Almas (folklore)

The term "almas" and numerous variants thereof appear in Mongolian, Turkic languages, and Iranian languages. Scholar P. R. Rinčen (AKA Byambyn Rinchen) in a 1964 paper also referred to the creature as "wild man" (Mongolian: , cf. "kung-guressu" of Przhevalsky below), and commented that "the origin of the old name [Almas] 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) in southwestern Mongolia, including Almasyn Dobo ('Hills of Almases'), Almasyn Ulan Oula ('Red Mountains of Almases'), and ('Red Rocks of Almases'). Folk belief in the almas in Övörkhangai and Bayankhongor has resulted in a name-avoidance taboo there, wherein the entities may be referred to as , meaning 'uncle-brother'. The folk traditions of Darkhad include the deity , 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 described the almas in 1876, 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". Scholar has provided the following description in 1981: Almases, according to the stories of witnesses, appear half animal, half human, with reddish black hair. The face is hairless, the stomach covered with sparse growth. The head seems pointed at the occiput, the forehead flattened back with projecting brow ridges, and prominent cheekbones. They are the height of an average person. The almas walks with half-bent knees, is round-shouldered and pigeon-toed. It has broad shoulders and long arms. The women have long breasts. Almases are timid, suspicious, but not aggressive, and lead a nocturnal way of life. No-one has heard their speech. Heaney suggests that the almas should be identified with the Arimaspi, a group of legendary humanoid creatures said to inhabit the Riphean Mountains. == In science ==

In 1964, a Soviet scientist from the Soviet Academy of Sciences proposed that the Almasti could be a relict population of Neanderthals still living in Siberia. In 1992, a group of scientists went on an expedition to search for the almas in the Caucasus Mountains. A 2014 study by Bryan Sykes et al. matched the genetic fingerprints of eight hair samples of the "almasty" all from Russia, and matched them to the Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos), horse (Equus caballus) and cattle (Bos taurus). Bryan Sykes et al. also produced the controversial result that the golden-brown "yeti" sample from Ladakh and the "yeti/migyhur" sample from Bhutan were a 100% match with a museum-held Pleistocene fossil polar bear, but not with any modern specimen. In 2014 Ceiridwen J. Edwards and Ross Barnett also refuted the polar bear claim, and concluded the degradation of brown bear DNA to be the likely explanation. According to legend, Zana of Tkhina was an , (the Abkhazian equivalent of the almas) of great proportions entirely covered in hair, captured by hunters in the forests of Abkhazia in the mid-19th century. The residents of the village of Tkhina and cryptozoologists controversially considered Zana to be a wild man or a yeti; these theories are nowadays largely considered to be influenced by local folklore. In 2021, the presumed skull of Zana ("Tkhina-75"), was exhumed from a grave in a family cemetery, and was deemed to be human, being of an middle-aged woman with distinct equatorial features. DNA analysis of Zana (and six of her descendants) showed her to be human and of Central African origin. The appearance and behavior of Zana described in the legend could be explained by a genetic disorder known as congenital generalized hypertrichosis. ==See also==