Editing 6th millennium BC (section)

==North Asia==
According to [[Vasily Radlov]], among the [[Paleo-Siberian]] inhabitants of [[Central Siberia]] and Southern Siberia were the [[Proto-Yeniseian|Yeniseians]], of whom the [[Ket people|Kets]] are considered the last remainder. The Yeniseians were followed by the Uralic [[Samoyedic peoples|Samoyeds]], who came from the northern [[Ural Mountains|Ural]] region. '''Proto-Uralic''' is the [[attested language|unattested]] [[linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] language ancestral to the modern [[Uralic languages|Uralic language family]]. The hypothetical language is thought to have been originally spoken in a small area in about 7000–2000 BC, and expanded to give differentiated [[protolanguage]]s. Some newer research has pushed the "[[Proto-Uralic homeland]]" east of the Ural Mountains into [[Western Siberia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grünthal |first1=Riho |last2=Heyd |first2=Volker |last3=Holopainen |first3=Sampsa |last4=Janhunen |first4=Juha |last5=Khanina |first5=Olga |last6=Miestamo |first6=Matti |last7=Nichols |first7=Johanna |last8=Saarikivi |first8=Janne |last9=Sinnemäki |first9=Kaius |date=2022-08-29 |title=Drastic demographic events triggered the Uralic spread |url=https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/publications/drastic-demographic-events-triggered-the-uralic-spread |journal=Diachronica |language=en |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=490–524 |doi=10.1075/dia.20038.gru |s2cid=248059749 |issn=0176-4225|hdl=10138/347633 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Polities harbouring the [[Proto-Uralic language|Uralic]] peoples thrive. 
The shores of all Siberian lakes, which filled the depressions during the [[Lacustrine period]], abound in remains dating from the [[Neolithic]] age.{{cn|date=February 2024}} Countless ''[[kurgan]]s'' ([[tumulus|tumuli]]), furnaces, and other [[Artifact (archaeology)|archaeological artifacts]] bear witness to a dense population. Some of the earliest artifacts found in [[Central Asia]] derive from Siberia.<ref>Philip W. Goetz (1991), ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'', p. 724, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.</ref>{{fcn|reason=Missing entry name|date=December 2024}} Large scale constructions occur as early as 6000&nbsp;BC. Prehistoric settlements in remote Siberia have revealed that 8,000 years ago construction of complex defensive structures, such as the [[Amnya complex]], occurred with political warfare. They are the oldest fortresses in the world. Finding such ancient fortifications challenges previous understanding of early human societies. It suggests that agriculture was not the only driver for people to start building permanent settlements.

Large scale backwards migrations occur with Native American populations migrating back into [[Asia]], settling in areas such as the [[Altai Mountains]] several times over a span of thousands of years, earliest dated to 5500&nbsp;BC. This is potentially linked to the environmental changes at the time (see [[Mount Mazama]]), which remained preserved in the oral history of the [[North America]]n cultures to this day.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/eye-witnesses-call-from-millennia-past/|title=Eye-witnesses call from millennia past|last=Nunn|first=Patrick|date=28 August 2018|work=[[Cosmos (Australian magazine)|Cosmos]]|publisher=Royal Institution of Australia|access-date=26 February 2024}}</ref> 

[[Na-Dene languages|Na-Dené]]-speaking peoples finally entered North America starting around {{BCE|8000}}, reaching the [[Pacific Northwest]] by {{BCE|5000}},<ref>{{cite journal |last=Drummond |first=D. E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/pss/670070 |jstor=670070 |title=Toward a Pre-History of the Na-Dene, with a General Comment on Population Movements among Nomadic Hunters |journal=American Anthropologist |series=New Series |volume=71 |issue=5 |date=October 1969 |pages=857–863 |publisher=American Anthropological Association |doi=10.1525/aa.1969.71.5.02a00050 |access-date=2010-03-30}}</ref> and from there migrating along the [[Pacific coast|Pacific Coast]] and into the interior. Linguists, anthropologists, and archeologists believe their ancestors constituted a separate migration into North America, later than the first Paleo-Indians. They migrated into Alaska and northern Canada, south along the Pacific Coast, into the interior of Canada, and south to the Great Plains and the American Southwest.

Indo-European cultures, descended from [[Ancient North Eurasian|Ancient North Eurasians]] long ago, continue to expand Westwards from Central [[Russia]]. It provides linguistic evidence for the geographical location of these languages around that time, agreeing with archeological evidence that Indo-European speakers were present in the Pontic-Caspian steppes by around 4500&nbsp;BCE (the [[Kurgan hypothesis]]) and that Uralic speakers may have been established in the [[Comb Ceramic culture|Pit-Comb Ware culture]] to their north in the fifth millennium BCE.<ref>Carpelan & Parpola 2001:79</ref>{{missing long citation|date=December 2024}}

Such words as those for "hundred", "pig", and "king" have something in common: they represent "cultural vocabulary" as opposed to "basic vocabulary". They are likely to have been acquired along with a novel number system and the domestic pig from Indo-Europeans in the south. Similarly, the Indo-Europeans themselves had acquired such words and cultural items from peoples and cultures to their south or west, including possibly their words for "ox", ''*gʷou-'' (compare English ''cow'') and "grain", ''*bʰars-'' (compare English ''barley''). In contrast, basic vocabulary – words such as "me", "hand", "water", and "be" – is much less readily borrowed between languages. If Indo-European and Uralic are genetically related, there should be agreements regarding basic vocabulary, with more agreements if they are closely related, fewer if they are less closely related.

Indo-European cultures in Central [[Asia]] flourish, these cultures are the: [[Middle Volga culture]] (followed by the [[Samara culture]] at the turn of the millennium), the contemporary [[Dnieper–Donets culture]]. From around 5200&nbsp;BC, the patriarchal Dnieper-Donets culture leaves the [[Mesolithic]] [[hunter-gatherer]] lifestyle and begins keeping [[cattle]], [[sheep]] and [[goat]]s.{{sfn|Anthony|2010|pp=174–182}} Other domestic animals kept included [[pig]]s, [[horse]]s and [[dog]]s.<ref>*{{cite book |last=Mallory |first=J. P. |author-link=J. P. Mallory |year=1991 |title=In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language Archeology and Myth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lENVpwAACAAJ |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] | pages = 190–191 }}</ref>