Folia archeologica 27.
István Fodor: Az uráli és finnugor őshaza kérdése (Régészeti áttekintés)
150 I. FODOR 1. The investigations of a Finno-Ugrian original home fell, till recent timest almost entirely within the province of linguistics, other doctrines, as ethnology archaeology, being not in possession of data, sufficient as for their number and importance. Archaeological finds did not yield an evidence suitable for outlining the historical evolution of a Finno-Ugrian ethnogenesis; in the late 19th and early 20th century, the founders of the so-called Finno-Ugrian archaeology used the material remains mainly for illustrating the existent linguistic theories about the original home. The Finnish archaeologist J. R. Aspelin joined in his work, published in 1875, 5 with the idea of his compatriot, M. A. Castrén, setting the birthplace of the cognate Uralian (Finno-Ugrian and Samoyed) and Altaic peoples about the Sayan and Altai region. 6 Aspelin concluded that the so-called Ural-Altaic Bronze Age culture must have been the heritage of this ancient population, in a region whence the Finno-Ugrians later migrated westwards. At the beginning of this century, there were, however, not many specialists left who still adhered to Castrén's theory. More and more followevers gained the theory of a Volga-Kama original home, launched by the Russian F. Th. Köppen. 1 The Finnish archaeologist A. M. Tallgren adjusted his very cautious ethnohistoric deductions also to this notion. He refuted the hypothesis of a homogeneous Ural-Altaic Bronze Age culture and classed the Ananino culture of the Kama basin of the 8th to 3rd century B. C., considered by him as a Bronze Age one, among the heritage of the Finno-Ugrians. As for the previous period he approached himself to the point of view of the Swedish archaeologist 0. Almgren , according to whom the Neolithic culture, diffused on the forest zone spreading from the Ural to the Baltic and characterized by the so-called Comb-Marked Pottery, is to be attributed to Finno-Ugrians. 8 The Finno-Ugrian original home is located by Tallgren on the Central Volga - Oka - Kama-region, a which means that he accepted the notion of Setälä , formed bv linguistic considerations. 1 0 5 Aspelin , J. R., Suomalais-ugrilaisen muinaistutkinnon alkeita. (Helsinki 1875) G His lecture held in 1849 was published in vol. V. of „Nordische Reisen und Forschungen M. A. Castrén's" issued between 1853 and 1862. (107-122,) 7 Köppen, F. Th., Ein neuer tiergeographischer Beitrag zur Frage über die Urheimat der Indoeuropäer und Ugrofinnen. Das Ausland 63(1890): 51. 1001-1007. " Almgren, O., Nagra svensk-finska stenäldersproblem. Antikvariskt Tidskrift for Sverige 20(1905): 1. 9 Tallgren, A. AI., Suomen kansan esihistoriallinen kulttuuriperintö. In : Suomen Kulttuurihistoria. I. (Helsinki 1933) 30. [Quoted on the ground of the paper of B. Korompay : NyK 54(1953) 6-7.] - This presumption is implied in the extremely cautious formulation of his works in foreign languages as well: Tallgren, A. M., Zur Archäologie Eestis. I. Vom Anfang der Besiedlung bis etwa 500 n. Chr. (Dorpat 1922) 68-69, 129.; Id., The Arctic Bronze Age in Europe. ESA 11(1937) 20.; - An excellent summary of his opinion in Hungarian: Id., Arch.Ért. 34(1914) 73-83. Having expounded the theory of Aspelin he continues as follows: „For linguistic reasons recent research rejected, though, the presumption, that the original home of the Finnish race is to be sought in the Altai region. This original home is searched for to-day on the western side of the Ural, about the Volga; recent archaeological finds also refuted the evolution of the Ural Bronze Age from the Altaic." (74.) 1 0 Setälä, E. N., Suomensukuisten kansojen csihistoria. In: Suomen suku. I. (Helsinki 1926) 144-148. - A copious review, written in Hungarian, of his paper of the same title, publshed previously: Trócsányi, Z., Ethn. 27(1916) 190-209.
