~ 400 million years ago
In the beginning of the Devonian period a new mountain range erupted from the womb of the earth in what is now south-western Siberia. Nowadays people would come to call this range Sayano-Altai, of which, Mountainous Shoria is a part of.
~ 298 -252 million years ago
During the Permian period this part of the world was extremely hot and humid. In the oppressive heat thrived new vegetation such as: ferns, club mosses, horsetails, cordaites (distant ancestors of modern conifers) and lepidodendrons — “scale tree” 45 meters high with a trunk up to two meters wide.
~200–145 million years ago
In Mesozoic times Siberia belonged to the Angarida continent. Along the coast of Paleo-Asian Ocean lied the western part of the Siberian platform and lazy dinosaurs had their rest in the shade of huge ferns.
~66 million years ago
In the Cenozoic period, the earth cracked. The Sayano-Altai mountains erupted and spit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Hot magma flowed on new towering slopes and froze immediately. The ensuing great fire had no compassion for calamites or ferns or lepidodendrons.
~65 million years ago
the beginning of the Tertiary period
The Ice Age did not prevent the spread of life. It was then, in Siberia, that the magnificent wholly mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, primitive bison and deers with huge horns roamed. The steppes, flattened by the emerging and receding glaciers gave life to large herds of primitive horses and bulls. In the caves of taiga lived small bears and lions wandered nearby.
~25–20 million years ago
By this time the tectonic plates had rearranged themselves so that the Paleo-Asian Ocean no longer existed. In the territory of Siberia there were the usual pine forests and ancient Paleolithic man chased the mammoth.
~10 million years ago
The climate warmed and people emerged from caves. They had learned how to cultivate cereals and domesticate animals. In the summer, the air could heated up to 25 degrees Celsius (77 F), and in the winter fell to -40 Celsius/Fahrenheit. Mountainous Shoria is now home to fast flowing rivers. Clouds cling to the top of the mountains releasing a bounty of rain and snow. The land is still marshy, even in the summer. The ferns of a much earlier epoch still live, however, it’s a shadow of it’s distant relative and reduced to a small green dwarf.
Now, we flash forward and find ourselves in a time with many peoples and small tribes as they begin to move and explore. The great migration is upon us with some destined to cross paths and leave their mark in history.
The first permanent settlers known to inhabit into the territory of modern Mountainous Shoria were called Kets and Samoyeds. They were influenced by the Turks — Kyrgyz, Uighurs and northern Mongols.
In this melting pot of the 6th to 9th centuries A.D, during the Great Turkic Khanate, the Shor ethnicity and Shor language were formed. Shor language split into two dialects. Those Shors that lived on the banks of the river Mras-Su were influenced by the Kyrgyz and Uighurs and spoke Mras-Su dialect, and those that have settled on the Kondoma river, mingled with the Altai Turks and spoke Kondoma dialect.
The Birth Of The Shor Community
The beginning of the Shors can be traced back to 17 clans. Of the 17 only one called themselves Shor. Some of the other clans were — Aba (which translates as “bear”, named after totemic animal), Chelei, Chediber, Taesh, Kalar, Karga (which translates as “raven”, named after totemic animal), Keresh, Sebi, Tartkyn, Kyi and Kobyi.
The ethnonym “Shor” was used by German ethnographer Vasily (Wilhelm Friedrich) Radlov in 1861. His major principle of unification was the fact that the clan Shor and other names with Shor at the end (Akh-Shor, Kara-Shor, Sary-Shor ) were the most wide-spread by the 19th century.
Shor Lifestyle
Each clan of Shors cleared its own space in the forest and put up tepee-like houses. In the winter they warmed it up with birch bark, fir branches, poles and covered with dust.
Stones were used to ignite fires, tilled the land with a hoe, and clothes were spun from hemp. They also picked berries and pine cones, ate roots of erythronium (fawn lily), sarana (flower, family of lilies), peony, wild leak, onion and angelica. On the sunny slopes of the mountains they mainly grew barley, wheat and oats.
Great Smiths
Shors got the fame among other “forest peoples”, not as farmers but as ancient metallurgists.
Shoria mountains were found to be rich in coal and also metal. Ancient Shors smelted metal and steel to make some of the most prized armor in ancient Asia.
Many powerful nations ruled over them and they paid taxes in the form of furs and weapons to the great Mongols, the dashing Dzhungars, the militant Yenisei Kyrgyz and even the messengers of the Chinese emperor.
In the 17th century a Polish traveler was one of the first Europeans to visit Shoria. Here is what he had to say about their skills:
“They dug iron, forged iron pots, and bowls, large and small. If someone asks, they can deliver even the largest order of goods. And they forge for a small price: give him [Shor] a bag of barley, and he will give you an iron pot or bowl. And this iron is the best. “
citation from Chudoyakov A. An Introduction to the book “Shor’s Tales Legends”, p. 8
At the beginning of the 17th century the life of smiths changed forever. In a blink of an eye their land became a part of the Russian Kingdom. Cossacks reached the Mountainous Shoria region. When they came to the blacksmiths, Russian cossacks said to them: stop paying tribute to the nations around, since now your is land transferred into the possession of the king of all Russia — Boris. [Godunov].
The cossacks might have said something like this:
From this day you will pay tribute to Boris. Furs, furs and only furs. No more metal. In the kingdom we have our own blacksmiths so with you it will be too much. Hereafter you can live as you lived before. We will not bother you.
The new land appeared on Russian maps and Cossacks called it “Kuznetskaya Zemlya” which translates into English as “The land of Blacksmiths”. Cossacks called Shors - “Kuznetsk’ Tatars” or “Tadar Kizhi” in Shor.
The first Cossacks began to live with Shor people as neighbors and eventually taught them their crafts; how to build a house, how to build an oven, how to shoot a gun, work the land with the help of a horse and plow, to plant a vegetable garden etc. The Shors, on the other hand, went out of blacksmith’s business and started to hunt countless squirrels, sables, foxes, hares and bears. And if they were lucky they might catch and elk or Siberian stag.
Beliefs of Hunters
During the winter Shors normally went to hunt for a short and for a long time. The short hunt lasted from the first snow in November to mid-December and the long hunt from January to March.
They took an epic storyteller with them for the hunting period — an elderly man that kept the fire, garnered wood and told stories. Tales during the hunting season were not for entertainment, but for patrons of hunting — spirits. The storyteller was a respected man within the community. He was getting paid for his work on an equal basis with everybody else.
Shors believed that their world is governed by spirits — the owners of the Nature — mountains, forests and rivers. According to traditional views, ancient Shor world is divided into three grounds.
“The highest ground is the heavenly land — ownership of Ulgen God. There is always light and warm. Middle land is in the center and it is the land of humans, animals and plants. The Mount Mustag stays on the center of it all. (Mustag translates as an “Ice Mountain” from Shor). At the bottom, in the underworld, there is the land where Ulgen’s brother lives. His name is Erlik and he takes the souls of the dead”.
(cit: Image of Kuzbass)
In addition to the major Gods, mythology of Shors has minor deities — the spirits of the place, generic and private patrons. They need to be constantly coaxed. Therefore, before hunting or even climbing up to the mountain, Shors necessarily perform a ritual. The treat for spirits is normally done with home brew “abyrtka” (low alcoholic beverage from barley). Sometimes they threw pieces of fatty meat or fat to a fire. The meaning of the ritual is to welcome the spirits and ask for protection.
During the hunt, when the animal is slaughtered they also performed a simple rite to the underworld god, Erlik, to take the soul of the animal. They would also ask the forgiveness to the animal for taking its soul so that when the animal is reborn it will not be vengeful of the hunter.
“The hunter usually brought a pistol for hunting season. Also in the hunt Shors used gunpowder, pellets, nets and wooden traps.
Fur transported on sleds made from the skin of a horse or leather bags.
Skis were made of a bird-cherry-tree. The bottom of the skis protected with horse skin or Siberian stag for better sliding on the snow. In order to descent from the snowy slopes they used wooden paddle “kayak” or “kurchek.” The same tool was used to shovel the snow during the construction of the shed or for clearing the space for traps.
To survive during a long stay in taiga hunters prepared light weighted food —barley powder “talkan” and “abyrtka” (low alcoholic beverage made from barley ), bread crumbs, salt and dried horse meat”. (cit: Image of Kuzbass)
Since then, little has changed. Far in the forest, cut off from the main roads, several hunting villages still stand without electricity. Not much has changed for the hunter over hundreds of years. There are still wooden huts in the manner of the first Cossacks’ log houses. High fences — three vertical sticks that serve as an obstacle to the horses and stop their way to a vegetable garden. In the only street Altyn Shor which translates from Shor as ”Golden Shoria” little barefoot kids jostle back and forth. They put sticks in the river, and every now and then, run to check if they caught anything. Tanned, ruddy, they fight with each other, bubble, then in a second fill with a laughter and all of this on a language that the world will forget and hardly ever remember.
