﻿428 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  19 
  2 
  9 
  

  

  type 
  of 
  speech 
  as 
  having 
  inhabited 
  some 
  part, 
  perhaps 
  many 
  contiguous 
  parts, 
  

   of 
  the 
  parkland 
  country 
  which 
  fringes 
  these 
  steppes, 
  and 
  as 
  having 
  spread 
  in 
  a 
  

   long 
  period 
  of 
  slow 
  development; 
  accelerated 
  from 
  time 
  to 
  time 
  by 
  drought, 
  and 
  

   migrations 
  caused 
  by 
  drought. 
  Some 
  drifted 
  in 
  moister 
  periods 
  in 
  the 
  direction 
  

   of 
  the 
  treeless 
  steppe, 
  losing 
  or 
  confusing 
  their 
  vocabulary 
  for 
  forestry 
  and 
  

   farming; 
  others, 
  in 
  dry 
  spells, 
  further 
  into 
  the 
  forests, 
  with 
  corresponding 
  forget- 
  

   fulness 
  of 
  their 
  more 
  pastoral 
  habits. 
  Much 
  recent 
  controversy 
  over 
  details 
  

   would 
  have 
  been 
  avoided 
  if 
  it 
  had 
  been 
  realized 
  earlier 
  by 
  students 
  of 
  these 
  

   languages 
  that 
  the 
  geographical 
  regime 
  of 
  all 
  grassland 
  regions 
  is 
  liable 
  to 
  these 
  

   periodic 
  changes; 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  immediate 
  effect 
  of 
  such 
  change 
  is 
  either 
  to 
  alter 
  

   the 
  mode 
  of 
  life 
  of 
  the 
  inhabitants 
  till 
  it 
  suits 
  their 
  new 
  surroundings, 
  or 
  else 
  to 
  

   drive 
  them 
  out 
  into 
  regions 
  where 
  they 
  still 
  can 
  live 
  in 
  the 
  ancestral 
  way. 
  

  

  Professor 
  Myres 
  describes 
  the 
  grassland 
  area 
  to 
  which 
  he 
  refers 
  as 
  

   consisting 
  of 
  two 
  great 
  reservoirs 
  in 
  hour-glass 
  form, 
  fringed 
  by 
  forest 
  

   or 
  desert, 
  one 
  extending 
  for 
  1,500 
  miles 
  from 
  the 
  Carpathians 
  to 
  Oren- 
  

   burg, 
  the 
  other 
  for 
  1,000 
  miles 
  from 
  that 
  point 
  to 
  the 
  high 
  ground 
  of 
  

   Elburz 
  or 
  of 
  Tianshan. 
  In 
  northern 
  and 
  central 
  Europe, 
  where 
  the 
  

   rainfall 
  is 
  distributed 
  fairly 
  evenly 
  throughout 
  the 
  year, 
  grassland 
  gives 
  

   place 
  to 
  scrubland, 
  and 
  the 
  latter 
  passes 
  into 
  that 
  deciduous 
  forest 
  

   which 
  once 
  reached 
  without 
  intermission 
  from 
  the 
  Atlantic 
  to 
  beyond 
  

   the 
  Urals. 
  

  

  Ellsworth 
  Huntington 
  and 
  Professor 
  Myres 
  have 
  thus 
  traced 
  the 
  

   connection 
  between 
  changes 
  of 
  climate 
  and 
  certain 
  historical 
  events. 
  

   The 
  propositions 
  which 
  they 
  have 
  established 
  suggest 
  a 
  detailed 
  

   analysis 
  of 
  the 
  material 
  dealing 
  with 
  historical 
  events 
  of 
  this 
  type. 
  

   This 
  analysis 
  yields 
  the 
  following 
  results: 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  centuries 
  immediately 
  preceding 
  the 
  year 
  2000 
  B. 
  C. 
  the 
  

   first 
  great 
  movement 
  of 
  the 
  steppe 
  peoples 
  foreshadowed 
  the 
  modern 
  

   world. 
  The 
  Canaanites 
  poured 
  out 
  of 
  Arabia, 
  and 
  the 
  Hyksos, 
  the 
  

   shepherd 
  kings, 
  crossed 
  the 
  mountain 
  ranges 
  through 
  Persia 
  and 
  

   Palestine 
  into 
  Egypt.^ 
  The 
  Hyksos 
  brought 
  the 
  horse. 
  It 
  was 
  pre- 
  

   viously 
  unknown 
  in 
  Arabia 
  and 
  in 
  Egypt. 
  At 
  this 
  time 
  Egypt, 
  the 
  

   Aegean, 
  Mesopotamia, 
  and 
  southern 
  Arabia 
  were 
  the 
  centers 
  of 
  civili- 
  

   zation. 
  

  

  Tartar 
  nomads 
  must 
  have 
  inhabited 
  the 
  steppes 
  of 
  Europe 
  and 
  

   Asia, 
  and 
  early 
  users 
  of 
  the 
  "Indo-European" 
  speech 
  the 
  surrounding 
  

   forest 
  and 
  parklands 
  of 
  the 
  two 
  continents. 
  The 
  Alpine 
  race 
  occupied 
  

   the 
  mountain 
  zone 
  from 
  the 
  Western 
  Alps 
  to 
  the 
  Pamirs; 
  and 
  the 
  

   Mediterranean 
  race, 
  described 
  by 
  Professor 
  Sergi, 
  the 
  shores 
  of 
  that 
  

   sea. 
  The 
  Caspian 
  Sea 
  and 
  all 
  the 
  lakes 
  and 
  marshes 
  of 
  Europe 
  and 
  

   Asia 
  were 
  larger 
  than 
  they 
  are 
  now, 
  glaciers 
  were 
  more 
  numerous 
  and 
  

   extended 
  further 
  into 
  the 
  valleys. 
  The 
  rainfall 
  was 
  generally 
  heavier, 
  

   and 
  regions 
  now 
  steppe 
  were 
  then 
  forest 
  clad, 
  while 
  some 
  tracts 
  which 
  

   are 
  now 
  desert 
  provided 
  good 
  pasturage. 
  

  

  » 
  The 
  so-called 
  Median 
  Wall 
  (from 
  the 
  Euphrates 
  to 
  the 
  Tigris) 
  was 
  probably 
  built 
  at 
  this 
  period. 
  Pro- 
  

   fessor 
  Myres 
  states 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  certainly 
  elder 
  than 
  the 
  Median 
  conquest, 
  and 
  that 
  its 
  object 
  clearly 
  was 
  to 
  

   keep 
  out 
  nomads. 
  

  

  