Aryans came from Northern Europe

   bummer. lol

         i was hoping for someone to explain Ragnarok to us that gave a little credence to the myth. Someone who could translate beyond the legends and give us a better understanding of an actual event.

                      so much for that

Aryans were an eastern branch of the IE tree. the Aryan languages are of the satem variety and have obvious linguistic differences with the centum variety of the west. I think this rules out the possibilty of Aryan languages [and peoples] coming from Northern or Western Europe.  The Eastern European steppes, based on what I have read, is the most likely point of origin for the proto-IE people who later broke up to form the proto-Aryans (who most definately did exist), proto-Germanics and others.  The Aryan group moved into and later divided in Central Asia forming the Mede, Parthian and various Scythian and Persian tribes who spread into the regions which now speak Aryan or Indo-Iranian languages - most other groups divided elsewhere, the Germanics, for example, split somewhere in  north central Europe and Slavs in Russia and Eastern Europe.

  Cro Magnon remains dated to 90,000-95,000bp  were found at three sites in Israel.  Research on these remains indicate they were as advanced as later CMs, not just anatomical but other areas as well, tool making, burial customs, diet etc.  Puts the movement south to north theory in the catbirds seat.     

Frist of all, its not the atlantis story  homo sapians came from one hommid, the algaster.As homo sapians migated out of africa, they changed from the adaption to the enviromemt. Mellon in the skin turned white in  Europe and Russia from less voilet rays. The long trip onto Asia in the cold the  eyes were swollen and the skin change from the diet , less meat and more dairy.however 70,000 years after theToba catastrophe theory, positing that the human population was reduced to a few thousand individuals when the Toba supervolcano in Indonesia erupted and triggered a massive environmental change. and the great tusumis that hit the west coast of africa 80,000 years ago populations were trown together.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck

All throughout history, only Iranians(from what I know at least) are the only people that referred to themselves as Aryans.  Iran means Land of the Aryans.  I find it hard to believe that the Aryans came from N. Europe, or anywhere else other than Iran.  I dont think the people that already inhabited Iran before the Aryans would want their country to be called "Iran" so thats why I seriously doubt that Aryans came from anywhere else other than Iran.  Besides, not all Europeans are Aryan.  IMO, only the people around the Mediterranean(Spanish,French,Italians,Greeks) in Europe are Aryan.  From these areas, the Aryans migrated onto Northern Europe spreading their language.

Also the whole Aryans being blonde hair, blue eyed is just propoganda that was used by the Nazis.  Only racist Europeans make this claim.  Italians, Greeks, Persians were not originally blond hair, blue eyed.  Racially Italians, Greeks and Iranians are closest to each other.    

Hindus still use it.Arya means a person of Noble Behaviour in Sanskrit.

The term "Aryan" is German/English.Rigveda is composed in Sanskrit.

Which translation of Rigveda did you refer to Sharrukin?

[QUOTE=Sharrukin]To the Griffith translation/QUOTE]

That explains your using the German/English term.

Anyway I personally think it's difficult to pinpoint where the IE family of languages originated.There are different views on this issue.Maybe a more learned member like Maju could have thrown more light on this issue.

If we are talking about a great race of human beings having originated in Northern Europe in this thread,who were very tall and had blonde hair and blue eyes,then I have no objection.Highest concentration of people [in the old world] with Blonde Hair and Blue Eyes is in Europe.They might have originated from any part of Europe.It's fine with me.Doesn't matter if they originated from North,South,East,West or Centre of Europe.

We are living in a globalising world Sharrukin.People learn from one another.Even in the present era of IPR and Copyrite laws people plagiarise.After some time all knowledge is open for genral public to use.Take the case of drugs.

There are misconceptions everywhere. 0 and the decimal number system were invented in India.I read in my school textbooks that the decimal number system is 'Arabic Numerals.'

I agree with the 'confusion' bit.

Old college friend of mine sent me this, I'm not sure if it is accurate.  The carvings of these Persians look very N. European to me. - gens

"Indian depictions of Persians as Nordics and mixed types

At the time when the Greek writer Xenophon praised what he called "tall beautiful Persian women" (during the 6th century BC), the Persian envoys to India were depicted in still existent paintings in the Ajanta caves outside Bombay as light skinned, blue eyed and blond, or dark skinned and blue eyed with a fair beard. (Ujflvy, L'Anthropologie, vol. ii., 1900). This is the first tangible sign that the Indo-European Persians had started mixing with the darker natives of their land. By the fourth century, this process had spread dramatically to where only a very few of the ruling class could still claim pure Indo-European ancestry.

Alexander Sarcophagus

Colored engravings on the famous Alexander Sarcophagus (also known as the "Sarcophagus of Sidon" - because it was found in Sidon - today in the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul), dating from 310 BC, show a number of Persian warriors as having light eyes and hair with fair or red mustaches.

Left:The Alexander Sarcophagus, circa 310 BC. Archaeological Museum, Istanbul. Also known as the Sarcophagus of Sidon, the city in which it was first found. Right: Details from the Alexandrian Sarcophagus: two Persian heads from the time of Alexander the Great. Both are Nordic sub-racial types, and the originals are color painted with fair hair and blue eyes.

Finally the already largely mixed race Persians were to be overrun by the new White force in the region: the Indo-European Macedonians under Alexander the Great in a series of battles between 334 and 331 BC.

Culture

The Persians built vast and very good roads for the efficient administration of their huge empire, but are probably best remembered for their religion called Zoroastrianism. Founded by a prophet named Zarathustra, the basic religious concept of a never ending battle between good and evil supernatural powers, was later plagiarized by the early Christians and worked into the biblical New Testament (the concepts of heaven and hell are not mentioned at all in the Christian Old Testament).

Whites in the Middle East Submerged

The fall of the Persian Empire marks the end of the great majority White civilizations in the Near East. By this time virtually all of the settlements in the greater region had lost whatever racial homogeneity they once had, and were to larger or smaller degrees societies comprised of a plethora of mixed races, producing the wide and varied physiognomy visible to this day in the region - a mix of Semitic and original White stock. From the time of the fall of the Persian Empire however, the near East ceased to be an area which was majority occupied by peoples who could claim to be White in the original racial sense of the word."