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European science is beginning to favor the view according to which the language spoken by the Central European population during the Ice Age was Finnish (Finno-Ugrian). This is nothing new since several highly esteemed scientists have come to the same conclusion within the last 150 years, among others the German Gustav Kossinna. The linguistic relation of the Finns and Hungarians was discovered only in the eighteenth century, and quite soon the relation of the newly discovered Finno-Ugrian language group with the original European population was studied. It is generally held that the influx of Indo-European languages to Europe occurred relatively late, and the scientists have mainly wondered where the newcomers came from.
There is one place where the theory about the Finnish inhabitants of Europe including Scandinavia at the end of the Ice Age is unpopular, and that is Finland itself. The practice at the local universities was--in extreme cases--to pass the positions of professors from one generation to another. Thus the "circles" were small and self-propagating. Behind the velvet curtains of civilized homes it was (and is?) a given fact that the ordinary uncivilized folks were of "inferior race." For example German universities were seriously interested in the hypothesis concerning the Finnish origins of the European population, but in Finland this was as ill-fitting as burping at social teas. The present facts about the common origins of Finns and "noble Germanics," corroborated by genetic charting has caused mixed feelings in Finland. The most ludicrous explanation is a hastily concocted ad-hoc theory about the changing of Finnish genes--a desperate attempt to rescue the nobility of the so-called "baettre folk" (better Swedish-speaking population.) The next thing we may hear could be a claim that speaking Finnish has deteriorated our "Western genes."
The above Swedophile way of thinking can be seen among others in the fact that a person speaking bad Finnish is automatically considered more civilized while someone speaking bad Swedish is regarded as a dolt. Of course, the reverse should be the case!
The arrival of Finns and Lapps in Fennoscandia,
It has been recognized for a long time that Northern Norway was populated before the inland Scandinavia glacier melted. The inhabitants came from the West: England, the plains situated at the location of the present North Sea, and Germany. The archaeological findings of these areas have been classified as belonging to the Maglemose culture which now is considered to be largely similar to the Narva culture located to the East of the Baltic Sea. Thus it must have been the same population and probably also the same language. The immigrants were attracted to the Northern shores by abundant game for hunting and a chance of sea fishing. The White Sea cliff drawings of the later comb ceramic era show whalery in which large sea vessels (resembling the umiak leather boats of the Eskimos) were used, already aided by such developed tools as the harpoon and and an attached buoy which prevented the prey from diving. It is also known that the Basques practised whaling using small boats as late as the historic period.
As a result of climate warming, vegetation zones moved farther to the North; and so such groups of people as had acquired survival skills in the cold tundra zone found it advantageous to move to the North, following the game animals. Under normal conditions, the arctic and sub-arctic areas yield excellent prey to hunters and collectors but require developed tools and skills. The Finno-Ugrians of the then-Arctic Europe had acquired these during the glacialization period, like today's Eskimos. Considering the period, the Finnish peoples were thus on a high level of civilization and organization.
The Finno-Ugrians who had conquered the North from the West had been separated from the Eastern inhabitation by the glacier and also by several centuries; consequently they were also genetically separated from the rest of the Finnish linguistic groups. Some indigenous genetic complexes were enriched while some more recent genetic effects received by their Southern tribal relatives were lacking. A reason like this may lie behind the genetic difference met with the Lapps. Copyright & copy; 1998
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