In Caucasian Folklore, an almas, alma or almasty, is a

cryptid Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but are not believed to exist by mainstream science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by ...

, folk creature or

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

said to inhabit the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

Tian Shan The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...

and

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and the

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The m ...

of western

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Etymology

The term "almas" and numerous variants thereof appear in Mongolian,

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...

and

Iranian languages The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are grouped ...

. Writing in 1964, scholar P. R. Rinčen says that "the origin of the old name is quite unknown … and it does not lend itself for translation in other languages". The name is connected to a variety of place names (

toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

) in southwestern Mongolia, including Almasyn Dobo ('the Hills of Almases'), Almasyn Ulan Oula ('the Red Mountains of Almases') and ('the Red Rocks of Almases'). Folk belief in the almas in Oburkhangai and

Bayankhongor Bayankhongor ( mn, Баянхонгор, lit=''righ soft'', or ''rich sweetheart'') is the capital of the Bayankhongor Province (aimag) in Mongolia. The administration of the Bayankhongor Sum (district) is also located in the same place. The city ...

has resulted in a name-avoidance

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

there, wherein the entities may be referred to as ''akhai'', meaning 'uncle-brother'. The folk traditions of

Darkhad The Darkhad, Darqads,. Dalhut, or Darhut ( Mongolian for "Untouchables", "Protected Ones", or "Workmen of Darkhan"; Chinese: 达尔扈特, pinyin: Dá'ěrhùtè) are a subgroup of Mongol people living mainly in northern Mongolia, in the Bayanz� ...

include the deity Almas khara Tenguer, meaning 'Almas the Black God' and associated with highland prairies and mountain forests. According to Rinčen, the god may be offered edible wild roots and wild animal meat.

Description

Nikolay Przhevalsky Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky (or Prjevalsky;; pl, Nikołaj Przewalski, . – ) was a Russian geographer of Polish descent (he was born in a Polish noble family), and a renowned explorer of Central and East Asia. Although he never reache ...

describes the almas, as related to him under the name ''kung-guressu'' ("man-beast"), as follows:

We were told that it had a flat face like that of a human being, and that it often walked on two legs, that its body was covered with a thick black fur, and its feet armed with enormous claws; that its strength was terrible, and that not only were hunters afraid of attacking it, but that the inhabitants removed their habitations from those parts of the country which it visited.

Heaney suggests that the almas should be identified with the

Arimaspi The Arimaspi (also Arimaspians, Arimaspos, and Arimaspoi; grc, Ἀριμασπός, Ἀριμασποί) were a legendary tribe of one-eyed people of northern Scythia who lived in the foothills of the Riphean Mountains, variously identified wit ...

, a group of legendary humanoid creatures said to inhabit the

Riphean Mountains In Greco-Roman geography, the Riphean Mountains (also Riphaean; , or ; '' grc, Ῥιπαῖα ὄρη''; Latin: ''Rhipaei'' or ''Riphaei montes'') were a supposed mountain range located in the far north of Eurasia. The name of the mountains is ...

In science

In 1964, a Soviet scientist from the

Soviet Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

proposed that the Almasti could be a

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

population of

Neanderthals Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...

still living in Siberia. In 1992, a group of scientists went on an expedition to search for the almas in the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...

. A 2014 study concluded that hair samples attributed to the almas were from species including ''

Ursus arctos The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...

'', ''

Equus caballus The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

'' ''and

Bos taurus Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

''. Gutiérrez and Pine concluded that several of these samples were from the

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...

Notes

Sources

* *{{cite report , first=Nathan , last=Wenzel , series=Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection , title=The Legend of the Almas: A Comparative and Critical Analysis , department=SIT Mongolia (SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad) , via=SIT Digital Collections , publisher=

School for International Training The School for International Training, widely known by its initials SIT, is a private non-profit regionally-accredited institution headquartered in Brattleboro, Vermont, United States. The institution has two main divisions. SIT Graduate Instit ...

, publication-place=Brattleboro, Vermont, United States , url=https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1780&context=isp_collection , format=PDF , date=22 September 2009 , type=Essay Hominid cryptids Mongolian legendary creatures Turkic legendary creatures Turkish folklore Kazakh folklore Deities

Etymology

Description

In science

See also

Notes

Sources