The Origins and Migrations of the Uralic People

After identifying the Uralic-speaking peoples (Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic), the author briefly describes the history of the Uralic theory. The term "Uralic" was introduced under the supposition that the homeland of these peoples was located near the Urals. However, reconstruction of a Proto...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Emil Heršak
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
French
Croatian
Russian
srp
Published: Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies 2001
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/964baa00c2664f9286ffdccca83f74cf
Description
Summary:After identifying the Uralic-speaking peoples (Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic), the author briefly describes the history of the Uralic theory. The term "Uralic" was introduced under the supposition that the homeland of these peoples was located near the Urals. However, reconstruction of a ProtoUralic language poses problems: records of the Uratic languages date only to the 11 – 12th centuries CE and affinities among them are mostly lexical and structural (aglutinisation, lack of gender, vowel harmony). Yet the latter are not specific only to Uralic and lexemes may be borrowed. Thus, some linguists hold that there never existed a parent Proto-Uralic (or even Proto-Finno-Ugric) language, but that these languages arose via later linguistic contacts. Still, most researchers do feel that the Uralic languages stem from a common parent language, spoken by a prehistoric community. Some archaeologists and linguistics, who see Uralic as very ancient, place the Proto-Uralians in the late Palaeolithic, in areas of Central and East Europe, with a northward expansion during the glacial retreat. More often the context is seen as Mesolithic or Neolithic. The problem of the homeland has led to two approaches. One may be termed "autochthonous". It assumes that the ancestors of the Finns (at least) evolved near the Baltic or in areas where the Finnic peoples would appear in recorded history. The second approach is "migrational". It implies dispersion from the East and from beyond the Urals. Evidence of certain Mongoloid traits on the remains of Neolithic people in North Europe, supported also by DNA studies in Finland, would indicate that migration from the East did occur. The large Neolithic (Aeneolithic) cultural group associated with pit-comb and comb ware that extended from the Baltic to beyond the Urals may have been the context for early Uralic dispersion. One analysis locates its origin in West Siberia, with prior ties to the Aral Sea area (the Kelteminar culture) or to Mesolithic cultures in the Caspian region. Yet the Uralians ...