Alexander

> I don't think that the Karakum and Kyzylkum deserts were absolutely
> impassable. Just people who were used to the life in small mountain
> valleys would not go there if they could find a place for expanding
> in the next valley. Thus, in my opinion, people who reached
> Ferghana and needed to move further because of increase of
> population weren't go neither northwards to the steppe nor
> westwards to the semidesert. The most natural variant for them
> would be to continue the movement north-eastwards along the Tien
> Shan slopes. BTW, do you remember that microlithic cultures were
> found in NW China as well?

Interesting to do datings and naming of these cultures. I too feel
that the Karakum and Kyzylkum were not totally impassible. What they
would require was, however, a different set of cultural adaptions
from those that sustained those of the mountain valleys. These
adaptions would take time to develop, and as later history would
show, there could easily have developed a tradition of rivalry
between the more mobile desert dwellers and those that stayed in the
valleys (and later developed agriculture).

> As to the way from the Pontic Steppe across the Urals into Central
> Asia, I don't know a well marked migration in this direction until
> the Bronze Age (the Timber Grave and Andronovo cultures). On the
> other hand, the territory of Kazakhstan is not well investigated
> archaeologically yet (especially in respect of Mesolithic -
> Eneolithic).

David Christian in his History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia
Volume 1, suggests that the mesolithic cultures of the forest/steppe
interface moved fairly comfrtably across the Urals into Siberia. He
gives evidence for the development of fisher-folk on the Volga, who
moved into into the forests and moved north along the Ob and Yenesei
to the Arctic coast. There birchbark canoes were replaced with
sealskin canoes, with a specialised microlithic culture which spread
rapidly across to the East, over the Lena mouth as far as Kamchatka
and submerging Beringia.

If Glen is right, with the connection between Uralic and Yukaghir,
and Chukchi and Innuit, this would make a logical connection. I have
not however, found any other material on these connections. I really
should follow up on the Bibliographical sources Christian uses for
this connection.

Regarding the PNG Vavilov zone, Jack Golson in his "History of Papua
New Guinean Agriculture" was where I first saw it.

Regards

John