Yamnaya Pastoralists: The Ancestors of Indo-Europeans
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2025
- Introduction
The development of Yamnaya culture reflects a gradual expansion and integration process across the Eurasian steppes and into Europe. Originating around 3300 BCE, the Yamnaya people initially settled in the North Pontic steppes, with sites like Mikhailovka showcasing a mix of local Eneolithic styles and emerging Yamnaya pottery. These settlements, often characterized by large kurgan burial mounds rather than permanent structures, mark their mobile, pastoral lifestyle focused on cattle, sheep, and horses. Evidence of wagons and horseback riding suggests that mobility was central to Yamnaya society, allowing them to navigate vast grasslands and access resources across regions.
Yamnaya Mobility and the Significance of Kurgans
While genetically similar and sharing burial customs, Yamnaya artifacts reveal regional diversity in pottery and metalwork, hinting at interactions with local cultures and artisans. This diversity extended to their pastoral practices, evidenced by regional variations in livestock preferences across sites like Mikhailovka, Repin, and Usatovo. The Yamnaya’s reliance on cattle, sheep, and horses, and the associated pastoral economy, points to a semi-nomadic lifestyle with potentially seasonal movements rather than true, unrestricted nomadism.
Blending of Eneolithic Traditions and Yamnaya Expansion
As for their diet and daily life, the absence of grains and the focus on dairy and meat, as confirmed through stable isotope analysis and dental protein studies, reinforces their pastoral subsistence model. Their reliance on livestock over crops and emphasis on mobility align with the economic and social structures seen in their kurgan graves, which served as burial mounds and markers of territory and cultural identity across the steppes.
Diverse Cultural Practices and Regional Influences
The development of wheeled vehicles and horseback riding significantly bolstered Yamnaya mobility, allowing them to sustain larger herds over vast grasslands. The innovation of wagons, possibly more than just status symbols, provided logistical support to Yamnaya groups, expanding their range and facilitating exchanges with other regions. The introduction of wagons around 3400 to 3300 BCE, coupled with early horseback riding, marks a significant step in pastoralist mobility and may have played a role in the emergence of social hierarchies within Yamnaya society.
Pastoral Economy
The Kurgan theory’s suggestion of Yamnaya migrations into Europe aligns with archaeological findings showing their influence spreading westward into the Balkan-Carpathian region. The gradual blending of Yamnaya practices with local customs in areas like Serbia and Hungary highlights a complex process of cultural exchange rather than outright conquest, eventually contributing to the emergence of the Corded Ware culture in Europe.
Wagons and Horseback Riding
This account underscores the Yamnaya’s impact on the cultural landscape of ancient Europe, illustrating how their pastoral strategies and innovations in mobility shaped their society and influenced neighbouring regions. The synthesis of archaeological evidence, dietary analysis, and social structure provides a comprehensive view of the Yamnaya culture, showing their unique role in prehistoric Eurasia.
The Kurgan Theory and Westward Expansion into Europe
As Yamnaya communities expanded westward into the Balkan-Carpathian region, they introduced burial customs that blended with local practices, indicating gradual cultural integration rather than conquest. The Yamnaya migrations also brought Eastern influences into the Budzhak culture, which bridged the Yamnaya and Carpathian Basin.
The Legacy of Yamnaya Culture in Ancient Europe
Over time, Yamnaya's influences contributed to the formation of the Corded Ware culture in Europe. The migrations were likely driven by the search for new pastures and resources, with a slow, interactive expansion that allowed for sustained contact with their homelands. Consequently, Yamnaya culture shaped the early European cultural landscape through complex exchanges rather than swift domination, merging steppe customs with local traditions.
A Comprehensive View of Yamnaya's Lasting Influence
The Yamnaya’s evolution from early Eneolithic influences into a distinct cultural identity, marked by unique pottery and burial practices, reflects how they adapted to and reshaped their environment. This comprehensive view illustrates the Yamnaya’s gradual, transformative influence on the broader Eurasian steppe and its lasting impact on the early European world.
Thanks!
one of the best presentations with very good visualizations
great video! really enjoyed the insights about the Yamnaya pastoralists. but i can’t help but wonder if the theory about them being the sole ancestors of the Indo-Europeans might be oversimplified. there’s so much evidence of cultural exchange and migration happening back then, it seems a bit narrow to pin it all on one group. what do you all think?
The music is soothing, i love it.
The music is very good. But I like the content.
Not "kurgans". That is a Turkic word that came thousands of years later. Use the Indo-European word 'tumulus' and 'tumuli'. Language matters, otherwise Turks claim everything under the sun. And nothing is more important but to differentiate between the Indo-Europeans and ...Turks.
coping hard .. still failed
@greypawn7780, Turks do try to claim everything though.
There's a little bit of comment in your racism
@@saturnino1999it’s not racism to point out that latecoming Turks have nothing to do with I do-Europeans culturally or linguistically. And Turks aren’t discriminated against so sit the hell down.
These type of videos typically speak of Anatolia as ‘Turkey’ as well. But showing a picture of Kazbegi with the Sameba Church under it at the beginning when he mentions the Altai is enough for me already. This is trash.
Great video 💯
We can all be grateful to these folks for the domesticated Horses we have today.
I don't have a single horse
@@jugo1944 Lucky you...they aren't really smart, and take a lot of care and work. And the Vet bills can be horrendous. On the other hand, if you work a Ranch and Cows, they tend to be very, very useful...
those horses were the main reason of aryan and mongol and turkish invaders massacaring dravidians in indian sub continent
@@maghee83 True.
Thank you
You're welcome
Wow, this is the first video I’ve watched that calls them “The Pit Grave Culture” instead of using the russian name meaning the same. Nothing beats English language names in English language media! 👍🏼
Were these ancestors of the Scythians?
Theyre the ancestors of all indoeuro speakers
Yes
These are the ancestors of today's 3 billion people. Indians, Iranians, Europeans, Turks... R1a and R1b
@@Baryshx It depends their are the main ancestors of nothern european and nothern indian(Pakistan included) on terms of Haplogroup, Y chromosom but not of Iranian or many southern european where the influance was mainly linguistic or cultural. The Genetic influance is still here but minor
By Minor I just mean not majority
Who would have thunk that dairy farmers would determine the destiny of Europe and beyond?
It’s a certain fact that the expansion in the Anatolia peninsula was the step for the future peoples know as Hittite and Luvies!
Excellent 👍
Why are you using footage of Kyrgyzstan and implying it is the Russian steppes?
The Yamnaya are not the IE ancestors!There was a British (?)presenter (unfortunately died young,not long ago)who maintained repeatedly,this opinion, regardless of the endless videos(such as this one?)to his/contrary.However now!!for some time,and establishing he was right.The male( largely)Yamnaya paired/took to themselves females from the Armenian Plateau.The Yamnayas(they were male centric) were on the move.The ‘Armenian’people ( normal gender ratio)were on the move north also.They met in that Pontic area,took a liking to one another,with a large enough number of women joining the Yamnaya.Their children are the ancestors of the IE.Three last things:1’m not going to watch a video that doesn’t mention this in its first minute of presentation.2,check the haplogroup map of Europe as far east as Armenia.,what do you see for Armenia?3.,on a lighter note,this consummation could be the origin of the later ancient male/female European tribal survival stories.The Rape of the Sabine Women,could have been a re enactment in classical times,also being necessary for survival.nb: rape here is an unfortunate word.In Italian it means to steal,to rob,to kidnap.The famous painting was mis translated into English.An Italian would read that as The Kidnap of the Sabine Women.🌺🤗👍🖖
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The word for house is Dham.It is ancester for words like home (english ) and Dom (russian )Also the word Dwar i e door is found in all indo europian languages.The word Dwar arose from the word Dwa,two.This suggests the door consists of two pieces fixed in the permanent carved slot.This shows that so called Aryans were not tent living but were residing in permenant construction called Dham.And such type of residences can be from civilised communes on the bank of river Indus and river Saraswati which later on stopped flowing
But there were indigenous tribes in India, many words in ancient Sanskrit were actually adopted from these tribes. Indo-Aryan people subsequently absorbed these tribes as the genetic marks are present in modern day Indians.
@Nohaarny That is right.One of the word for water in Sanskrit is Neer.It has origin from Dravidian language.And this word Neer for water is also found in Greek.This shows origin of so called Indo Europian is India and they had spread from India to Europ and not vice versa.
@@gajanansamant8132 that is very unlikely as modern genetics show otherwise. Dravidian people also arrived in India through an earlier migration roughly around 9000 BC.
They mainly occupy the Souther parts of India.
@Nohaarny What does dravidian migration has to do here.A word of Dravidian origin will find its way in Sanskrit only in India.And since that word is migrated to Greek shows a flow of language from India to west word.
The basic hypotheses that a tribe called Indo Europian speaking language Sanskrit or its earlier form entered India around year 1500 BC is itself grossly wrong.Since Rigved written by these people praises River Sarswati which has dried up by year 2,500BC
Dravidian people never arrived they are sons of one man as Aryans are@@Nohaarny
13:50 - mistake: lower Dnepr, not lower Volga!
Make a video on the ancient Chinese population
I feel like there needs to be an indoeuropean conference. The cultures are similar to deny how we are contected. We might as well celebrate each other, and ultimately, it will lead to our dynamic connections elsewhere in the world.
A lot of these "cultures" have been taken over by islamic culture. So we are not similar.
you communicated the entire story in first 2-3 seconds with Indian flute and cows
hihih all those lands,you show,from Balkans,to Volga and Caucasus had name Bulgaria,in the past and in Bulgaria is full,with kurgans,we call them -Mogila=Kurgan,with first man made gold,found near Varna.BTW,by Old Bulgarian calendar,now is 7540 year,from the beginning.Is in Unesco
Oh, sure, Bulgarians crossed these lands when they moved from China border to Black Sea in 6-8 century.
What happened to the yamnaya people & it's culture ? Why did this culture become extinct?
Why were they interested in migration & integration?
How did steppe land support a huge population?
Why were yamnaya constantly migrating?
Yamnaya pit burials is outcome of religious beliefs. What religion & deities they worshipped ?
So were these the folks who wrote the vedas?
The people who wrote the Vedas are the people who wrote the Vedas.
We do know they were human.
Humans have historically had a habit of moving around, integrating their DNA through a basic biological process.
I am descended from humans who migrated out of Africa, moved through the Levant at some point toward the Caucuses, likely integrating with people who had similar integrations due to various migrations and eventually migrating north and west into Europe..
Probably from the regions in or near India. Hence the term INDO-European. Notice "Indo" is the first part.
As these ancestors continued north, natural selection for lighter skin with the benefit of allowing the more limited sunlight to help with vitamin D conversion.
I now live, due to migration, on the Pacific Northwest. I can claim a recent heritage as "Northern European Mutt" due to my light skin, blondish hair.. and I get sunburn much more readily than my wife who migrated here from the Philippines.
Be Well!! 👍😃
Yes vedas were written by people of this race
They are the ancestors of the Aryans that wrote the Vedas after they had migrated to the Indian Sub-continent. The original Yamnaya didn't have writing, the name is not their own but a modern name from Archaeology.
@@alicelund147 but I was under the impression that the current understanding is the mitanni had the first documented use of sanskrit and the vedic gods
It takes longer than you suggest for skin color to change like that. The out of Africa theory was debunked. The races are different admixtures of various species. Cro magnon, neanderthal, denisovans, etc. @@michaelfritts6249
Yamnayas were Sino Altai Persian (Sino European)
Great presentation with a few assumptions presented as facts. R1 male DNA from the Yamnaya culture spread eastward into Europe and in some areas, replaced 90% of the men; however, female mitochondrial DNA was not replaced. This clearly indicates that the society was polygamous. Since all the women were taken by the poweful leaders, young men who wanted to find women had to band together and kill vitually all the men they came into contact with, while keeping the women. Sure they may have kept slave eunics. The females were able to keep some of their cultures intact.
Couldn't beat I1 though :)
This would be so much better with a less stilted voice over...the mistakes around punctuation etc are irritating. Is this AI?
agree. am i more informed now, or less?
Hope many times can you say ‘yamnya’
bce? It's BC.
Down Vote.
BC and AD were first used in 525 AD by a Christian monk. Not formally adopted by most Europeans until 1582 AD when the Pope adopted the Gregorian calendar which replaced the Julian calendar.
The adoption of the Gregorian calendar due to European influence became a standard method of recording dates. It was common use.. hence Before Common Era (BCE) and Common Era (CE) are used.
If you prefer to use BC, that's fine. The 3/4 of the human population who prefer BCE will still know what you mean.
Be Well!! 😃👍
Glory to Pater Dyaus🥛🥛🐮🐄🗿🗿
By the way, there is no such thing as Indo-europens. It's just a linguistic unity, not an Ethnic. These are the ancestors of 3 billion people today. Indians, Turks, Iranians, Europeans...R1a and R1b.
Language is based in biology. You're deluded. The term Indo-European is and always was a linguistic term. But it doesn't mean that languages do not corespond to any groups.
Language is based on migration and assimilation. Whichever race has power and sovereignty imposes that language. History and the present are full of examples of this.
even more complicated. there is genetic evidence of western steppe blood in all humans with a few exceptions: aboriginal Australians, North Sentinel Islanders, and roughly half the people in cisSahara Africa. also, the obverse is true. we get around.
They are not ansectors of indo European we have our ancestors Europeans were savages
Really? That's fine. R's are brothers after all. That's where R comes from, Mal'ta Boy...
If you look at ethnic identity, you get R1a and R1b. They come from Central Asia and Siberia. It's not Indian, Iranian, European bullshit.
R1a Likely emerged in Central Asia or Eastern Europe around 20,000-25,000 years ago.
R1b Likely arose in Western Eurasia around 20,000 years ago.
The number of groups trying to deny or ignore any evidence that doesn't say that their group, be that the Turks, the Armenians, or the Indians (or anyone else), was the origin is hilarious and pathetic. Hipster style nonsense...
i me my mine. smell the narcissi.
Lol indians didn't have any connection with indo European Europe was land of savages
Just to add that Yamnaya is in Russian and KURGAN is in Turkish.
Genetically Yamnaya like people within the Sredny Stog Culture. The Yamnaya Culture formed only several centuries after the Genetically Yamnaya like people formed. So all Genetically Yamnaya like people were not part of the Yamnaya Culture.
There are no "Indo-Europeans": it's a language group, not an ethnic or genetic identification. language is cultural, not determined by DNA.
Exactly, if you look at ethnic identity, you get R1a and R1b. They come from Central Asia and Siberia. It's not Indian, Iranian, European bullshit.
@@Baryshx "Ethnic identity" is not defined by mitochondrial haplogroups.
Ehhh problem? What did I write? I wrote where he originated from. Some poor people are talking nonsense about Iran, India.
@Baryshx R1b is evolved out of R1a. Also do you understand that the term Indo-European is just used to reflect the geographical extent of languages with a common ancestry. From India to Europe.
I know there is no such race as Indo-European, Indo-Iranian. Their thing is the so-called linguistic unity...
The Kurgan? “There can only be one!”
0:56 That’s not the fekkin Altai Mountains you dolt! That is Georgia in Kavkazia, the iconic Sameba Church under the peak of Kazbegi one of the highest peaks of the Caucasus range! How dare you!
That's is just for illustration i think
face it, we are all mutts of a sort, there are multitudes within us. or are we expected to pretend your multigreatgrandmother said no to the handsome itinerant wheelwright passing through?
the connections to present day Europeans are still not well established. I think there are recent genetic research tracing links of yamnaya people to present day Europeans and South Asians.
Yamna is an extension of the Srednyi Stog culture beyond Ukraine.
In Ukraine, especially in the Dnipro Valley, there was a mixture of contacts between people of different cultures. In Ukraine, they exchanged technologies and enriched each other with knowledge and genes.
"Yamnaya" is an aggressive Russian propaganda campaign to take over the world. Don't fall for it. Yamnaya has earlier origins in Ukraine.
Ukraine is a land of tolerance and assimilation, where cultures from Europe, Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Asia have coexisted and enriched each other.
Yamnaya connections with the present Europeans is in the Genetics as well as languages. Yamnaya are the first Aryans and the ancestor of present Iranians.
The DNA is clear, what are you talking about, DNA, Culture and language, how many facts do you need
Newer papers (Reich et. al.) show the spread was pretty extensive. Yamnaya females were ultimately absorbed into the Bell beakers at a very high ratio, their offspring went on to populate Western Europe.
My maternal haplo was found extensively among the Yamnaya i’m happy to say ❤
BCE? Overblown and redundant
The Yamna culture and its people are a "daughter" of the Sredny Stog culture from Ukraine. Yamna is an extension of the Srednyi Stog culture beyond Ukraine.
The video points out that yamnaya culture shows a great amount of influence from local Cultures and Sredny stog is one of them not the only one.
The Srednyi Stoh culture is a mixture of cultures on the territory of Ukraine. This mixing is achieved through peace, intermarriage, and exchange. In the Dnipro Valley and the Pryazovia region, such assimilation took place. It is only through peaceful relations that enrichment and knowledge transfer are possible.
Russia invaded Ukraine to seize Ukraine's history and then control the entire world. The Russians want to spread the "Russian world" across the planet, but Ukraine is preventing them from doing so.
Russia has a colder climate than Ukraine or Europe. Permafrost has only recently begun to melt there. Therefore, Russia is not a centre of assimilation and cultural borrowing. Russia is an evil empire that destroys indigenous peoples.
The Yamnaya cultural centre in Russia is located on ethnic Ukrainian lands. Look at the maps of the settlement of Ukrainians in the Russian Empire, before the genocide of Ukrainians in the 20th century.
Ukraine and Russia are spiritually opposed to each other. Ukraine is about peaceful cooperation, Russia is about war and genocide.
Why are u against if the name is Russian
The Russians are murderers. They have invaded Ukraine and are killing Ukrainians right now. They kill to seize the land of Ukraine together with the historical heritage of Ukrainians. Didn't you know that?
Once they take over Ukraine, they will go on to kill more if they are not stopped.
Russia was formed in 1991. Since then the Russians have invaded Moldova, Ichkeria, Georgia, Syria, and in 2014 Ukraine. Russians think that killing is their mission.
Vegans going to love this one lol
All that was said, about culture, practices, the time period and the territory described in this video perfectly reflects the identity of another rather real nation - The Old Bulgars(especially the part of Bulgars that lived east from the Balkan peninsula) not these made up Yamnaya people. History has different faces, depending on the side you look from.
There are quite a few historical documents, linguistic researches, not to mention the relation with traditions, practices, toponyms and other.
No Yamnaya! It's all so poorly made up, that is screams in you face - "Fake!"
And I am not criticising the channel, but the scientific community that supports this science fiction.
Sloppy and unfocused. Needs editing and much more fact checking.
Misledande information....selaw from Kurdistan
Go home Turks it’s our land 🫵✊
Your land? Indians, Iranians and Europeans, like Turks, came from Central Asia and Siberia. R1a and R1a hablogroups. Don't confuse language similarity with ethnicity and DNA.
@@Baryshxindians never came from central asia central asia was land of savages don't count us in savages
They are Indians (Aryas), who migrated to europe,not the vice-versa.😑
That’s a literal psuedo-historic claim only supported by people who have a religious, nationalistic, and/or political biases; similar to how Christians or Muslims claim their beliefs as facts rather than just beliefs
There is not even a single piece of evidence to support out of India migration
Yamnaya were ancestors of Arayan people,plz read B J Talik "The Arctic the home in Vedas"
India been feeding you propaganda hard lol
hahaha. cope
Ur, did you find any writings of the Yamnaya? NO? Then I love the figment of the Western Supremacist imagination.
Kurgans for Trump!
Living in dark darkness God bless you.
Kharkiv not Kharkov
What Yamnaya??? The Huns!
No, the first Aryans, the ancestor of the Iranian people.
@@johndewey6358 Huns and Royal Scythians are the same! Red white and green in flags are the Aryan colours.
The Huns came almost 3000 years later
@@ulrichkristensen4087 I am Hungarian and I know our real history! Only in Transylvania the locals talking about at least 35 000 years of presence! The Carpathian valley was green in the ice age because of the hot springs all over. But there are much-much more!
All the epic myths of humanity mention the place of creation of humanity, the Armenian highlands, where the ancient civilizational evidence is located, Portasar-Göbekshitepe. The Armenian language is known to be 8200 years old, and the Armenian gene is indigenous. So stop your heoiats..
we are each of us the center of the universe. deal with it.
geschichte-bronzezeit.blogspot.com/2022/09/die-urheimat-der-arier-chur-das-land.html
Indo Aryans were original inhabitants of India. There was definitely an out of India migration
No definitely not, the indo Aryans were corded ware descendants.
M20 haplotype mutation crossed past Pamir knot 30,000 yrs ago and origin population of all yet to establish tribes and civilizations in the subcontinent. Not direct descendants of yet to evolve in the distant future corded ware culture or ancestors with other distinct genetic mutation mixes
got any evidence for this? ive only heard this theory from hindutvoids
There was nothing called India at that time. It was one land.
There was nothing called Earth at that time either! India is a distinct geologic plate, which existed long before geology was a science.
The Indo-Europeans are the ancient Indians who migrated out of India. Ancient Hindu texts says people who lived outside Bharat(India) were Mleccha's (uncivilised/barbarians), this indicates there was no civilised world outside India in those times.
Date?
Uhhh… No. Genetic analysis disproves this Out-of-India hypothesis.
@@phdtobe Ancient Indians kept their history in the oral traditions and also as texts. In nowhere it says about a migration from outside India to India that impacted Indian history. Humans always migrated throughout human history, ancient India was wealthy and all sorts of knowledge for human wellbeing existed there, so obviously people migrated to india for their own wellbeing similarly today people are migrating to US. These people did not bring anything to India but benefited from India. One of the example is many of the Alexanders soldiers refused to go back to Macedonia/Greece. Modern western researches are flawed, they cut the foot to fit the shoe that they made earlier.
@ Ancient stories certainly have some truth to them, but they are not definite truth. Ignoring other evidence when it contradicts what we want to believe is foolish, even childish. It would be like an European-ancestry adult in the US believing that Santa Claus actually lives at the North Pole and delivers presents to all of the good children in the world on Christmas Eve because there have been books and stories of such events for many generations.
@@phdtobe The foundation of Hinduism is Dharma and it strictly forbids lying, on the otherhand Semetic religions allow it's believers to lie and glorify their religion/culture. Those who wrote or started to keep the history in traditions in ancient India were Rishi's, if they lied, they won't be called Rishi. The astronomical events that happened thousand of years ago were kept accurately in Hindu texts, then why can't if a migration happened, that shaped Indian culture and history. This would be the first thing in Indian history everything comes after this only. No such a migration ever happened. Instead there are records of different clans migrating out of India due wars and other events.
The " truth" of this video starts with the title!! "Indoeuropeans" an engish judge invented this title i think you have to decide spreading the narrative (propaganda) or ignorance of the subject
Jats ⚔️
No.
Yamnata pastoralists are the ancestors of "jew" and "magi of persia"
No proof
Living in dark darkness God bless you.
Living in dark darkness God bless you.
Turn a light on then, Troll.