Sumerian Origins and Ancient DNA | Geneticist Razib Khan

In this episode we bring you the origins of the Sumerians with none other than the geneticist Razib Khan.

In this episode Mr. Khan explains passionately that if we could genetically type any ancient People, he would choose the Sumerians. Why? Because these are arguably the first historic nation. The first self-conscious ethnic group which operated by the rules which we define as the fundamentals of literate civilization. Strangely, they are an ethno-linguistic isolate.

He goes on to explain what the term ethno-linguistic isolate means and how it applies to these ancient peoples, who even though they interacted with their neighbors stood apart from their Semitic neighbors like the Akkadians until later they became absorbed entirely through military and cultural conquests but that their legacy stays with us today in various forms including how we tell time.

He goes on to explain what his original model was for the origins of the Sumerians and how it changed over time and why?

What does his current model tell us about the Sumerians and their origins and foundation within ancient Mesopotamia?

Why are we struggling to genetically type populations in modern Iraq and Iran? How has Covid 19 made studying ancient history and peoples harder?

And finally, Mr. Khan hits us with his predictions of what we will learn the next decade when it comes to ancient DNA studies.

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ATTRIBUTION:
BRITISH MUSEUM 🏛️ Looted treasures and the 'Mesopotamia' collection (London)

Louvre Museum - Sumerian Civilization

THE LOUVRE: Stunning 🏛️ ancient Mesopotamia exhibits in Paris - Let's go!!

The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia

The Standard of Ur

The Standard of Ur 烏爾軍旗 貝殼，青金石，灑青公元前2500，伊拉克 Shell, lapis lazuli, red limestone 2500 BC Iraq

The Standard of Ur and the Ram in the Thicket

[studyofantiquityandthemidd]

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[SporeMurph]

What he said was perfectly reasonable speculation, but this video's title is once again misleading since it does not present ANY information about Ancient DNA from the Sumerians.

[starrshamek]

We have a Native American group in New Mexico that has their own Language unlike any other, they are called the Zuni.

[leemarlin]

Razib Khan:
Interesting perspective. I like the way he gets his thoughts out there. Informed but not opinionated. Looking for knowledge not for credit a good trait in a researcher.

[skeletalbassman]

Razib gave a great presentation, allowing for plenty of nuance but still giving us passion and joy. Would love to hear more from him.

[ACH-ijjw]

According to the great historian Soran Hamarash in his bok ”The Lost and Untold History of the Kurd”, the Kurdish spoken in Kirmaşan in Kurdistan is the closest dialect to Sumerian, which was an ancient Kurdish dialect or a Zagrosian dialect as Soran refers to it.
So, if you wants to understand Sumerian, you should look for the original Kurdish dialect from Kirmaşan (Changed to Kermanshah by the colonialists) or the nearby villages.

The Kurds (The Zagrosians) are the oldest population of Mesopotamia, i.e., the indigenous people. However, remember that the word "Kurd" is a collective name for all kinds of Kurds, i.e., an umbrella term.

Zagrosian/Proto-Kurdish: Spoken from approximately 15, 000 to 5300 BCE. This was the oldest form of Kurdish, spoken in the Zagros Mountains and the surrounding plains.

Old Kurdish (OK): Spoken from approximately 5300 to 3000 BCE. During this time, languages like Sumerian, Hurrian, Lullubian, Gutian, and others were also spoken in the region.

Middle Kurdish (MK): Spoken from approximately 3000 BCE to 800 CE. During this period, the languages Median and Mannaean can be considered dialects of Middle Kurdish.

New Kurdish (NK): Spoken from approximately 800 CE to the present day and includes today's Kurdish dialects.

Many Kurds have historically and even today primarily identified themselves through their geographic area or dialect affiliation, such as “I am Hakkari, or I am Luri or Kalhuri or Kengir or Gutian”.
This diverse linguistic landscape not only enriches the cultural heritage of the Kurds but also emphasizes the complexity and richness of Kurdish as more than just a language, but as a mosaic of identities and histories woven through time.

Moreover, the Kurdish language is a giant compared to other Indo-European languages.
According to my interpretation, Kurdish might be the foundation of all European languages, positioning it as the mother tongue for the entire European linguistic family. A recent remarkable discovery supports this fascinating perspective: a Neanderthal was found in the Shanidar Cave in Erbil, Kurdistan. This discovery, also featured in a Netflix documentary, highlights a Neanderthal estimated by researchers to be 75, 000 years old, making it the oldest Neanderthal ever discovered.

So the least that can be done to correct previous misconceptions is to officially recognize Kurdish with its own branch in the Indo-European language tree, named the Zagrosian Proto Kurdish language.

Additionally, whether there are misconceptions or not is up for debate, but what can be certainly stated is that Kurdish has been treated distinctively by colonial powers and adapted to fit the political agenda of the region.

[gilgamesh-antara]

Thank you so much Because you Gave content about Sumerian-Iraqi history, I would love to add to your information. We in southern Iraq still use Sumerian phrases to this day.

[HSS]

This man is just talking with out saying any thing 👊🏿👊🏿

[AndrewCengiz]

I’m consuming as much content as I can about the Sumerians. This is one of the best videos I’ve found on YouTube so far.

[eTraxx]

This is the kind of thing that fascinates me .. not Hollyweird etc.

[claesvanoldenphatt]

Sumerian isoglossia might be just a feature of the ancient world of many isolated and virtually unrelated languages that used to obtain worldwide. The same linguistic situation of relatively small populations that evolved in situ in the era directly after the end of the last ice age, before much trade and travel had been established, might have persisted well into the early period of the foundations of Sumerian civilization. The Caucasus is a perfect example of this linguistic diversity. If Sumerian cultural life was robust enough past the era of its origination it could have maintained its distinctiveness like some of its neighbors like Elam. Isolation of language is a feature of the old world before imperial amalgamation occurred in historical times.

[ancient_Iraqi_Mesopotamian]

🇮🇶Civilizations of Assyria🇮🇶Arabian Gulf❤️

[candacesmith]

Please bring him back! Great conversation 👌

[soran]

Hi Razib
Great work! I am a kurd, we are still using thousands of words today among our dialects that were used by Sumerian ! It's not a coincidence! I would like you to look into a book by ( Soran hamarash- the untold ancient history of the Kurds ).
Thank

[arjantakin]

I disagree about his views on linguistic connection of Sumerian language to any modern language. This view drives from IndoEuro-Semitic centeric analysis that have tinted the archeology. Based on this view, anything that is not Indo-European or Semitic is labeled as "Isolate". This gentleman, despite having a Turkic-Mongolian last name, apparently has never heard sound of any Turkic language. Most Sumerian words that we know have either similar meaning or similar sounds in Turkic languages. Let's start with his own example "Gilgamesh" that he claims sounds very alien. Indeed, in Turkic languages this sounds very familiar because Gil or Kil means tiny hair and Gamesh or Kamish means Bamboo/Straw. So at least sound wise it sounds very Turkic (Sari-Kamish in Turkey and Ghamish-li, in Northern Syria and many other places in Turkey, Caucasus, Iran and Centra Asia with variants of Ghamesh or Kamish ). Also the Sumerian words for example for mother (Ama), father (Ada), water (ApSu), God(Dingir), Star (Ul), narrow (Sig) have similar sounds and identical meanings in Turkic languages ( Ana for mother, Ata for father, Su for water, Tengri for God, Ulduz/Yildiz for Star and Sig'in for squeezing into a small and narrow The similarities are endless. Also, Sumerians called their region Kengir we still have this name for some regions, people and a plant in the form of Kangar in Turkic world. Just type in the last name Kangar'Lu (with different suffix variants of Lu, Lou, Loo and Li all meaning from Kangar) see how many will come up. Also, all the carvings and statues of the ancient people of that region (Semitic and Indio-European origin) are bearded but Sumerian ones have no beard and that plus other facial features shows their central Asian origin.

[keywestconch]

I had to subscribe. This is the best interview I have watched in a very long time. Thank you for having him in and thank you for asking informative questions and allowing him to speak uninterrupted. Looking forward to the rest of your videos.

[daviddantonio]

Great video Nick and awesome guest. Razib produces so much interesting and informative content on these subjects.

[gangadharhiremath]

Mr.Khan beats around the bush a lot.
Even if the archeological issues are a bit vague and difficult to summarise, there are ways of expressions that can make the matter a little more coherent.

[faarsight]

This theory makes a ton of sense, think about it. How long does it take a language group to diverge so much that you can't even reconstruct them as coming from the same language family originally? Four thousand years maybe? Ten at most. How long have humans been speaking? We don't quite know obviously but it's almost certainly more than 100 000 years. It makes sense that the pre-historic world was filled with different language groups the same way we see in pre contact North America and other hunter gatherer societies. Sure trade and such existed in the stone age, even quite long distant trade but they were probably using lingua franca or just learning new languages as necessary or even communicating using gestures or what have you. It makes sense that this world was incredibly fractured culturally and linguistically.

[kuvasz]

A wonderful video. Kudos to both host and guest. Hopefully, soon we will get some substantive DNA data on this subject. Until then, it is still a comparison of cultural artifacts that drive the determination of who these people are and from whence they came. Sumerian myths tell of their people moving into Sumer from the south. There are archeological findings of earthenware in areas of the southern coast of the Saudi peninsula that match closely with pre-historic Sumer. Which way were the people, or culture going?

btw my favorite text in this area/time is "A History of the Ancient Near East, ca, 3000-323 BC" 3rd Ed. by Marc Van De Mieroop