting grounds, or along the coast for fishing, maybe just far enough to find new game of fishing spots. Humans spreading to SE Asia probably took
thousands of years as the "pioneers" from one group moved only as far as needed along the coast each generation. Hunters going inland after game
may have moved farther with each move following game. How far and how fast probably depended on the game.  Periods of drought resulting in scarcity
would prompt movement. Game animals move as needed for grazing, and predators follow. We know there have been numerous climate changes all through
Earth's history, that has prompted evolutionary changes and migrations. New conditions usually require new skills and adaptations.
 
The earliest humans in SE Asia, some of whom still exist today, differ in appearance and sometimes skills from later arrivals. Stone age cultures still exist in
isolated places.  The Abo of Australia and some isolated tribes in the jungles and mountains in other places in SE Asia are mostly darker and shorter.
They are rapidly disappearing due contact with more modern modern people with more more modern tools. The same is true in South America.
 
I made two trips to Philippines in last 5 year, and the first one lasted 3 months. I traveled around Luzon, and becoming intimate with people.
I learn some things relevant to what I am discussing. When the Spaniard conquistadors arrived in Philippines a few hundred years ago, the Philippines was
populated by 100 different groups of mostly stone age cultures. Some showed some advanced stone and farming development. The Philippines are a collection
of many islands, a few large, most small. Also the largest two islands are divided by several mountain ranges. One hundred different languages were spoken,
not just dialects but languages. And the physical appearance varied. It is evident that the various native tribes came from many different places. The modern
Philippine is a mix of the Spanish and the natives, the same like happened in Central and South America. Only the Nobility brought their own families. The
commoner and soldier had to make do with breeding with the local women. It is not known why these primitive tribes migrated to the Philippines and other
isolated places in SE Asia. Maybe they decided to move on and find new places as more advanced cultures began to dominate the mainland.
 
But this is not just a study of history in Philippines. There exist in the hills still a few of the original natives, who have chosen not to mix with the Philippine.
In one place I visited in the mountains, some of the natives, mostly the elderly, come down to trade and have become sort of a tourist attraction.
Even though many of the original tribes have disappeared, their legacy lives on in the different languages spoken by the Philippine people and the genes of
the original natives.
 
The Spanish and later the Americans who won the Philippines from Spain in the Spanish American war came in conflict with some of the tribes, who had been
converted to Islam by earlier Arabic missionary/invaders and immigrants from Indonesia and Malaysia, mostly in the Southern part. Islamis terrorists
continue until the present with murder, bombings and kidnapping in the Philippines. Four states in the South have been granted Autonomy and self rule
to the Islamics, but they continue the terrorism in neighboring states with the objective of taking all of the Philippines. Only a few years ago a large number of
Western tourists were kidnapped from a resort on Middle Philippines. Two and three years ago in Mindanao two shopping centers were blown up and many
people killed. One was in town where lived woman with whom I was corresponding and who had invited me to visit her. 
 
It appears that the different native cultures came from different places, some migrating over from China, some from various places in SE Asia, some from other
islands in the Pacific. Some of the languages still exist today, but since the Philippines gained full independence, Tagalog has become the national language, as it
is the native language of the area around Manila. And all business is conducted in Tagalog and English, and the TV is broadcast in Tagalog. But there are about 8
different languages spoken in Northern Luzon, the area in which I traveled, in addition to mostly unknown languages of some hill people still unabsorbed.
 
Now about half the population of Philippines lives in or around Manila. The young come there for work or social reasons. They speak Tagalog and forget the mother
tongue. In the provinces, some of the mother tongues are still spoken. One woman told me she cannot understand a word what her in-laws speak because she is
from another area and can only communicate in the common Tagalog. English has been kept as second official language in Philippines, since until spread of TV, many
provincials did not understand Tagalog, except as a foreign language taught in school. A  similar situation exists in India, where English is the official language.
There are about six distinct ethnic and language groups there, and the smaller groups refused to accept Hindi, the most common language, as a national language.
 
It might be that these isolated natives are left from earlier waves or immigrants to Asia. And the taller Asians are second wave.. But in Asia, even the second wave
differ. Look at China. People from Inner Mongolia, or Manchuria, differ quite a bit from Southern Chinese. Well, China only recently has become unified. There were
several separate kingdoms earlier, plus annexed Tibet. Other SE East countries are also a combine of different original cultures. Many regional differences are now
disappearing everywhere in world with the globalization and the immigration of people from one place to another.
 
EUROPE AND NEAR EAST: From an ethnic point of view Europe is much more difficult to analyze, since there has been much mixing of the ethnic pot. Also,
early remains are scarce since remains do not preserve easily in moist climates, as well as scavengers probably destroyed most remains.
 
Neanderthal and Cro-magnon: Neanderthal remains have been found in Europe 180,000 year old. The ancestor of Cro-magnon had to have split off before that.
Cro-magnon and Neanderthal have been found only in Europe, Northern Asia and the Middle East. Neanderthal disappeared sometime about 30,000 years ago. At
least no remains younger than that found. Cro-magnon and Neanderthal did sometimes interbreed. Analysis of European and Asians show 1-4 % Neanderthal DNA.
 
The earliest Cro-magnon remains are 35,000 year old. There is reason to believe that blue eyes and blonde hair originated with Cro-magnon. There is reason to
believe that the earliest Europeans, of various varieties, ancestors of Neanderthal and Cro-magnon and maybe other long extinct or absorbed varieties, going back
300,00-600,00 had light or white skin. The mutation that created white skin may have been the motivation to go North out of Africa, since the hot African sun would
have been uncomfortable. There is in fact a legend with one African tribe that God cursed some people with white skin, and so those people left Africa.
 
The blue eyes and blonde hair of Cro-magnon is one reason why it appears today in some European, Russian and Siberian people. Cro-magnon genes have been mixed
with other later arrivals throughout Middle East, Europe and Siberia. Since the Cro-magnon were ice age people, living close to the ice in the North, then when the
glaciers of the last ice age receded in Europe, it is reasonable to assume that some of the Cro-magnon as well as variety of animals would have spread into the new
vacant land of the North. This is why I feel that the blonde blue eyed Scandinavians and North Germans are the purest descendants of Cro-magnon. Later waves of
modern man coming out of Africa may be the ancestors of the typical Mediterranean and Middle Eastern type, and the later immigrants to Asia.
 
AMERICAS:  Humans as well as animals have been crossing the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska for many thousands of years.  As the ocean level rose and
fell, there have been times where Siberia and Alaska were joined by land bridge. Most large animals in the Americas originated in Asia, some crossing many millions
of years ago, some later. Ancestor cats have gone back and forth many times between Asia and Americas. Traditional anthropologists say the earliest man began
crossing about 20,000 years ago as last ice age began ending. There were several windows of opportunity as enough glaciers melted to provide passage, but before
all melted and ocean level rose. But there have been 4 ice ages in last 100,000 years. There is evidence that ancestors of some animals crossed to the Americas
many millions of years ago, so there were land bridges also in the far distant past. It is widely believed now that the meteor crash 65 million years ago that wiped
out the dinosaurs world wide and all larger life forms in North America and the Northern part of South America landed in and created what is now the Gulf of
Mexico. There are human remains in South America older than 20,000 ya, so obviously man crossed earlier also, probably between each of the four ice ages. There is
suggestion that oriental fishermen and women swept by the Japanese current landed in Mexico earlier than 20,000 ya. In the traditional immigration occurring after
20,000 ya, there seems to have been two waves of a number of various tribes. The fact of ethnic and language differences suggest many different people. The earliest
immigrants seems to have gone Eastward and are ancestors of the Native American tribes in the Eastern part of Canada and USA. The second wave of immigrants
went South and are ancestors of Western American and Middle American, and maybe some of the South American natives. Some split off either group and stayed in
the North. It is interesting that the American Eskimo show racial similarities to Mongolian, Northrn Siberian people all the way to original Finnish (Lappi) people. Other
immigrants to Americas show different traits.
 
EUROPE AND MIDDLE EAST: Linguists note there were many many different original languages, most now lost. Once the land was settled, different ethnic tribes
probably retained there own identity. Various tribes mostly kept to themselves, although there may have been customs of taking brides or husbands from other tribes,
and the custom of sometimes adopting abandoned infants, as well as the occasional inter-tribal war in which men are killed and women are taken as slaves or wives.
We see that in Africa and Amazon today. Even contemporary cultures are jealous of their identity, and wars fought over ethnic pride. Ironic that because of all the
racial mixing to be discussed, the ethnic identity of Europeans is much more cultural that genetic. Even if trade between tribes (and there was probably much less
wars than today), tribal identity as well as isolation allowed for language drift and distinct languages to evolve.
 
Often when I read about this group moving into that area in early days, nothing is said about indiginous people already there. It seems the land still sparcely populated
that the newcomers just found vacant land and eventually absorbed the original locals without incident. The stronger, or more technological, and the ones with horses
just bacame the dominant, and more often fathering children on local women.
 
RECENT TIMES (MORE OR LESS):  One of the earliest noted were the Turks. The Turks probably originated about 3000 b.c.e in the Altay mountains of Western
Turkestan called Sogdiana. The Turkic (Turkmens) included Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Khazars, Kyrgys, Hazara, Uyghurs, Tatars in Russia, Crimea, Ukraine, and Xiajiang,
but not the Tajiks and Russians. Tribal Empires of the Turkic people include Uighur Empire, Turkic Kaganate, Kara-khanid Khanate, Great Seljuk Empire, Mogal Empire,
Golden Horde, and Kazakh Khanate.
 
The early Greeks are suspected to have originated in area now Iran, and migrated to Greece to escape the Turk expansion. Some of the Turkic Empires mentioned
above occurred more recently, for example the Golden Horde, but I just lumped all together in last paragraph.
 
HITTITES:  Mdm Blavatsky identifies the rise of the Hittites as the onset of the Aryan Age or Age of Iron, and the end of the Atlantian Age. Although the Turks
arose prior to that. The Hittites arose before 2000 b.c.e. by 1800 b.c.e. they had established empire in Anatolia (Turkey), displacing or absorbing an earlier Hattians,
and extending into NW Syria, Lebanon, Upper Mesopotania. The Hittites are mentioned in the Bible and identified as Canaanites. The Hyksos who occupied lower Egypt
and ruled Egypt for 100 year are considered to be Syro-Palistanian, and were either people fleeing Hittite or a branch of Hittites.
 
The Hittites arose in an area around the Caucasus Mountains in lower Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan. The Hittites included tribes named Aryan and Caucasian.
The Caucasians spread Westward into Europe, but stopping short of Spain, British Isles and Scandinavia.. The Aryans spread Eastward as far as Northern India.
Both absorbed local tribes as they went They do not appear to have been particularly warlike, just more advanced. Some say they were one of the earliest users of
iron tools and weapons.. Because of their dominance they influenced the local languages. Our major language group is called Indo-European language group because
of that. Similar root words can be noted in all European languages, (except the Basque), and in Hindi, Persian, Russian. Of course they spread their genes along the way.
Unlike the Hittites, the Caucasians established no empire, but just absorbed and blended.  It is the reason white people are named Caucasian. The Aryans influenced
culture and religion in India. The Caucasians appear to have been brown haired and medium brown or hazel eyed, although undoubtedly had some Cro-Magnon genes.
 
Have fun testing your friends. Ask then if they know why white people are called Caucasians or where are the Caucasus Mountains where Caucasians originated. 
 
It is ironic that  "white" is called "caucasian", but the whitest of the white, the original Scandanavian, have the least amount of "caucasian" genes, and that lighter
colored Afro-Americans, who have some "white" ancestors have a greater amount of true "caucasian" genes than the original ultra-white blonde blue eyed
Scandinavians. So, a medium dark Afro-American is more caucasian than a blonde Scandinavian, from genetic point of view. There is much irony in history.
 
Part IV to follow will be the more interesting and surprising discussion of European people after the Caucasian influx.
 
 
 



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