63: Dene-Caucasian roots and ancient hominins -all articles on this website are only on this website

Written by Linden Alexander Pentecost and published in the UK on this website by Linden Alexander Pentecost on the 30th of April 2025. The comment in the title: “all articles on the bookofdunbarra website are only on this website” is essentially what it says on the tin, and I included it, because my previous articles to this one on this website were given titles distinguishing them from my March 2025 print-only book. However, in the case of the article in front of you, this is to remind my readers that all articles on this website are only on this website. This article contains a lot of information, ranging from general metaphysical and more physical questions, and my own work, on ancient languages, to the Dene-Caucasian languages, ancient hominin and human archaeology, and legends of ancient humans like the basajaun and almasty and others, with the general implication being that hypothetically these things could be related; and that just as folklore suggests that some of these ancestors taught us, that perhaps they could also have passed on aspects of languages. Other topics are also discussed including some general references to others' suggestions on ancient hominin language influences and topics. Other topics are also discussed in addition to this. Four links to other articles by the author are also included, three of these other articles are on this website, the other is on archive.org. This article is longish but contains no sub-sections, as the topics are interconnected. Note that in a recent article for Silly Linguistics, unrelated to the article in front of you, and not yet published, I briefly discuss Denisovans and their possible influences on present day Eurasia (the main topics focus around the Mansi and Bashkir languages); and that in my next Silly Linguistics article that I will be writing, I will be talking about a specific language of the Caucasus, namely Kabardian. This article currently in front of you contains 3160 Words. No references are given at the end of this article, but some references are given within the text. A longish note is added at the end.

 

The origins of human language, are, obviously, not clear. I have researched this and gone into detail about some deeply philosophical ideas, that in some ways describe language as an extension of the universe, if you like, rather than being merely human inventions. Take for example onomatopoeic words. If a human hears an animal make a certain call for a mate, and then uses that sound to name the animal; has he invented the word? Or has the animal, has nature, given its own name? I have discussed this a lot previously, and have discussed some aspects of this in a recent article for archive.org, titled: 

A discussion on 7 more potential Finnish and Quechuan word similarities found in April 2025 and published in April 2023 and which were not published in my recent print-only book that was published in March 2025 (this April 2025 article includes 7 main Finnish words discussed with 7 possibly related Quechua words and discussions), published only on archive.org, published in the UK - the URL to which is: https://archive.org/details/a-discussion-on-7-more-potential-finnish-and-quechuan-word-similarities-found-in-April-2025-and - this article is also entirely separate from my recent (March 2025) Print-only book and from other articles and books I have published.
Another, less metaphysical, and more physical aspect to this subject, is the question of whether or not non-Homo-Sapien humans also possessed forms of language. 

Of course, there is absolutely no way to say for sure. But we know that Neanderthals and several other ancient humans made tools, made use of fire, and had some degree of social organisation, all of which are things intrinsic to modern humans. And so really, it seems only reasonable and logical that some kind of language must have been used. Whilst other animals do have forms of symbolic communication, it is difficult to define when precisely and at what point these forms of communication become language as we understand it.
But what we do know is that Neanderthals, Denisovans, Homo-Heidelbergensis, Homo-Erectus and others, were,human. Homo-Erectus was likely the first to use fire; they made tools, and had forms of social organisation. Therefore, even though they may have been different from us in many respects, they were also akin to us in important ways, which set them, and us apart from other mammals and animals on this earth.

Aspects to this have been discussed before, although often not widely heard of. Some have discussed what Neanderthal, and other hominin language may have been like, according to our understanding of their vocal systems. Homo-Floresiensis, who lived only around 15,000 years ago on the island of Flores, was suggested by some, such as John McWhorter, to have had a kind of influence on the indigenous languages of Flores today. Whilst the linguist Daniel Everette has implied that language could have originated 2 million years ago with Homo-Erectus. 

So, there is essentially, a rarely discussed, but fascinating subject that connects the human archaeology of the Lower Palaeolithic, to linguistics. It is true that we simply do not know enough about our past, our origins, and other earlier humans, to say for sure whether or not they could have left a linguistic influence on our languages today. But nevertheless, it is a possibility. We know that modern humans, homo-sapiens, interacted with some of these ancient peoples to some extent, implied by genetic signatures in human populations today. I suspect that all modern humans have genetic evidence of this, especially when we have not necessarily identified all of these other ancient humans. For example, whilst European people contain a portion of Neanderthal DNA, some West Africans seem to contain signatures of an unknown “ghost DNA”, from another, as of yet unidentified hominin or human cousin.
Two areas of Europe are perhaps especially relevant when it comes to this subject, namely Iberia and the Caucasus Mountains. This is not merely about the presence of other early humans in these regions, but more generally about the incredible longevity of human habitation in these regions. In terms of the Caucasus Mountains region, the Dmanisi hominins found in Georgia have been dated to around 1.85 million years old, making them the oldest known human cousins to have lived outside of Africa.
The Basque Country in northern Iberia is another place with a long, albeit somewhat less long history of human inhabitation. Outside of Europe, parts of Asia, especially China, have also yielded evidence of incredibly ancient human ancestors having lived outside of Africa.

In addition, Basque, many languages in the Caucasus Region, and Chinese, a Sino-Tibetan language, have sometimes been grouped into a sort of super-family of languages, known as the Dene-Caucasian languages. 

It is important to understand here that Chinese, Basque and say, Nakh in the Caucasus Mountains, are not profoundly similar to each other for the most part. This is in part why the Dene-Caucasian hypothesis is often rejected by linguists. It would perhaps be more accurate to say, that certain comparisons can be made between these languages, and that certain grammatical features and root-words appear to be shared between these languages. But, as I implied, this is not enough to say that they are a language family. 

The distribution of Dene-Caucasian languages does, in my opinion, imply a very ancient influence in certain areas, but trying to call this a language family is I think incorrect. I think it better to discuss this in terms of an ancient influence. And I am not the first person to ask or to suggest; could these “Dene-Caucasian” connections have anything to do with the presence of, and interactions with, other ancient humans in many of the areas where these languages are spoken? - particularly the Basque language in the Basque Country, the three Caucasus language families of the Caucasus Mountains region; and the Sino-Tibetan language family of eastern Asia. 

This is not in any way to suggest that Dene-Caucasian languages are primitive, or somehow non-homo-sapien in origin. Rather, I am suggesting that all human languages could potentially contain influences from earlier humans, and that some of these influences could, theoretically, relate to the Dene-Caucasian languages in some way. The reason why Dene-Caucasian languages are perhaps relevant especially, particularly Basque, Caucasus and Sino-Tibetan languages, is that these languages could have preserved such influences in situ, in a more identifiable way to how such ancient influences could be preserved in languages as a whole.

Take for example the fact that the Basque Country, the Caucasus Mountains, and many parts of China, are mountainous. Mountainous regions would have been more likely to harbour later populations of other human cousins, and furthermore, the modern human cultures in these areas would perhaps be more likely to preserve evidence of interactions with these cousins. 

This is not to say that Indo-European languages for example could not contain an equal number of influences from earlier humans; but rather that, unlike the Caucasus languages for example, Indo-European languages have been dominated by a history of migration and enormous cultural changes, as opposed to for example the Caucasus Languages which have remained less affected by change and migration. (Note that Caucasus Languages refers to three different language families: the South Caucasian, Northeast Caucasian and Northwest Caucasian language families, but some have implied all three are connected to Dene-Caucasian.

And of course, we had the Ice Age, which messed things up a bit for trying to trace these things. For example, Britain had Neanderthals and the earlier Homo-Heidelbergensis humans. But, any evidence of interaction, linguistically or otherwise, with modern humans in Britain, is confounded by the fact that we had ice ages, making a geographically accurate preservation of these ancient influences much harder to discuss.

This is in complete contrast to the Basque Country and the Caucasus Mountains, which were never covered with ice during the ice ages, therefore making it entirely feasible that more identifiable ancient influences and continuity could be observed. 

Folkloric evidence of interactions with ancient humans in the Basque and Caucasus Mountains regions, and in China, and possible linguistic implications

Another aspect to this comes from folklore. Many have heard of bigfoot or sasquatch, but sasquatch is not the only ancient human-like entity to have reportedly been encountered by modern humans. Even in Britain we have legends of the woodwose, the brownies and gruagaich in Scotland, which may fit under this definition. I discuss some aspects of this in my article on this website titled: 53: The mysterious brownies, hobs and gruagaich, and their language , the link to which is: https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-46-55/53-the-mysterious-brownies-hobs-and-gruagaich-and-their-language
Perhaps not surprisingly, given the known presence of ancient humans in the Basque Country, Caucasus Mountains, and China, there are also ancient humans known in the folklore of these places. 

The Basque Country has the basajaun, tall, hairy wild men, who reputedly built some of the megalithic monuments in the Basque Country, and taught humans how to farm, and how to smith metal. Some have suggested that Basajaun folklore could relate to interactions with Neanderthals, or possibly other ancient humans, in Iberia.
The folklore of the Caucasus Mountains also talks about similar beings, generally referred to as almasty in Russian literature. These beings are sometimes described as Neanderthal-like in appearance, and there is suggestion in Caucasus folklore of interactions between them and modern humans. In Georgian folklore specifically, beings known as Devi may also fall into this category, and, as with the basajaun in the Basque Country, there is an implication that the Devi were capable of smithery, and shared knowledge with humanity in some way. I learned this from the guy on the YouTube channel titled: The Bordo Show, presented by a Georgian man who is an expert on Georgian mythology and history. Although I cannot remember in precisely which video of his he mentions the Devi being metallurgists, although I know for sure that he does state this in one of his videos. 

In China, a similar ancient wild man is known as the Yeren, 野人, yěrén. One particularly interesting account, by Duan Chengshi, in the book Youyang Zazu, describes these beings as having human speech, but that it sounds like a bird. This is quite fascinating. I have discussed this topic of “language of the birds” before, but this account would seem to suggest that these ancient humans did have a form of musical language. Note that I also discussed some different aspects to this in my recent article on this website, titled: 62: Ancient Chinese in the Americas, and Chinantec (not in my recent print-only book), the link to which is: https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-56-70/62-ancient-chinese-in-the-americas-and-chinantec-not-in-my-recent-print-only-book
(Note that this article above was published on this website relatively recently, hence why it is numbered 62, whereas the article you are currently reading (not the one linked to above) is article number 63. 

To round this up, the folklore, particularly the Basque folklore, seems to imply that these other humans were there before us, and that they actually taught people how to work the land, and how to work metal. If these folkloric accounts do relate to actual interactions between modern and ancient humans, this would seem to imply some sharing of knowledge. Could this then, also, have extended to the sharing of language, and could this relate to the Dene-Caucasian root words in any way? It is also noteworthy that the comment about the Yeren sounding like “birds” is curious, given that Chinese itself is a tonal language, tonal languages being in a sense more akin to singing, and at least metaphorically speaking, to the sounds made by birds. I discuss more metaphysical aspects to this picture in my article on this website, titled: 34: Arawak and bird language (pertaining to Arawak and other languages), the link to which is: https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-30-45/34-arawak-and-bird-language 

Note that legends of almasty-type beings are also found in other mountainous parts of Asia, including the Pamir Mountains and the Altai Mountains. But the languages in the Altai Mountains are primarily Turkic today, and unlike the Basque, Caucasian and Sino-Tibetan languages, the Turkic cultures were historically more mobile and migratory, and so the legends of almasty in these areas today, and the languages in these regions today, are perhaps less likely to preserve more identifiable facets of interactions between modern humans and ancient humans. And of course, Turkic languages are not included in the Dene-Caucasian language hypothesis. 

Although -  it is also noteworthy that the Burushaski language of northern Pakistan, another language sometimes included in the Dene-Caucasian language family, and again not defined by migration, is spoken in a mountainous region that also abounds with legends of wild men, known there as barmanu. I will let my readers draw their own thoughts and ideas from all of this.
And I will leave it at that. My intention in writing this article has been in no way to try and prove or demonstrate that ancient, pre-homo-sapiens humans left a linguistic influence on our languages today. But rather, my intension has been to talk about this as a possibility, and to discuss how this could theoretically fit into certain archaeological finds and folkloric evidence in regions and cultures where some Dene-Caucasian languages are spoken. Again, take from this what you will, the important thing is to describe this as a possibility, and I do strongly believe that the possibility of such interactions, is, in an of itself, a relevant, if hypothetical linguistic discussion. 

Note also that Basque, and Caucasian languages, and Chinese for example do have other mysterious connections to languages I have discussed previously, which are outside of this Dene-Caucasian hypothesis. I may go into this in my next Silly Linguistics article and have discussed other aspects to it previously. There is also the possibility that the "giants" and long/elongated skull people in Europe and South America may be unknown other hominins, and that they may have interacted with us linguistically, in fact, I think this is likely, as I have discussed previously. But also, an aspect of the origins of human language is also far outside the realm of hominins, and seems to connect more to the cosmic music of the universe itself in some way, as I have discussed in many places, including in the article published on archive.org which I mention in this article in front of you. 

Note also that encounters with these other hominins, such as barmanu, almasty, basajaun and Yeren are reported into present times. Whether or not these encounters are due to populations of these beings still living in the mountains, within our “dimensional space”, or whether or not these beings occupy different dimensional spaces we can nolonger see, and only occasionally visit our own, I cannot say. I hope that this article is a fascinating read; and I pray that, if such ancient humans do physically exist within our world still, that they continue to survive, and that one day we may meet with them again.

Update, May the 5th 2025, with further notes added on 7th of May 2025: Note that I also briefly mention Denisovans in relation to language in an article I had published today in Silly Linguistics, this article is again entirely separate from the article in front of you, the new Silly Linguistics article is titled: On the Mansi and Bashkir languages, and possible holes in widely accepted theories on Indo-European languages - part two of languages in the Ural Mountains By Linden Alexander Pentecost. This is published in Silly Linguistics Issue #83. This is also separate from the future Silly Linguistics article on Kabardian and the Caucasus (also separate from the article published on this page). After this I hope to write a Silly Linguistics article with something about language in the Pamir Mountains, The Kushan script, and also further comments on Neanderthal language, possibly, although in this Pamir Mountains article I would like to cover a different aspect to this. This Pamir Mountains article will again be separate from the article on this page, and from any of my previous articles published in different places, but will also discuss different aspects of some of the things discussed on this page, but in a different way. Note that in my Kabardian Silly Linguistics article, aforementioned, I do not specifically say that the Pamirs will be the subject of the next article, and instead discussed some different ideas for the next article, before later realising that I wanted to write it about the Pamirs and language, although I did mention the idea of writing about languages in Afghanistan or in more on language in China as ideas, and both of these countries share a part of the Pamirs, so my initial ideas were not entirely inaccurate to what I eventually decided to write for the Silly Linguistics article after my Kabardian one (which also has info on Dene-Caucasian and other language links not in the article in front of you).