Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

Robert and Martin,

I thank you both for these leads. At some point, I'll try to read Jean Marco on the Celts. Davidsky's blog on the R1 haplogroup "trading" is very interesting. And when you combine new gene-flow material, it seems to reinforce the steppe origin hypothesis for the Indo-European languages. At the bottom of the blog, there's an interesting link to the High Incidence of Long Distance Travel by Women, very interesting. 

When I started this thread, I had no idea how big a chunk I had to chew. The origin of the Alans is an incredibly detailed one; and we haven't even reached remarks and geographical data supplied by Herodotus and Strabo, both worth looking at. Plus Josephus and Pliny add to a story we've only scratched by referring to the Hanshu and Shiji.

So far, we've identified the Alans as generic Saka (Wusun/Yuezhi inclusive). Yet, there are aspects we haven't even touched, for instance Herodotus' and Strabo's remarks on Saka women marrying yet having additional lovers, which (to me) indicates this culture was matrilineal. We have nearly identical Altai and Bosphoran Alanic images of a warrior (chieftain?) approaching a bald priestess sitting upon what appears to be a throne. What can we think of it? Other cultural traits lead us to more obtuse spirituality, such as the ever-present broken mirror found in priestess tombs, along with history's first smoking pipes and "bongs" used for partaking cannabis. We have priestesses shaved bald and wearing incredibly tall hats. Two of these surviving hats-hairpieces are three feet tall, one worn by the Golden Woman of Issyk Kul, and another one worn by the Ukok Priestess. (Through recent forensics, the latter has been diagnosed with late stages of breast cancer, perishing when she fell from a horse).

And we have references to cannibalism with Massagetae and Issedones, where the flesh of the deceased is mixed with horsemeat and shared by the tribe. This appears to be confirmed by Rudenko, who found an Altai king with part of his buttocks removed, the buttocks then carefully stitched up. This partaking the "essence" of a chieftain must have had an important function in which everyone received the "spirit" of their fallen leader. The human flesh, of course, had to be an incredibly small percentage of a banquet that also included flesh of a hundred horses.

All of this is a cultural connection directly related to the Saka who became known as the Alans, just as DNA fills in the picture. At the moment, I'm pressed for time and need to finish two restorations for this coming weekend. So I really appreciate your input. It's a huge and fascinating story; and I don't believe it's ever been covered in the depth we see here on RAT.