1 Yemen
2 Oman
3 Arabia (Saudi Arabia)
4 Iraq
5 Iran (Persia)
6 Pakistan
47. Relatives in the Near East
by George Weber
With the "Near East" (there being no better word available for the area) we mean the area from North Africa to the Caspian Sea and from the Caucasus to the Yemen. Of particular interest to us in this area are the Yemen, Arabia and Iran/Pakistan. Other countries in the region might also be treated below in future as data becomes available from them.
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1 Yemen |
1. Yemen
The situation regarding the Yemeni aboriginal population is unclear and hard data is missing. Moreover, the terms used to describe the populations involved in scientific literature are confusing. They have never been clearly defined in their meaning and/or are dependent on one racial classification or the other (see Appendix 02 on "Classification of Human Races"). The Vedda and Veddoid people are a group much like the Negrito and Negritoids, distributed in India, Sri Lanka and all over south and southeast Asia and perhaps further afield (see our maps in Chapter 34 "What does 'related' mean"). The only major difference to the Negritos is that the Veddoids have long, only slightly curled hair while the Negrito have their very tightly curled peppercorn hair. How the two groups are related is still very much an open question. It has been speculated that the Negrito represent the first migration of anatomically modern Homo sapiens out of Africa while the Veddoids are the descendants of the second wave. Others think that the two are different branches from the same original group. Nothing has been definitively established but hopes are high that DNA investigations will bring some light into the darkness here.
The writer, explorer-anthropologist and photographer Carleton S. Coon (1904-1981) in the 1950s has photographed the and published the following pictures of two men from the Yemen. showing some Negritoid, resp. Veddoid physical traits. Photographs of of such people from the Yemen are extremely rare and we are most grateful for Dr. Coon's son for permission to reproduce them here.
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Yemeni, Negrito and Veddoid people |
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Yemeni Negritoid "Arab" man |
Negrito of the Great Andaman group |
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Yemeni Veddoid man |
Vedda from Sri Lanka |
Andamanese Negrito of the |
From the description given below by our correspondent, it seems that the aboriginal population of the Yemen is more likely to be Negritoid because of their peppercorn hair. Whether the tribes mentioned as Veddoid by the Encyclopaedia Britannica (see below) are really Veddoid or Negritoid we must leave open for the moment.
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A recent visitor to the Yemen (who wishes to remain anonymous) has sent us the following report. I noticed immediately that there are people there (in the Yemen) that do not resemble the Arabs in any way and that do not seem to have much to do with the Arab Yemenis even though they are part of Yemeni society. I am not an anthropologist but I think I can say with a fair degree of certainty that there are Negritos in the Yemen. I have read your description on your web-site and they largely fit the black-skinned Yemenis that I have see: short stature, black skin and that odd type of hair on their heads. It must be said that the Negritos in the Yemen are particularly noticeable because of the their short stature since the Yemeni Arabs also are not very tall (Yemeni women around 1.6 m/ 5.25 ft, men are a little taller). The Negritos are popularly called "Black Yemenis". Nobody seems to know where they come from and how long they have been in the country. Some claim that they have been brought to the Yemen as slaves at once time or another, others say that they have "always" been living there as part of the Arab population. The "Black Yemenis" are virtually all muslims. What has surprised me is the social status of these people. The "black Yemenis" are at the bottom of the Yemeni social structure and are despised as below even beggars. One also has to know that Arabs are highly racist: white skin = good/high, dark skin = bad/evil/low. Society is structured as follows: at the top are a few sheikhs and princes who hold religious as well as political power. The president of the republic also has to be counted here. At this level power is balanced and money distributed. Below are a few respected families and clans who have chosen and hold their own corner within the system and exercise power there. The descendants of the last Qasimid Imam of San'a overthrown in 1962 belong here. There is no middle class, really, except perhaps in the capital. That is why the poorer, less educated classes who form the mass of the population follow immediately below the upper classes. Within the lower classes there are many levels according to profession and skin colour. Still lover the the beggars and street vendors and at the very bottom are the "black Yemenis". These people with black skin work mostly as street sweepers and in garbage removal. Female "black Yemenis" are of prostitutes. Many live in shacks and collect their food from garbage cans. I was shocked to see how they were treated by the "light-skinned" Yemenis. I have often seen how they were beaten and kicked. As to myself, I have always found them quite friendly. One incident has remained with me: I had just come back from a long trip and wanted to take my luggage from the roof of the Jeep. A "black Yemeni" passed and wanted to help me but before he could do so he was pushed aside by a light-skinned Yemeni using abusive language towards him. This new man then helped me and explained "hoa mush tamam" ("he is not a good person"). When I asked him why he said such a thing, he explained "he is black". I observed more and more that the Yemenis are afraid of the "black Yemenis" and do not want to have anything to do with them. It is very rare to see a light-skinned Yemeni married to a dark-skinned woman. This is a taboo that prevents a mixing of Arabs and "black Yemenis". Another thing I noticed: the Yemenis distinguish between black African migrants (who are also black) and "black Yemenis". There are quite a few Somalis and other Africans in the Yemen. Although they are black-skinned, too, they are treated better. We thank our correspondent for this fascinating input. |
Cavalli-Sforza's magnum opus The History and Geography of Human Genes of 1994 describes the Yemeni and Saudis simply as "Arab". This they are in their vast majority, no doubt. But it seems also that DNA sampling in this case has left out an important and historically relevant but socially "embarrassing" stratum of Yemeni society. While the plight of black Yemenis as described is tragic, the fact that there appears to be little mixing between the groups provides genetic science with an unexpected chance to identify the origin and antiquity of these "black Yemenis".
While our correspondent refers to Yemeni society in the city, the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1985 edition) adds another angle: an aboriginal population in Yemen living a traditional tribal life:
Non-mediterranean Veddoids (Australoids) are found as minorities, increasing in number and importance as one moves eastward until they constitute the chief element in the tribes of al-Mahra: there they also speak a language of their own, different from Arabic but belonging, like it, to the Semitic language group. Isolated communities of African origin, remnants of ancient invasions or slave groups, include the Hujurs in the western part and the Sibyan in the Hadramawt.
Why would it be important and interesting to establish the origin and age of the Yemeni aboriginal population(s)?
When the first anatomically modern humans left Africa around 100,000 years ago (following Homo erectus who must have done so hundreds of thousands of years earlier), they moved into the Middle East and Asia. They had to wander north either down the valley of the Nileor along the coast of the Red Sea to the the Sinai peninsula to spread into the Middle East and around the Mediterranean. There has been so much movement of people around the Sinai for such a long time that any genetic traces of the first migration that might still possibly linger there are now unlikely to be traceable.
A third possibility has long been discussed and that is the crossing of the Red Sea and into the Arabian peninsula at its narrowest point: the Yemen. The main obstacle to this route would have been a sea crossing which has been thought beyond the capabilities of pre-humans or early modern humans. However, it is now thought that many of these early humans lived a beachcombing life and may have been better acquainted with the sea than has been thought possible. Unfortunately, the ancient shoreline is now deep below the sea and virtually inaccessible to archaeologists. Beachcombers develop an intimate relationship with the sea and it would have been surprising if they did not develop some form of seagoing transport, canoe or raft. Crossing the Red Sea into Yemen may not have been so difficult for such people as is sometimes claimed. The latest archaeological discoveries from Saudi Arabia now show that Homo erectus did cross the Red Sea, and that more than a million years ago. Anatomically modern early Homo sapiens would have had no problem doing so 100,000 years ago.
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The hypothetical routes of the first emigration of both pre-humans and anatomically modern humans out of Africa. All routes are likely to have been used at one time or the other. The earliest migration of modern humans was likely to have taken place around 100,000 years ago and to have followed the coastlines. Around 60,000 years ago they had reached India. a1 the Nile valley route Green area: uninhabited by anatomically modern humans 100,000 years ago Red areas: area in which forerunners of modern humans have been found (going back as far as 5 million years) and where subsequently early modern humans is thought to have developed also (possibly out of a Homo erectus population). |
For a discussion of the possible route taken by the out-of-Africa migrants see Forster and Matsumura, reprinted on this web-site.
2. Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia remains a country largely inaccessible to scientific population studies. Consequently, very little is know of the genetic structure of its people. Under such circumstances it need not be very significant that no Negrito-like populations (or genetic traces of such) have been reported from there. It is likely that a situation not too dissimilar to that described above for the Yemen also exists, at least in some parts, in Saudi Arabia.
Prehistoric archaeology in Saudi Arabia is a relatively young field. It all started in the 1970s when a number of accidental discoveries drew attention to the potential of the area. There is now growing archaeological activity that has already brought to light evidence of Arabia as a hunting ground and corridor of passage for early pre-human and human migrations.
Dr. Mike Petraglia and his team (funded by the The Leverhulme Trust) have found evidence that so far consists of stone tools of the the Oldowan toolmaking tradition (started around 2.5 million years ago in Africa and lasted for around 1 million years) and of the following Acheuleen tradition (started around 1.8 million years ago, again in Africa,and lasted until around 150,000 years ago).
The tools have not yet been put into a typological series nor have they been dated scientifically yet. Only tools but no bones have been found so far so that their makers can only be assumed to have been Homo erectus. The site Shuwayhitiyah (no. 1 below) shows a close relationship to East African Oldoway. The sites along the coasts of the Red Sea as well as inland are younger with Acheuleen tools. The Dawadmi site (no. 2 below) is especially large and shows tools of both types, indicating that it may have been in use for long periods.
The following map shows some of the more significant excavation sites in the peninsula
(ref. Journal of World Prehistory 17:141-179, 2003)
See www.human-evol.cam.ac.uk/Projects/arabia/index.htm
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Archaeological sites found to 2003 predating approx. 100,000 years. 1 Shuwayhitiyah archaeological site a the Sinai, Egyptian, Nile valley or northern migration
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Last change 28 March 2005
