17 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

Paja ul deˀŋ

Alexander Akulov independent scholar; Saint Petersburg, Russia; e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Paja ul deˀŋ [padʒaul’deˀŋ] “People of big water” is a conventional name of Neolithic inhabitants of the territories of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad oblast in their hypothetical reconstructed language. In order to be able to speak about a certain ethnicity, it is necessary that this ethnicity would have a convenient designation. It is possible to state that these people spoke a Yenisseian language since upon the territory of East European plain there are some Yeniseian hydronyms. Also in the Sami language there are some words of Yeniseian origin. When an ethnicity known only by archaeological data acquires currently existing and well-described relatives – it is a remarkable fact. It is possible to reconstruct the worldview of Paja ul deˀŋ on the base of related cultures.

Keywords: Paja ul deˀŋ; Neolithic period; Yeniseian languages; Pit-Comb ware

Paja ul deˀŋ [padʒaul’deˀŋ] “People of big water” is a conventional name of Neolithic inhabitants of the territories of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad oblast in their hypothetical reconstructed language1. It is possible to state that these people spoke a Yenisseian language since upon the territory of East European plain there are some hydronyms of Yeniseian origin. For instance, in the basin of the Oka there are some creeks which names end with -ul/-ur: Chistur, Dandur, Mokshur, Nasmur, Ninur, Pynsur, Shershul (see fig 2 – 7). These hydronyms look like Yeniseian hydronyms existing in Siberia (for instance: Agul, Langur see fig. 11, 12). The ending of -ur/-ul looks much alike Yeniseian root “water” that has the following forms in different Yeniseian idioms: ul/ūl/ūr/kul. In Uralic and Indo-European languages there is no such root. Thus, the territory of the East European plain was inhabited by a western branch of Yeniseian people in the Neolithic period (Akulov, Efimova 2019).

The name of Paja ul deˀŋ was created according to the standard model of self-naming of different groups of Yeniseian people: X deˀŋ – “people of something” and with due attention to the geographic context: the whole life of Neolithic people who lived upon the territories of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad oblast was closely connected with the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga – both could be named paja ul – “big water”. In the Neolithic period the Baltic Sea (this stage of the Baltic Sea is named Littorina Sea) was deeper, saltier, and warmer than modern and therefore its fauna was much more diverse. The component paja ul has been made after Arin -ul “sea”/ “big water” (see: Yenisseian etymology “big”), and deˀŋ is the standard Yeniseian word for “people” (see: Yenisseian etymology “people”). It should also be noted that this Paja ul deˀŋ is the name of those Neolithic people who lived near the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, and other local groups can be named other ways. One can say that this is an invention of ethnicity, but then the case of Minoan culture also can be considered as an invention of ethnicity. In order to be able to speak about a certain ethnicity, it is necessary that this ethnicity would have a convenient designation.

1As far as there are no trustworthy sources on the language of these Neolithic people except some place names, so the language of the Paja ul deˀŋ is not actually a reconstruction, but mostly a constructed language on the base of Proto-Yeniseian and some other languages. Yeniseian languages are pretty closely related to Hattic language (Akulov 2019b), so it is possible to suppose that in some features the language of Paja ul deˀŋ was closer to Hattic. 18 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

Fig.1. The region where Paja ul deˀŋ lived (after Bing maps screenshot)

Fig. 2. Gus river (original image source – Gus’) 19 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

Fig. 3. Chistur, Nasmur and Shershul creeks (map has been made after Yandex map screenshot)

Fig. 4. Dandur creek (map has been made after Yandex map screenshot) 20 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

Fig. 5 Mokshur creek (map has been made after Yandex map screenshot)

Fig. 6. Ninur (map has been made after Yandex map screenshot) 21 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

Fig. 7. Pynsur (map has been made after Yandex map screenshot)

Fig. 8. Agul river (map has been made after Wikimedia Maps screenshot) 22 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

Fig. 9. Langur river (map has been made after Google and Yandex map screenshots)

The fact of good preservation of hydronyms of Yeniseian origin in the basin of Oka correlates well with the fact that the traditions of Neolithic pottery (the Pit-Comb Ware) were maintained much longer in the basin of Oka than in other territories of East European plain. The technocomplex2 of Volosovo existed in the basin of Oka and upper Volga (fig. 10) in the 3rd – 2nd millennia BCE and so it is considered as technocomplex belonging to the Chalcolithic/Aeneolithic stage. However, the technocomplex of Volosovo continued traditions of pottery of the Lyalovo technocomplex that existed in the interfluve of Volga and Oka (fig. 10) in 4th millennia BCE, i.e., was a technocomplex of the Neolithic stage (Akulov 2019 a).

In some other areas also can be found Yeniseian hydronyms with -ur/-ul endings. For instance, in Mari-El there is a river named Sesnur (fig. 14) and also there are some toponyms with -ul/-ur ending which, however, are difficult to be identified with certain rivers. The presence of such hydronyms in the territory of Mari-El is a clear and convex proof that in ancient times Yeniseain people inhabited a much vaster territory. Yeniseian toponymy in the Volga region and in the

2 In the current text the term technocomplex is used instead of widely used term archaeological culture. Technocomplex can be determined as a regularly repeated system of artifacts connected with a certain region. It is much more correct to avoid using term culture for there would be no associations with cultures which are subject of cultural anthropology, it is important to keep in mind that not every technocomplex is a culture, or, in other words, not every technocomplex assumes its own ethnic component. 23 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

Ural is a direct ‘bridge’ between the Western Yeniseian branch and the so-called historical/modern Yeniseian people.

Fig. 10. The territory of Volosovo technocomplex is marked by strokes; the approximate territory of Lyalovo technocomplex is marked by violet line; red line marks the basin of Gus river (original image source – Krainov 1987: 12)

It should be noted that not everywhere upon East European hydronyms of Yeniseian origin with -ur/-ul ending can be found easily, and it is pretty complicated to find some Yeniseian hydronyms in many areas of East European plain at all. However, as far as good preservation of the Yenisei toponymy is associated with long preservation of the tradition of the Pit-Comb ware it is possible to conclude that in those places where the Yeniseian toponymy is not found the presence of Pit-Comb ware marks the territory where lived people who spoke some Yeniseian language or a language related to Yeniseian (see fig. 12).

Often can be met premise/prerequisite to suppose that Finno-Ugric people were the first inhabitants of East European plain and that Finno-Ugric people created the Pit-Comb Ware. Sometimes they say it more accurately: they speak about the ancestors of Finno-Ugric people. Some of those people who created Pit-Comb ware definitely were assimilated by Finno-Ugric people, but some definitely were not assimilated and so not all of them can be considered as ancestors of Finno-Ugric people. And also should be kept in mind the fact that the disintegration of Proto-Uralic language into several languages took place about 3000 BCE (Janhunen 2009) while Pit-Comb ware already 24 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020) existed at that time3, so people speaking Uralic languages definitely could not be the creator of this pottery.

Fig.11. Sesnur creek (map has been made after Yandex map screenshot)

It is interesting to note that in Kildin Sami there are some words without convincing Uralic/Finno-Ugric (or any other) etymologies: kut’t’k “heart”, nirr – “cheek”, d’z’ – “water”, vuntas – “sand”, o v’n – “hummock”, k’ed’d’k – “stone”, bbr’ – “rain”, iŋŋk – “wind”, ket’t’k’ – “wolverine”, nigkeš – “pike” (fish), murr – “tree”, cigk – “mist”, mun – “frost”, in’ne – “to herd”, “to look after”, ujke – “to ski”, puaz – “reindeer”, ko n’n’t – “wild reindeer”, luh el’ – “1 y.o. reindeer”, sejjd – “deity”, ki ’tε – “to cook”, kuras – “empty”, modžes – “beautiful”, n’u ke – “to jump”, cke – “to throw”, tuллtε – “to boil”, kuarktε – “to boast”, лujx’ke – “to cry”, nissε – “to kiss”, madt – “trouble”, aps – “smell” (Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate).

At least two of them can be correlated with Yeniseian words:

d’z’ – “water” ~ Southern Ket “rivers”, Arin sat “river” (Yenisseian etymology “river”)4

iŋŋk – “wind” ~ Proto-Yenisseian *bej, (Yenisseian etymology “wind”), Hattic pezil, pizel, pizil (Soysal 2004: 300).

3 The Pit-Comb ware existed in 6th – 2nd millennia BCE. 4 It is an interesting fact that in Leningrad oblast there is a river named Syas (fig. 13). 25 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

The Sami were the first Finno-Ugric people who inhabited East European plain and they had direct contacts with Western Yeniseian people, and so they could borrow some words from the language of Paja ul deˀŋ.

Fig. 12. Approximate area of the Pit-Comb technocomplex and modern area of Yeniseian languages (the map has been made of the map represented in List of rivers of Russia)

Fig. 13. Syas river (map has been made after Google maps screenshot)

26 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

It is quite interesting that within Ainu-Minoan stock Yeniseian languages are closer to Hattic, i.e.: belong to the Western branch of Ainu-Minoan stock (Akulov 2019b) see fig. 14, fig. 15. And the language of Paja ul deˀŋ seems to be even closer to Hattic.

Fig.14. Languages belonging to Ainu-Minoan stock are marked by black color; potential relatives are marked by green color

Fig. 15. A preliminary scheme showing the structure of renewed Ainu-Minoan stock with Yeniseian family 27 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020)

Linguistic data correlate with data of genetics: on the territory of Scandinavia where the Sami were widely spread in ancient time (Hansen, Olsen 2004) can be seen some percentage of Y haplogroup Q (pic. 16), on the other hand, Q haplogroup demonstrates a relatively high percentage among Ket population (Karafet 2002). These facts correlate well with the fact that in Sami there is an unidentified substrate. Data of genetics need not follow data of linguistics precisely, but if there were continual cultural contacts, then there should be certain traces of genetic contacts

Pic. 16. Geographic spreading of Q haplogroup (image source – Haplogroup Q-M242)

When an ethnicity known only by archaeological data acquires currently existing and well- described relatives – it is a very remarkable fact. Now it is possible to reconstruct the worldview of Paja ul deˀŋ on the base of related cultures.

References

Akulov A. 2019a. Comparing ornaments of Volosovo and Lyalovo potteries by Monte Carlo method. Cultural Anthropology and Ethnosemiotics, Vol. 5, № 3; pp: 2 – 11

Akulov A. 2019b. Yeniseian languages and Ainu-Minoan stock. Cultural Anthropology and Ethnosemiotics, Vol. 5, № 3; pp: 12 – 17

Akulov A. 2018. Traces of Yeniseian people upon the East European plain. Cultural Anthropology and Ethnosemiotics, Vol. 4, N 3; pp.: 2 - 11

Akulov A., Efimova N. 2019. Hydronymy of Yeniseian origin in the basin of Oka river. Cultural Anthropology and Ethnosemiotics, Vol. 5, № 4; pp: 56 – 64

Gus’ https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Гусь_(река) – accessed June 2020

Hansen L. I., Olsen B. 2004. Samenes historie fram til 1750. Cappelen Damm Akademisk, Oslo

Haplogroup Q-M242 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_Q-M242 – accessed June 2020

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Janhunen J. 2009. Proto-Uralic – what, where, and when? Mémoires de l Société Finno- Ougrienne 258; pp.: 57 – 78

List of rivers of Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rivers_of_Russia – accessed June 2020

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Karafet T. M. 2002. High levels of Y-chromosome differentiation among Native Siberian populations and the genetic signature of a Boreal hunter-gatherer way of life. Human Biology, v. 74, no. 6; pp.: 761 – 789

Krainov D. A. 1987. Volosovskaya kul’tura (The Volosovo culture) in Bader O. N., Krainov D. A, Kosarev M. F. Epokha bronzy lesnoi polosy SSSR (The aeneolithic epoch of the forest area of USSR). Nauka, Moscow; pp.: 10 – 28

Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Finno-Ugric_substrate – accessed June 2020

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Yenisseian etymology “big” https://starling.rinet.ru/cgi- bin/response.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=%5Cdata%5Cyenisey%5Cyenet&first=1&off=&tex t_proto=&method_proto=substring&ic_proto=on&text_meaning=big&method_meaning=substring&ic_ meaning=on&text_ket=&method_ket=substring&ic_ket=on&text_sym=&method_sym=substring&ic_sy m=on&text_kot=&method_kot=substring&ic_kot=on&text_ari=&method_ari=substring&ic_ari=on&tex t_pum=&method_pum=substring&ic_pum=on&text_notes=&method_notes=substring&ic_notes=on&t ext_any=&method_any=substring&sort=proto&ic_any=on – accessed June 2020

Yenisseian etymology “people” https://starling.rinet.ru/cgi- bin/response.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=%5Cdata%5Cyenisey%5Cyenet&first=1&off=&tex t_proto=&method_proto=substring&ic_proto=on&text_meaning=people&method_meaning=substring &ic_meaning=on&text_ket=&method_ket=substring&ic_ket=on&text_sym=&method_sym=substring&i c_sym=on&text_kot=&method_kot=substring&ic_kot=on&text_ari=&method_ari=substring&ic_ari=on &text_pum=&method_pum=substring&ic_pum=on&text_notes=&method_notes=substring&ic_notes= on&text_any=&method_any=substring&sort=proto&ic_any=on – accessed June 2020

Yenisseian etymology “river” https://starling.rinet.ru/cgi- bin/response.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=%5Cdata%5Cyenisey%5Cyenet&first=1&off=&tex t_proto=&method_proto=substring&ic_proto=on&text_meaning=river&method_meaning=substring&i c_meaning=on&text_ket=&method_ket=substring&ic_ket=on&text_sym=&method_sym=substring&ic_ sym=on&text_kot=&method_kot=substring&ic_kot=on&text_ari=&method_ari=substring&ic_ari=on&t ext_pum=&method_pum=substring&ic_pum=on&text_notes=&method_notes=substring&ic_notes=on &text_any=&method_any=substring&sort=proto&ic_any=on – accessed June 2020

Yenisseian etymology “wind” https://starling.rinet.ru/cgi- bin/response.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=%5Cdata%5Cyenisey%5Cyenet&first=1&off=&tex 29 CAES Vol. 6, № 2 (June 2020) t_proto=&method_proto=substring&ic_proto=on&text_meaning=wind&method_meaning=substring&i c_meaning=on&text_ket=&method_ket=substring&ic_ket=on&text_sym=&method_sym=substring&ic_ sym=on&text_kot=&method_kot=substring&ic_kot=on&text_ari=&method_ari=substring&ic_ari=on&t ext_pum=&method_pum=substring&ic_pum=on&text_notes=&method_notes=substring&ic_notes=on &text_any=&method_any=substring&sort=proto&ic_any=on – accessed June 2020