arshba.ru

Sources:

Origin of haplogroup G2a1a among Ossetians. Sabitov 2011

The Colchians appear — tribes that lived in the lower reaches of the Phasis River (modern Rioni). More details.

The Turanians appear — in Zoroastrianism, the name of nomadic peoples who inhabited the Eurasian steppe. In the "Avesta" they are called "tūra" ("tūr") or "Turians with swift horses." Possibly, it was the Turanians that Leonti Mroveli had in mind when speaking of the Bunturks, whom the Jews who came to Zanavi in the 6th century BC asked to give them land with an offer to pay tribute. More details.

The Thracians appear — the common name of a numerous (about 200 ethnonyms) group of tribes that inhabited in ancient times the northeastern regions of the Balkan Peninsula and the northwest of Asia Minor. According to ancient authors, the Thracians are a mixture of steppe Proto-Indo-European tribes with autochthonous Neolithic inhabitants of the Carpathians (Trypillia culture). If so, their haplogroups were most likely the following: R1a (about 30%), R1b (10%), I2a1b (25–30%), E-V13 (10–15%), G2a, J1, J2a, J2b, and T1a. The Dacians were closely related to the Thracians and probably had the same haplogroup composition. More details.

According to Khudaverdyan 2012, craniological and dental studies reveal a direct kinship connection between subjects from the following burial grounds: 2000—1500 BC — 99 Proto-Cimmerians, Volga-Ural region, Spiridonovka II, Rozhdestveno I. Abashevo culture. Figure 2; 1800—1100 BC — 144 Ukraine, Shirochansky. Thracians, Cimmerians. Timber-grave and Belozersk cultures. Figures 2, 3; 1100—600 BC — 20 Georgia, Mtskheta, Samtavro, Tserovani. Figures 2, 3; 600—300 BC — 129 Mouth of the Don, Beglitsa. Scythians, Maeotians. Figure 2. Judging by the Abkhaz-Adyghe G2a2b predominant in the Northern Black Sea region before the Caucasian War, there are direct grounds to consider G2a2b as one of the main haplogroups of the Thracian tribes.

The Chaldeans appear — inhabitants of the southwestern part of Babylonia, between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. More details.

The Chaldians appear — a people who inhabited the southeastern Black Sea coast (now part of Turkey) during the Bronze Age. During the same period, the Hattians lived near them, possibly linguistically related. More details.

The Yuezhi appear — an Eastern Iranian people in Central Asia (from the 1st millennium AD), who spoke Eastern Iranian dialects of the northern subgroup. They are sometimes also called Eastern Sarmatians due to the close similarity of their cultures. More details.

Materials:

Sources in the "Library" section
FTDNA Caucasian Project
FTDNA Adygian Project
FTDNA Georgian Project
FTDNA Ossetian Project
Gene pools of Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples, Georgians and Armenians. Teuchezh 2013
What DNA genealogy says about Caucasians. Klyosov 2013
Genetic diversity of the Caucasus population. Dibirova 2007
Origin of haplogroup G2a1a among Ossetians. Sabitov 2011
Litvinov 2010. Study of the genetic structure of the Western Caucasus
Balanovsky 2012. Variability of the gene pool in space and time
Balanovsky 2011. Evolution of Genes and Languages in the Caucasus
Data on Y-DNA haplogroups of the Western Caucasus. Litvinov 2007
Data on Y-DNA haplogroups of the Western Caucasus. Balanovsky 2012
Balanovsky 2011. Evolution of North Caucasus Languages
Balanovsky 2011. Genetic reconstruction of the evolution of North Caucasus
Balanovsky 2011. Supplementary Data
Balanovsky 2011. Supplementary Table
Genetics of Abkhazians and the Western Caucasus

Based on these conclusions,
the specific male ancestor of G2a in the Caucasus lived approximately 3025 years ago, at the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

Typical representatives: see here

More about haplogroup G (M201)

The Sarmatians appear — (10th century BC: Aorsi — Don region, Alans — Eastern Caucasus, Roxolani — north of the Azov region, Siraces — Kuban region, Iazyges — west of the Azov region). An alliance of nomadic pastoral tribes (Alans, Roxolani, Iazyges and others). In the 6th–4th centuries BC, they lived in the territory from the Tobol River to the Volga River. In the 3rd century BC, they displaced the Scythians from the Northern Black Sea region. They waged wars with the states of Transcaucasia and Rome. In the 4th century AD, they were defeated by the Huns. More details.

Sample size: 17
Time range of admixture events: 3678 BC — 830 AD
Approximate date of the main admixture event: 990 BC

The "Adyghe" group, as a contemporary population, formed as a result of two main admixture events. The first, less ancient one, is described above. The second, 990 BC, occurring between 3678 BC and 830 AD, involved the following groups:

First component in the "Adyghe" group mixture (orange): Oroqen (6.4%), Hezhen (5.5%), Finnish (4.2%), Daur (4.2%), Naxi (3.9%), Yakut (3.3%), Lahu (2.7%), She (2.7%), Mongola (2.6%), Xibo (2.4%)

Second component in the "Adyghe" group mixture (blue): Georgian (24.0%), Druze (5.2%), Armenian (5.2%), Palestinian (4.3%), Lezgin (4.2%), Turkish (4.2%), Syrian (3.9%), Bedouin (3.7%), Cypriot (3.7%), Jordanian (3.6%)


History of the region of the "Adyghe" group during the main admixture event, 990 BC (3678 BC — 830 AD)

Graph 3 shows the main segment for the "Adyghe" group at 990 BC (3678 BC — 830 AD) — the "Georgian" group. Its presence and similarity to today's "Georgian" group was discussed in the two previous admixture analyses. The remaining segments (76%), due to the very large time span between 3678 BC and 830 AD, are present in the mixture in approximately equal amounts.

Below are the main known events for the "Adyghe" group during the studied period:

5th–4th millennium BC - Neolithic. Transition from appropriating to producing economy; the beginning of agriculture, animal husbandry, and crafts in the region. With the development of pastoralism, the role of men in the clan strengthened, and patriarchy began. Tribal communities united into tribes. Anthropological materials from the Unakozovskaya Cave (in Adygea), dating to the turn of the 4th and 5th millennia BC, allowed Ukrainian anthropologist I.D. Potekhina to conclude that the family buried there was very close to the people who inhabited northeastern Anatolia at the beginning of the 4th millennium BC and to modern Shapsugs. Around this time, a tribe migrated from Anatolia to the Western Caucasus, bringing with it from the south the traditions of the Asia Minor culture of "Çatalhöyük" (hoes of the "Sochi-Adler" type, so-called flag-shaped arrowheads, ceramic technology and pottery techniques, sedentary agricultural skills, monumental painting style, etc.). This culture was an early agricultural component of the North Caucasian Protomaykop culture.

4th millennium BC - The "Hatto-Hurrian" language family split into two language groups – "Hattian" and "Hurrian." The Hattians settled in Asia Minor and on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. The ancient state of Hatti [3rd–2nd millennium BC] arose on the ethnic basis of the Hattians, who mixed with the Indo-European peoples of the "Anatolian group" – the Luwians, Palaic and Nesites. The Hurrians split into 3 branches: the first settled the mountainous regions of the Eastern Caucasus [Dagestan]; the second – the mountainous regions in the upper reaches of the Tigris River, Lake Urmia [Iran], the Kura-Araxes lowland [Azerbaijan]; the third – settled the west of Asia Minor, the Balkans [Pelasgians?] and the Aegean Sea [future "Sea Peoples"?], the Apennine Peninsula [Etruscans?].

4th–3rd millennium BC – Chalcolithic. Humans begin to use copper. The emergence of the "Maykop culture." The time of existence of a single "Ashuian" [Adyghe-Abkhazian] proto-language, named after the archaeological culture. The first dolmen structures of the Pyrenees. The dolmens of the "Land of the Basques" are the key to understanding the origin of the "dolmen culture" of the Western Caucasus. Scientists associate the "Proto-Basques" with the world's largest area of dolmen culture, covering all of northern and eastern Spain, all western and part of central departments of France.

3750 BC - "Fār Hatti [Var Hatti — "king of Hatti"] comes and takes the throne of Akkad [from an ancient Chaldean treatise on astrology]." A similar legend about the campaign of Uar-Khatu to Asia Minor, which ended on the Euphrates, is preserved in the ancient folklore of the Adyghe. A plate from the city of Carchemish with a hieroglyphic text, the content of which is conveyed in the "Manuscript of Ancient Gildani [Assyria]," describes in more detail the campaign of Fār Hatti, a military leader or chieftain who led the people "Khatuun" [people of Hatti]. "Uun" — from ancient Adyghe-Abkhazian can be translated as "man." If we take into account the ancient Assyrian "Var" [king], which in Adyghe sounds like "Uar," then Khatu was the king of the Khatuuns, who founded the "Hattian" kingdom in Asia Minor.
30th century BC.

3rd millennium BC - Early Bronze Age. The separation of nomadic pastoralism from settled agriculture in the region. Archaeological cultures of the period: Maykop [Northwestern Caucasus], Novotitorovka [Kuban region], Ancient Pit Grave [steppes of the Azov region]. The existence of the Maykop culture, which possessed a high level of knowledge about metal for its time, allowed E. A. Speiser to build a theory according to which the most ancient metallurgy originated in the North Caucasus. The invention of bronze [an alloy of copper and tin]. Since tin was a rare metal in the Caucasus, arsenic was used. The domestication of the horse occurred, and tribal elites emerged. Alliances of tribes [nationalities] with their leaders arose, i.e., people gradually transitioned to "military democracy."

3rd millennium BC - In the Maykop archaeological culture, which merged the "Atykhs" and "Hattians" who came out to the Kuban plain from the mountains and foothills [possibly also "Indo-Europeans" in the form of the "Pit Grave" people of the Kuban region], a distinct agricultural component is distinguished, similar to the culture of "Alaca Höyük" [in Asia Minor]. It can boldly be called "Hattian" in contrast to the pastoral "Atykhian."

23rd century BC - The ancient Assyrian king Naram-Sin transcribed an ancient Chaldean treatise on astrology into cuneiform, also performing a chronological recalculation. In the library of Naram-Sin, excavated in the capital of ancient Assyria — Nineveh, a clay tablet was found containing a short cuneiform text: "On the twentieth new moon (of the year 3750 BC) Fār Hatti (Var Hatti — king of Hatti) comes and takes the throne of Akkad."

2600–2100 BC - The emergence of civilizations and centers of agriculture in the valleys of large rivers [Mesopotamia in Asia Minor].

20th century BC.

2nd millennium BC – Middle Bronze Age. Settlement of the Azov steppes by tribes of the Catacomb culture. At the same time, the following cultures existed in the region: "North Caucasian" [Trans-Kuban region], "Dolmen" [Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. From the 3rd millennium BC to the 7th century BC). Dolmens were built throughout the 2nd millennium BC. Interestingly, such large accumulations of megaliths occur on the northern slope precisely in the area where the center of the Maykop culture was previously located.

10th century BC.

2nd–1st millennium BC - Late Bronze Age. The beginning of the spread of iron products [8th–7th centuries BC]. Archaeological cultures of the region: "Babino," "Timber-grave" [steppes of the Azov region and Ciscaucasia], "Koban" [Central Caucasus], "Proto-Maeotian" [Kuban and Azov region].

9th century BC.

8th century BC.

8th–7th centuries BC - Greek colonization of the Black Sea and Azov regions. In the Western Caucasus, from Taman to the Pharz River, there was the Cimmerian tribe, displaced by the Scythians from the Northern Black Sea region.

7th century BC.

7th century BC - Military-political activity of the Scythians and Cimmerians in Asia Minor.
6th century BC.

6th century BC - The existence of the "Scythian state" in the Northern Black Sea region. From the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, related nomadic tribes of Iranian-speaking Sarmatians penetrate into the Ciscaucasia. The peoples included in this alliance constantly fought internecine clashes for power in the alliance. This led to the fragmentation of the Sarmatians into separate, warring groups. The largest known of these groups are the Aorsi, Siraces, Alans, Roxolani, and Iazyges. In the Kuban and Eastern Azov regions, the "Maeotian culture" is formed.

6th–5th centuries BC – Hecataeus of Miletus, describing Thrace, mentioned among 12 tribes the tribe of "Sinti" [Sindians]. Also among the Thracians there was a powerful tribe "Maedi" [Maidi, Met, Maeot... the famous gladiator Spartacus (Sparadok) was a Thracian from the Maedi tribe].
5th century BC.

5th century BC - The Sindians create their own state — Sindica, ruled by a dynasty of Sindian kings. The capital of the state was the city of Sindica [now Anapa].

480 BC - The Greek colonial cities located on the shores of the Kerch Strait united into one state — the Bosporan Kingdom with its capital at Panticapaeum [Kerch].

479 BC - The "Bosporans" undertook an open military invasion of Sindica and captured the city with heavy losses. Large detachments of Sindians and other Maeotian tribes repeatedly attempted to recapture Sindica from the Greeks. During these wars, the city was destroyed. On its site, the Greeks built their own colony city, which they named Gorgippia [Anapa]. With the fall of Sindica, the process of consolidation of the Maeotian tribes began around the Maeotian tribe of the Zikhs living to the east [Tuapse region]. The Greeks called them Zikhs, but in Bosporan inscriptions the spelling ADZAHA also appears. In Italian and Greek sources, the name "Zikhs" in reference to the Adyghe is used until the 15th century.

438–433 BC - Spartok I, a man of "barbarian" [most likely Thracian-Maeotian ... cf. Thracian Sparodok] origin, comes to power in the Bosporan Kingdom, founder of the Spartokid dynasty. He began to introduce into the Bosporan state the cult of Dionysus and Poseidon, from whom the Thracian kings traced their lineage. With the arrival of Spartok, the wars between the Zikhs and the Greeks ceased, and trade ties between the "Bosporans" and the "Maeotians" strengthened. The "Maeotians" became one of the main suppliers of grain to the cities of the Bosporan Kingdom and Ancient Greece.

433–392 – King of Bosporus Seleucus [son of Spartok I].

433–389 – King of Bosporus Satyros [son of Spartok I] was the first Bosporan ruler to begin military actions to annex autonomous Greek cities. This primarily affected the Asian part of the Bosporus, inhabited by Hellenes [Taman Island]. Then Satyros set his sights on the city of Nymphaion near Panticapaeum, where an armed Athenian detachment was stationed. A chance combination of circumstances apparently helped take Nymphaion without much bloodshed. At the same time, a war was unleashed in Sindica. The matter was that a Maeotian woman [from the Sarmatian tribe of Iaxamatae] named Tirgatao married the king of the Sindians [Hecataeus] and, for unknown reasons, deprived him of power. Satyros agreed to help Hecataeus restore his throne if he married Satyros's daughter and killed Tirgatao. But Hecataeus only imprisoned her in a fortress, from where Tirgatao escaped to her relatives. Returning to her homeland, she married her father's successor, Tirgatao began military operations and greatly devastated the lands of her enemies with raids. The kings sent Satyros's youngest son Metrodorus to her as a hostage and sent two hired assassins to her. Tirgatao survived the assassination attempt and executed Satyros's son. The struggle with the Maeotians was only ended by Satyros's son Gorgippus, who came to Tirgatao with pleas and the richest gifts. Satyros also attempted to include Theodosia into the state, but the siege of the city was completed after his death.

5th century BC - The Maeotian tribes [i.e., the part that are the ancestors of the Adyghe] are separated from other Sarmatian tribes by the relatively friendly Sarmatian tribe of the Siraces. A gradual mutual penetration of the cultures of the "Maeotians" and Sarmatians occurs. According to Strabo, the Aorsi live along the course of the Tanais [Don River], and the Siraces along the course of the Achardeus [Kuban River].

4th century BC.

4th century - Following Scylax of Caryanda, Strabo (66 BC – 23 AD) mentions the Achaei. In his "Geography," he writes: "beyond Sindica and Gorgippia (modern Anapa) along the sea lies the coast of the Achaei, Zikhs and Heniochi," mostly lacking harbors and mountainous, as it is part of the Caucasus. These peoples live by piracy, for which they have small, narrow and light boats with a capacity of up to 25 people, rarely up to 30; the Greeks call them "camaras"... Equipping fleets of such "camaras" and attacking either merchant ships or even some country or city, they dominated the sea. Sometimes even the inhabitants of Bosporus help them, providing their ship moorings and a market for selling booty. When they return to their native places, in the absence of ship moorings, they have to carry the "camaras" on their shoulders into the forests, where they live, cultivating the poor land. When the sailing season arrives, they again carry their boats to the shore. They do the same in foreign countries, where they know the wooded places well; there they hide their "camaras," and themselves wander on foot day and night, kidnapping people to sell into slavery. They willingly offer to release the kidnapped for a ransom, notifying their relatives after going to sea. In lands subject to local rulers, the authorities assist the victims of violence; they often in turn attack the robbers and, having captured their "camaras," bring them back along with the crew. The areas subject to the Romans are more powerless against this evil due to the negligence of the rulers sent there."

4th century - Strabo's contemporary Cornelius Tacitus, in Book III of his treatise "Histories," confirms the opinion about the inability of the Romans to cope with the West Caucasian pirates: "In Pontus, a slave, a barbarian who had once commanded the royal fleet, unexpectedly took up arms – the freedman of Polemon, Anicetus. He had previously enjoyed great power in this country; when it became a Roman province, he began to impatiently await a coup... at the head of significant forces he burst into Trapezus. The cohort stationed there was killed... Anicetus burned the Roman ships by throwing burning torches at them, and became the complete master of the sea... The barbarians built ships for themselves with surprising speed and sailed the sea with impunity. These ships are called camaras by them, their sides are close to each other, and below the sides the hull expands; the barbarians do not use any copper or iron fastenings when building ships. When the sea is stormy and the waves are high, boards are laid over the sides, forming something like a roof, and thus protected, the barges maneuver easily. They can row in any direction. These vessels end with a sharp bow at the front and back, so that they can safely approach the shore with either end..." The Romans were only able to suppress this powerful uprising of the Caucasians at the price of bribing King Sedochez in Colchis, in whose domains Anicetus had taken refuge. Both Anicetus and Sedochez are Abkhaz-Adyghe names, having many comparable anthroponyms in later nomenclature.

389–349 - Having taken power in the Bosporan Kingdom, Satyros's son Leukon ruled for a very long time. He not only continued his father's policy but also surpassed him. Leukon finished the war with Theodosia and annexed its lands to Bosporus, although the war lasted quite long. To achieve victory, Leukon made an alliance with the Scythians and ordered the Scythian horse archers to shoot his retreating hoplite warriors. Gradually Leukon annexed the lands of the Sindians [Taman Peninsula], Toreteans [approximately Primorsko-Akhtarsky and Timashevsky districts of Krasnodar Krai], Dandarids [approximately Temryuk district of Krasnodar Krai], and Psessians [approximately Yeysk district of Krasnodar Krai]. Relying on the alliance with the Scythians, Leukon managed to deal with all the opponents of the Spartokid power.

349–344 BC – After Leukon, power passed to his sons Spartok II and Paerisades.

344–310 BC – The main content of Paerisades' policy was to strengthen the authority of the archon over the Greek poleis and the king over the "barbarians" subjugated by his father, to which he also added the lands of the Doschi [Timashevsky district of Krasnodar Krai] and the Fatei [Dinskoy district and the outskirts of Krasnodar]. During the reign of Paerisades, the Bosporan state became even richer through the grain trade.

310–309 BC – The reign in Bosporus of Satyros II and Prytanis, sons of Paerisades. After Paerisades' death, a civil war for power broke out between the sons. Eumelus, having entered into friendly relations with the Maeotian tribes, gathered a huge army and began a war against his brother, but lost the first skirmish. With the remnants of his army, he took refuge in the castle of his ally Arifarnes, king of the Fatei. Satyros II attempted to capture the castle but was wounded in battle and soon died. His body was transported to Panticapaeum, where power was taken by his brother Prytanis. Eumelus tried to negotiate a division of Bosporus, but Prytanis refused to listen to him. Seizing the moment, Eumelus captured a significant part of the territory of Asian Bosporus. Soon Prytanis's troops capitulated, and he himself renounced power.

309–304 BC – The reign in the Bosporan Kingdom of Eumelus, son of Paerisades. His reign brought many benefits to the Bosporans, mainly due to increased trade and territorial expansion of the state. In addition, Eumelus, like his father, used all available methods to strengthen the authority of Bosporus on the Pontus [Black Sea]. Under his rule, the sea was cleared of pirates [Zikhs, Achaei, Heniochi, etc.], which improved trade contacts. Subsequent kings of Bosporus were unable to increase their wealth. Very little information about them has survived in ancient literature, and some of them were not even given a place.

304–284 BC – The reign in the Bosporan Kingdom of Spartok III, son of Eumelus. Under him, relations with Athens cooled, and life ceased at the Yelizavetinskoye settlement, once a center of trade with the Maeotians. The reign of Spartok III saw the departure of the Scythians from their lands and the arrival of the Sarmatians.

3rd century BC.

284–245 BC – The reign in the Bosporan Kingdom of Paerisades II, son of Spartok III. He tried to develop relations with Egypt and Rhodes. Major changes took place in the ancient world. Macedonia and Ptolemaic Egypt became the main rivals exerting political influence and pressure on the Greek poleis. Drawing closer to Egypt, Paerisades tried to improve the economic situation of his country.

245–240 BC – The reign in Bosporus of Spartok IV, son of Paerisades II.

240–220 BC – The reign in Bosporus of Leukon II, son of Paerisades II.

220–200 BC – The reign in Bosporus of Hygiainon, great-grandson of Satyros II.

3rd century BC – The city of Tanais emerged in the lower reaches of the Don as a Bosporan trading post.

2nd century BC.

2nd century BC - The Zikh king Stachemphacus calls himself a subject of the Roman Emperor. Over time, the Zikhs unite an increasing number of Maeotian tribes around themselves. The beliefs of the Maeotians remain the same but are supplemented by elements of Sarmatian cults. Many Siraces, under the influence of settled agricultural settlements, transition to a sedentary lifestyle and, settling among the Maeotians, gradually assimilate with them.

200–180 BC – The reign in Bosporus of Spartok V, son of Hygiainon.

180–150 BC – The reign in Bosporus of Paerisades III, son of Hygiainon.

150–125 BC – The reign in Bosporus of Paerisades IV, son of Paerisades III.

125–109 BC – The reign in Bosporus of Paerisades V, son of Paerisades IV. The last king of the Spartokid dynasty, he probably voluntarily handed over power to the king of Pontus Mithridates V, fearing the capture of Bosporus by the Scythians. The vast majority of settlements in the Eastern Crimea were destroyed or abandoned.

1st century BC.

1st century BC – "Sarmatization" of Bosporan cities. The rise of the Sarmatian-origin nobility in the Bosporan Kingdom and its new flourishing. The appearance of Iranian-speaking Alan tribes in the Central Caucasus and Transcaucasia.

1st century AD.

1st century AD – Paul the Deacon mentions the "Antes" on the Dnieper.

2nd century AD.

3rd century AD.

3rd century AD – The appearance of Germanic-speaking Gothic tribes in the Volga-Don interfluve, the steppes of the Ciscaucasia and the Black Sea region. The Goths wage war with the Roman Empire and capture Bosporus.

4th century AD.

4th century AD - The "Great Migration of Peoples" began, lasting approximately until the 7th century.

371 - A new alliance of nomads led by the Huns from Northern China and Mongolia, having suppressed the resistance of the Alans, moved to the northern shores of the Black Sea. Within months, the Huns destroyed the Bosporan Kingdom. The Maeotians and Siraces were driven from the banks of the Kuban southward into the mountains.

5th century AD.

5th century AD - Germanic-speaking Gothic tribes capture Taman. According to Adyghe legend, the eldest son of Prince Dauo – Baksan [cf. Karamzin's prince of the Antes Boxa], was killed by the Gothic king [Sh. Nogmov "History of the Atykhei People"].

5th century AD - In Greek chronicles, the collective name for the proto-Adyghe – "Maeotians" is replaced by "Zikhs." Part of the Zikhs descends back to the deserted plains of the Kuban, where they encounter the Turkic-speaking Bulgars [Utigurs], who had separated from the "Hunnic alliance." On the "ruins" of the Bosporan Kingdom, the positions of Byzantium strengthened, whose main enemy became the Bulgars. The Zikhs entered into a military alliance with Byzantium, which served as the beginning of the strengthening of Christianity's position. The Zikhs went to war against the Goths and liberated Taman from them. Byzantium neutralized the Bulgars in the Northwestern Caucasus.

5th–6th centuries - Christian preachers constantly arrived in Zikhia from Byzantium. Simultaneously with the penetration of Christianity into their midst, the Adyghe remained faithful to the cults and beliefs of their ancestors. In the southeast of Zikhia, Christianity had stronger positions. A cultural and ethnic demarcation occurred from "Zikhia" of the independent tribal union "Apsua" [Abkhazians].

6th century AD.

6th century AD - The Byzantine historian Agathias noted the developed navigation among the Colchians ["On the Reign of Justinian"].

527 - Zikhia fell under the rule of Byzantium, which was expressed in the fact that they had to bear naval service in the form of supplying ships and naval equipment. From this time on, natives of the Zikhs began to seep into the military and administrative life of Byzantium, many of whom became influential court dignitaries.

50s–60s – The appearance of the Turkic-speaking Avar tribes in the North Caucasian steppes, the conclusion of an alliance with the Alans and the subjugation of the Bulgars. The Avars and Bulgars ravage the lands of the Antes, head to Central Europe and create the "Avar Khaganate" there. A historian of the second half of the 6th century mentions an envoy of the Antes to the Avars – "Mezamir, son of Idarizius, brother of Kelagastus." The name Kelagast ["Kale" – Turkic "City," "gashte" – Adyghe "to frighten, frightening"] is of the same type in word formation as the names Ardagast, Piragost, Dabragast. These names are most likely more proto-Adyghe than Proto-Slavic.

6th century AD - The formation of the state of Alania in the Central Caucasus, which existed until the 13th century.

7th century AD.

7th century AD - A new alliance of tribes was formed – the "Khazar Khaganate," which, in addition to the Turkuts (remnants of the Turkic Khaganate), also included the Alans, Savirs, Bulgars and others. With the appearance of the "Khazars," Zikhia did not lose its influence in the Western Caucasus, but its positions were weakened. Ties with Byzantium were not lost but were hampered. The Zikho-Kasogs were forced to move to the left bank of the Kuban, as the "Khazars" dominated the right bank.

634 - The Arabs drove the Khazars out of Transcaucasia and established themselves there until the end of the 9th century.

635–668 - Khan Kubrat led a new state in the Azov region – "Great Bulgaria." After the death of Khan Kubrat, "Great Bulgaria" split into "Bulgaria" [between the Sea of Azov and Kuban], "Danube Bulgaria" and "Volga Bulgaria." The remnants of the Bulgars of the Kuban region moved to the upper reaches of the Kuban and influenced [together with the Alans] the ethnogenesis of modern Karachays and Balkars.

8th century AD.

724 - The Arab campaign against Alania [as part of Khazaria]. The Alans paid a poll tax to the Arabs.

8th–9th centuries - Periodically, the Zikhs occupied or settled the Kerch Peninsula, where their toponymic and epigraphic traces are preserved in large numbers. In a number of Byzantine sources [8th–9th centuries], the Eastern Crimea is called Zikhia. The influence of the Zikh church also penetrated here. A.V. Gadlo noted that in certain periods, especially in the 7th–10th centuries, the Eastern Crimean eparchies of Cherson, Bosporus [Kerch?] and Sugdea were called Zikh and were part of the Zikh Archbishopric with its center in Nikopsis [Gagra?], and in the 10th century — in Tamatarkha [Tmutarakan – modern Taman].

9th century AD.

9th century - In the Black Sea steppes, having recaptured them from the Khazars, nomads from the east broke through – first the Magyars [proto-Hungarians], then the Pechenegs [Kipchaks]. The Zikhs expelled the "Khazars" from all their former lands.

10th century AD.

10th century – Al-Masudi used the ethnonym Kashag [Kashek, Kashak] to designate a group of West Caucasian tribes. The Greek-Byzantine ethnonym "Zikh" was apparently unfamiliar to him. The Russian and Khazar sources do not know the Zikhs either [with the exception of the "Cambridge Anonymous," which is not trustworthy]. Thus, for the Arabs, Persians, Khazars and Russians, the "Zikhs" were "Kasogs" [Kashag, Kasakh, Kasak, Kasa]. He also reports on the maritime trade of the Kashaks (Kasogs), who sailed on their ships to Trebizond [Minorsky V.F. History of Shirvan and Derbent in the 10th–11th centuries]. According to N.A. Khachmakhov, the Kasogs, like the Rus and Vikings, burned their fallen leaders on ships. It is very important to note that the largest operational base of the Rus pirates was located in Zikhia on the Taman Peninsula [Deacon Leo "History"]. This automatically means that the pirate squadrons of the Rus included the West Caucasian highlanders. They jointly plundered the coast of Byzantium, entered the Mediterranean Sea and plundered the coasts of Andalusia and Catalonia.

10th century - N.Ya. Marr draws attention to the important circumstance that Armenian sources of the 10th century often place Russia next to Abkhazia, and depict the kings of Russia and Abkhazia in identical clothes [Bartold V.V. Review of the works of N.Ya. Marr on the study of the antiquities of Ani]. The armament of the 10th-century Rus has much in common with the Circassian weaponry complex. The hairstyle coincides, as many authors wrote about. Like the Circassian women, the women of the Rus wore corsets. The architecture of the dwelling of the Rus is West Caucasian [Lavrov L.I. The Adyghe in the early Middle Ages]. The Rus had banners with tufts, which are exclusively characteristic of the Abkhaz-Adyghe. The funeral rite of the Rus is exactly the one that the Circassians and Abkhazians had [Vernadsky G.V. "Ancient Rus"]. The cult of the horse coincides in detail. Like the Abkhaz-Adyghe, the Rus practiced fosterage – a system of adoptive kinship [Kosven M.O. "Ethnography and history of the Caucasus"]. The Old Russian language contained clear Adygisms – social terms borrowed from the Adyghe language – unein and tiun [Orlov A.S. "Vladimir Monomakh"]. The Rus in Crimea and on Khortytsia had a cult of sacred trees, borrowed by them, according to Vernadsky, from the Circassians and Abas-zhan [Vernadsky G.V. Ancient Rus].

964–965 - The weakening of the "Khazars" brought the Rus to the borders of Kasogia. Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, having attacked the "Khazars" and destroyed their city of Sarkel, went to war against the Kosogs [northern Adyghe] and Yases [Ossetians] between the Kuban and Manych and sent many prisoners to Kiev.

975–996 – Ghulams [the Arabic designation for slave-soldiers, among whom there were many Turks, as well as Zikhs] first appeared in Egypt under Caliph al-Aziz. For example, the ghulam of Zikh origin Nazuk was the police chief of Baghdad under the Abbasid dynasty.

989 - Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich secured Tmutarakan for Rus by capturing the remnants of Khazar fortresses in Taman and Kerch. He gave the Tmutarakan principality to his young son Mstislav, who was then no more than 6 years old.


Maps of the studied period
Conclusions on the admixtures of the "Adyghe" and "Georgian" groups
Main article

The Carthaginians appear. The haplogroups of the Carthaginians, like those of the Phoenicians, are easily identified by their isolated colonies (modern Ibiza, Sardinia, Malta): E-V22, J1, J2, J2a1b, J2a1b1, G2a, R1a and R1b1a. E-V22 and R1b1a are still often found in the Levant (Syrians, Lebanese, Druze, Jews, Palestinians). More details.

The Cimmerians (9th–7th centuries BC, Northern Black Sea region, Azov region). One of the oldest tribal groups, mentioned by Assyrian cuneiform sources under the name Gimirrai, Gimirri. They appeared in the Northern Black Sea region in the 8th–7th centuries BC. There is a mention of the Cimmerians in Homer's "Iliad." Under the pressure of the Scythians, they went to Asia Minor and through the Balkans to Western Europe. Archaeological traces of their movement are found in Northern Italy and Southern France.

According to many written testimonies (Homer, Herodotus, Assyrian documents and many others), the Cimmerians, fleeing from the Scythians, came from the Northern Black Sea region to the southeastern part of Anatolia. More details.

The Maeotian archaeological culture — an archaeological culture of the Early Iron Age and the transition from Bronze to Iron, was widespread on the eastern and southeastern coasts of the Sea of Azov in the 1st millennium BC, as well as on the Black Sea coast up to Abkhazia (covering the modern territories of Kuban, Adygea, Abkhazia and partly the Don). The bearers of the culture were the ancient Maeotians. More details.

The Erians appear — tribes that inhabited Egritika — a region in Colchis, also mentioned by Ptolemy in the following context: "The coastal part of Colchis is inhabited by the Laz, the upland (areas) by the Manrals and (other) peoples living in the country of Ecrectica (Ἐκρηκτική χώρα)." In the name Egritika — Ecrectica and in the name of the Manrals, one can easily discern the names of both the country of Egrisi and the Egers who inhabited it, the later Megrelians — one of the West Georgian (Megrelian-Chan) peoples. More details.