Language

Papuans, the earliest people in the Western Melanesia, had occupied the Sahul continent, which later partially submerged to become the island of New Guinea, at least forty thousand years ago.

By thirty thousand years ago, speakers of Papuan languages had occupied the Bismarck Archipelago east of New Guinea.

The area west of Makassar Strait, sometimes called Sundaland, encompasses the areas of the Asian continental shelf that was exposed during the last ice age.

It includes the Malay Peninsula on the Asian mainland, the large islands of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, and their surrounding islands.

It consists of a web of watered plains, because the seas have been some one hundred and fifty feet, or fifty meters, lower than they are now.

The stone tools used by hunting and gathering societies across Southeast Asia during this period of lowered sea levels show a remarkable degree of similarity in design and development.

Some scholars (e.g., Oppenheimer) locate the origin of the Austronesian languages in Sundaland and its upper regions.

Genetic research reported in 2008 indicates that the islands, which are the remnants of Sundaland, were likely populated as early as fifty thousand years ago.

The sea levels rise in about 7000 BCE to form the islands of Sundaland, home to many Asian mammals including elephants, monkeys, apes, tigers, tapirs, and rhinoceros.

The Proto-Arctic Populations: A Foundational Period (6093-5950 BCE)

Environmental Context:

During 6093-5950 BCE, the world was experiencing the early Holocene transition. Beringia began to emerge some 36,000–40,000 years ago and maintained a complete connection between Asia and North America from about 28,000 to 10,000 BCE. By  ~6000 BCE, rising sea levels were beginning to submerge the Bering land bridge, fundamentally altering migration patterns and forcing populations to adapt to new geographic realities.

The Ancestral Arctic Populations:

The period 6093-5950 BCE represents a crucial transitional time for what would become the linguistically diverse Arctic and Subarctic populations. Beginning about 6000 BCE, what had been a relatively cool and moist climate gradually became warmer and drier, with cultural changes including bands becoming larger and somewhat more sedentary.

During this era, we can envision proto-populations that carried the genetic legacy later found in multiple language families. Modern genomic research reveals that Paleo-Eskimo-related ancestry is ubiquitous among populations speaking Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut languages, suggesting these diverse linguistic groups share common ancestral populations from this earlier period.

The Proto-Arctic Cultural Complex (6093-5950 BCE):

Rather than distinct, separate migrations, this period likely saw:

1. Adaptive Diversification: Small, mobile bands adapting to changing Arctic and Subarctic environments as ice sheets retreated and forests advanced northward.
2. Proto-Linguistic Foundations: The ancestral populations from this period carried the genetic and cultural foundations that would later differentiate into the Dené-Yeniseian, Eskimo-Aleut, and other northern language families.
3. Technological Innovation: Groups following grazing herds north into present-day Saskatchewan and Alberta, and by 3000 BCE reaching the Arctic tundra zone, shifting from bison to caribou hunting, suggesting technological and cultural adaptations that began in our target period.

The Broader Epoch (5950-4222 BCE):

The 1,728-year epoch following our core period would witness:

• Proto-Eskimo-Aleut Emergence: The language family is thought to have developed and diverged in Alaska between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago, placing its origins within this broader timeframe.
• Maritime Adaptations: The earliest sign of Eskimos around the Bering Strait was between 4,500-5,000 years ago, representing the culmination of maritime adaptations that likely began during our period.
• Circumpolar Networks: The establishment of cultural and genetic networks that would later facilitate the rapid spread of technologies and populations across the Arctic.

Archaeological Trajectory:

Related Paleo-Indian groups, such as the Plano culture, persisted until sometime between 6000 and 4000 BCE, meaning our target period represents the transition from these earlier traditions to the emerging Arctic-adapted cultures.

Linguistic Implications:

While we cannot reconstruct specific languages from this period, the genetic evidence suggests that 6093-5950 BCE represents the time when ancestral populations were diversifying in ways that would later manifest as:

• The proto-Dené-Yeniseian continuum linking Siberia and North America
• The foundations of Eskimo-Aleut maritime adaptations
• The development of Tsimshian and other Pacific Northwest traditions
• The establishment of population networks that facilitated later cultural exchanges

Conclusion:

The period 6093-5950 BCE emerges not as a time of isolated migrations, but as a foundational era when Arctic-adapted populations established the demographic and cultural foundations for the remarkable linguistic diversity that would characterize the northern regions of North America. The descendants of proto-Paleo-Eskimos speak widely different languages, belonging to the Chukotko-Kamchatkan, Eskimo-Aleut, and Na-Dene families, suggesting that this early period set the stage for one of the most linguistically complex regions in the world.

This narrative acknowledges that while we cannot speak with certainty about specific linguistic developments from 8,000 years ago, the archaeological and genetic evidence points to this period as foundational for understanding the shared heritage underlying the apparent diversity of northern North American indigenous languages.

The people who have migrated in waves into Korea from Manchuria and Siberia, who possibly speak a Tungus language, continue to live along the coasts and river valleys, apparently in a pre-Neolithic state.

Proto-Austronesian culture is based on the south coast of China in about 5000 BCE, combining extensive maritime technology, fishing with hooks and nets, and gardening.

The protohistory of the Austronesian people can be traced farther back through time than can that of the Proto-Austronesian language.

From the standpoint of historical linguistics, the home (in linguistic terminology, Urheimat) of the Austronesian languages is the main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa; on this island the deepest divisions in Austronesian are found, among the families of the native Formosan languages.

According to Robert Blust, the Formosan languages form nine of the ten primary branches of the Austronesian language family Blust (1999).

At least since Sapir (1968), linguists have generally accepted that the chronology of the dispersal of languages within a given language family can be traced from the area of greatest linguistic variety to that of the least.

While some scholars suspect that the number of principal branches among the Formosan languages may be somewhat less than Blust's estimate of nine (e.g., Li 2006), there is little contention among linguists with this analysis and the resulting view of the origin and direction of the migration.

For a recent dissenting analysis, see (Peiros 2004).

To get an idea of the original homeland of the Austronesian people, scholars can probe evidence from archaeology and genetics.

Studies from the science of genetics have produced conflicting outcomes.

Some researchers find evidence for a proto-Austronesian homeland on the Asian mainland (e.g., Melton et al. 1998), while others mirror the linguistic research, rejecting an East Asian origin in favor of Taiwan (e.g., Trejaut et al. 2005).

Archaeological evidence (e.g., Bellwood 1997) is more consistent, suggesting that the ancestors of the Austronesians spread from the South Chinese mainland to Taiwan at some time around eight thousand years ago.

The Nivkh (formerly called Gilyak), a Mongoloid people indigenous to the northern half of Sakhalin Island and the region of the Amur River estuary in Russia's Khabarovsk Krai, probably descend directly from the semilegendary Tonchi, the earliest Neolithic inhabitants of this region.

The Nivkh are physically and genetically different from the surrounding peoples and it is believed the Nivkh are the original inhabitants of the area.

Linguistically Paleo-Asiatic, the Nivkh are short, stocky people with flat, rectangular faces and dark hair and beards.

Racially, they form a unique Mongoloid subgroup.

The origins of the Nivkh, who may have occupied their present homeland as early as 3000 BCE or as late as CE 1000, are obscure and hard to discern from current archaeological research.

Their subsistence by fishing and coastal sea-mammal hunting is very similar to the Koryak and Itelmen on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The rigging of dog sleds is also similar to these Chukotko-Kamchatkan groups.

However, spiritual beliefs are similar to the Northwest Coast Indians of North America.

The current archaeological model suggests that a sub-Arctic technological culture, originating from the Transbaikal region, and termed the microlithic culture, migrated across Siberia and populated the Amur and Sakhalin region during the Late Pleistocene, perhaps earlier.

It is also believed the microlithic (small tool) culture were the first to move into the Americas.

The microlithic culture was technologically adept for the harsh climate of Siberia during the ice age.

After the Ice age receded, Tungusic people from the south pressed into the warmer northern areas, soon dominating the settled peoples.

The Nivkh are considered the last surviving ethnic group able to adapt to the warmer climate and not be assimilated or squeezed out by the new comers, hence the Nivkh isolate language.

The earliest archaeological radiocarbon dating for Northern Sakhalin as of 2004 is the Neolithic Age-Imchin Site 2, dated at 4950-4570 BCE near the Tym' River Estuary on the west coast.

The Sakhalin Niviks populated the island during the Late Pleistocene period when the island was connected to the Continent of Asia via the exposed Strait of Tartary.

When the ice age receded the oceans rose and the Nivkh were split into two groups.

The earliest mention of the Nivkh in history is believed to be a twelfth century Chinese chronicle to a people called Gilyemi, who were in contact with the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty of China.

The unique language of the Sumerians, the titular founders of civilization, seems to be unrelated to any other known language, defunct or otherwise.

Who they were, and how their civilization sprang forth, remains a mystery.

The Kish tablet, a limestone tablet found at Tell al-Uhaymir, Babil Governorate, Iraq—the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Kish, is dated to around 3500 BCE (middle Uruk period).

A plaster cast of the artifact is today in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

The Kish tablet is inscribed with proto-cuneiform signs, and may be considered the oldest known written document.

The writing is, however, still purely pictographic, and represents a transitional stage between proto-writing and the emergence of the partly syllabic writing of the cuneiform script proper.

The "protoliterate period" of Egypt and Mesopotamia is taken to span about 3500 to 2900 BCE.

The Kish tablet is thus more accurately identified as the first document of the Mesopotamian protoliterate period.

Lower Egypt, known as Ta-Mehu, which means "land of papyrus," is divided into twenty nomes, the first of which is at el-Lisht.

Because Lower Egypt is mostly undeveloped scrubland, undeveloped for human life and filled with all types of plant life such as grasses and herbs, the organization of the nomes will continue to undergo several changes.

In mythology, the earth deity Geb, original ruler of Egypt, invested Horus with the rule over Lower Egypt.

The Low Red Crown Deshret represents Lower Egypt with its patron deity; its symbols are the papyrus and the bee.

Seth is the lord of Deshret, the Red Land that comprises the deserts and foreign lands on either side of Kemet, the fertile Nile river basin.

It is considered a region of chaos, without law and full of dangers.

Deshret, from ancient Egyptian, is also the formal name for the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.

The end has a curly wire on it, representing the proboscis of a honeybee.

Deshret or DSRT also represents the insect known as the honeybee.

The Red Crown in Egyptian language hieroglyphs eventually will be used as the vertical letter “n.” The original language "n" hieroglyph from the Predynastic Period and the Old Kingdom was the horizontal letter n, (N-water ripple (n hieroglyph)).

No Red Crown has survived, and it is unknown how it was constructed and what materials were used.

Copper, reeds, cloth, and leather have been suggested, but this is purely speculative.

Elam, an ancient name for the region of southwestern Iran known today as Khuzestan, leads a more or less independent cultural existence in the fourth millennium BCE.

The Proto-Elamite period is the time of about 3200 BCE to 2700 BCE, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau.

In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period.

This civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with the neighboring Sumerian civilization, the oldest in the world, which began around 3400 BCE.

The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language before the introduction of Elamite Cuneiform.

Texts in the undeciphered Proto-Elamite script found in Susa are dated to the late fourth millennium.

It is thought that the Proto-Elamites were in fact Elamites (Elamite speakers), because of the many cultural similarities (for example, the building of ziggurats), and because no large-scale migration to this area seems to have occurred between the Proto-Elamite period and the later Elamites.

Because their script is yet to be deciphered, this theory remains uncertain.

One important Proto-Elamite site besides Susa is Tepe Sialk, a large ancient archaeological site (a tepe or Persian tappeh, "hill" or "mound") in a suburb of the city of Kashan, Isfahan Province, in central Iran, where the only remaining Proto-Elamite ziggurat is still seen.

The Sialk mound was built around the eighth century BCE.

A joint study between Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization, the Louvre, and the Institut Francais de Recherche en Iran also verifies the oldest settlements in Sialk to date back to 5500–6000 BCE.

The culture that inhabited this area has been linked to the hypothetical Zayandeh River culture developing at the same time as other ancient civilizations appear alongside rivers in the region, such as the Sumerian civilization in Iraq and the Indus Valley civilization in India.

Iranian archaeologists during the 2006 excavations will uncover some artifacts that they link to those from Sialk.