. Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. parts of Europe waseasily practicable. A much more important peopling of European Russia took placeduring the latest neolithic, and the bronze and iron periods ; and itproceeded, as far as is now discernible, not only from the adjacentregions in Europe, but also over Caucasus and from the great steppesof Asia. The western Asiatic or Ural-Altaic elements, evidentlyquite early and numerous, overran and sparsely settled or roamedover perhaps as much as two-thirds of the great region of what isnow European Russia, reaching in the north to the limits of thel
. Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. parts of Europe waseasily practicable. A much more important peopling of European Russia took placeduring the latest neolithic, and the bronze and iron periods ; and itproceeded, as far as is now discernible, not only from the adjacentregions in Europe, but also over Caucasus and from the great steppesof Asia. The western Asiatic or Ural-Altaic elements, evidentlyquite early and numerous, overran and sparsely settled or roamedover perhaps as much as two-thirds of the great region of what isnow European Russia, reaching in the north to the limits of theland, in the west as far as Finland, Esthonia, Livonia, and approxi-mately the thirtieth meridian, and in the south below the latitude ofMoscow. At about the same time the southeastern and southernparts of Russia became peopled by Turanian and Iranian tribes,spreading over the Caucasus and from beyond the Caspian. Onlythe western and southwestern parts of the great territory received Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 69, No. 11. 2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 69 the overflow from the adjoining countries of Europe. The southerngrassy plains became then a broad and important avenue for a longseries of movements of populations, directed principally from east towest, and the territory was gradually covered with remnants ofthese populations. This much is known, though the details of theseearlier ethnic movements in Russia are lost in the haze of antiquity,or preserved merely in historical fragments. The first tribes occupying part of the territory which is nowRussia, with whose specific name we meet in ancient chronicles, arethe Cimmerians, the people whose name is perpetuated in that oiCrimea; and the Tauri, from whose name was derived that of Taurica, the other old name for the Crimean peninsula. Ouractual knowledge of these peoples is, however, very limited. Neitherreached great importance. The Cimmerians, who probably antedatedthe Tauri, occupied a part of
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