The Almas, Mongolian for 'wild man', is a cryptozoological species of presumed hominid reputed to inhabit the Caucasus and Pamir Mountains of central Asia, and the Altai Mountains of southern Mongolia. Most mainstream scientists consider the Almas to be a purely legendary creature. The wild man is a formal character presented in masks and dances of Native Americans in coastal British Columbia. ... Cryptozoology is the search for animals that are rumored to exist, but for which conclusive proof is missing. ... Genera The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ... The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system between the Black and Caspian seas in the Caucasus region, usually considered the southeastern limit of Europe. ... A photograph of Ismail Samani Peak (then known as Peak Communism) taken in 1989. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... For the republic in Russia, see Altai Republic. ...

Description

Almas is a singular word in Mongolian. The Russian plural is almasty; the correct Mongolian (or any Turkic) plural is almaslar. As is typical of the unknown hominids throughout central Asia, Russia, and the Caucasus, Almas are generally considered to be more akin to "wild people" in appearance and habits than to apes (in contrast to the Yeti of the Himalayas). “Abominable Snowman” redirects here. ... Himalaya, see Himalaya (film). ...

Almas are typically described as human-like bipedal animals, between five and six and a half feet tall, their bodies covered with reddish-brown hair, with anthropomorphic facial features including a pronounced browridge, flat nose, and a weak chin.^[1] They are usually described as unclothed, but a handful of sightings refer to primitive clothing.^{[citation needed]} Many cryptozoologist researchers have been struck by the similarity between these descriptions and modern reconstructions of how Neanderthals might have appeared. ^[2] A biped is an animal that travels across surfaces supported by two legs. ... In human anatomy, the forehead or brow is the bony part of the head above the eyes. ... Binomial name King, 1864 Neanderthal range Synonyms Palaeoanthropus neanderthalensis The Neanderthal (IPA: , also with , and ), (Homo neanderthalensis) or Neandertal was a species of the Homo genus that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia. ...

Evidence

There is speculation that Almas may be something other than legendary creatures, mainly via eyewitness accounts, footprint finds, and long-standing native traditions, which have been anthropologically, ethnographically, and cryptozoologically collected. Source: The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates by Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe (NY: HarperCollins, 1999, ISBN 1-933665-12-2).

Folk tales

Almas appear in the legend of local people, who tell stories of sightings and human-Almas interactions dating back several hundred years. Some of these accounts describe primitive communication between Almas and humans via the use of hand gestures and exchange of goods.^{[citation needed]}

Drawings of Almas also appear in a Tibetan medicinal book. British anthropologist Myra Shackley noted that "The book contains thousands of illustrations of various classes of animals (reptiles, mammals and amphibia), but not one single mythological animal such as are known from similar medieval European books. All the creatures are living and observable today." (1983, p. 98) Professor of Culture Resource Management and Head of the Centre for Tourism and Visitor Management at Nottingham Business School. ...

Famous sightings

Sightings recorded in writing go back as far back as the 15th century. (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ...

In 1430, Hans Schildtberger recorded his personal observation of these creatures in the journal of his trip to Mongolia as a prisoner of the Mongol Khan. Schildtberger also recorded one of the first European sightings of Przewalski horses. (Manuscript in the Munich Municipal Library, Sign. 1603, Bl. 210). // Events May 23 - Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne The Ottoman Empire captures Thessalonica from the Venetians First use of optical methods in the creation of Art A map of Europe in 1430. ... Khan (sometimes spelled as Xan, Han, Ke-Han) is a title. ... Binomial name Equus przewalskii Przewalskis Horse (Equus przewalskii or ), also known as the Mongolian Wild Horse, or Takhi, is the closest living relative of the Domestic Horse and may in fact be the same species. ...

Nikolai Przhevalsky observed the animals in Mongolia in 1871 (Shackley, 94). He noted that Almas are part of the Mongolian and Tibetan apothecary's materia medica, along with thousands of other animals and plants that still live today. Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, also spelled Przewalski and Prjevalsky (Russian: ) (April 12, 1839—November 1, 1888 (Gregorian calendar)), was a Russian geographer and explorer in central and eastern Asia. ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ... Interior of an apothecarys shop. ... Materia medica is a Latin term for any material or substance used in the composition of curative agents in medicine. ...

British anthropologist Myra Shackley in Still Living? describes Ivan Ivlov's 1963 observation of a whole family of Almas. Ivlov, a pediatrician, decided to interview some of the Mongolian children who were his patients, and discovered that many of them had also seen Almas. It seems that neither the Mongol children nor the young Almas were afraid of each other. Ivlov's driver also claimed to have seen them (Shackley, 91). Professor of Culture Resource Management and Head of the Centre for Tourism and Visitor Management at Nottingham Business School. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Pediatrics (also spelled paediatrics or pædiatrics) is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants and children. ...

Captives

A wildwoman named Zana is said to have lived in the isolated mountain village of T'khina fifty miles from Sukhumi in Abkhazia in the Caucasus; some have speculated she may have been an Almas, but hard evidence is lacking.Zana was actually a human who had suffered some sort of head trauma. Destroyed shop in Sukhumi Sukhumi (Georgian: , Sokhumi; Abkhaz: , Aqwa; Russian: , Sukhumi) is the capital of Abkhazia, a de facto independent republic, which is internationally recognized as being an autonomous republic within Georgia. ... Capital Sokhumi Official languages Abkhaz, Georgian Government  -  Chairman, Cabinet of Ministers  -  Chairman, Supreme Council Temur Mzhavia Autonomous republic of Georgia  -  Georgian independence Declared Recognised 9 April 1991 25 December 1991  Currency Georgian lari (GEL) Anthem Aiaaira Capital Sukhumi Official languages Abkhaz, Russian1 Government  -  President Sergei Bagapsh  -  Prime Minister Alexander Ankvab... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Caucasus Mountains. ...

Captured in the mountains in 1850, she was at first violent towards her captors but soon became domesticated and, indeed, was able to assist with simple household chores. Zana is said to have had sexual relations with a man of the village named Edgi Genaba, and gave birth to a number of children of apparently normal human appearance. Several of these children, however, died in infancy. Some commentators have attributed these early deaths to Zana's genetic incompatibility (as an Almas) with humans.A possible ecplanation isthat she may have belonged to another tribe and was captured and bought to the other village.

The father, meanwhile, gave away four of the surviving children to local families. The two boys, Dzhanda and Khwit Sabekia (born 1878 and 1884), and the two girls, Kodzhanar and Gamasa Sabekia (born 1880 and 1882), were assimilated into normal society, married, and had families of their own. Zana herself died in 1890. The skull of Khwit (also spelled Kvit) is still extant, and was examined by Dr. Grover Krantz in the early 1990s. He pronounced it to be entirely modern, with no Neandertal features at all. Gordon S. Grover Krantz (November 5, 1931 – February 14, 2002) was a professor of physical anthropology at Washington State University, and a renowned Bigfoot researcher. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ...

Another case is said to date from around 1941, shortly after the German invasion of the USSR. A "wild man" was captured somewhere in the Caucasus by a detachment of the Red Army under Lt. Col. Vargen Karapetyan. He appeared human, but was covered in fine, dark hair. Interrogation revealed his apparent inability (or unwillingness) to speak, and the unfortunate creature is said to have been shot as a German spy. There are various versions of this legend in the cryptozoological literature, and, as with other Almas reports, hard proof is absent.

Explanations

Myra Shackley and Bernard Heuvelmans have speculated that the Almas are a relict population of Neanderthals, while Loren Coleman suggests surviving specimens of Homo erectus.^[1] Others insist they are related to the Yeti of the Himalayas, being closer to apes than to humans. The locals, for their part, often see no appreciable difference between Almas and humans, regarding them simply as "wild men" who remain untouched by civilization.^{[citation needed]} Another explanation is that human-like cryptids are humans with congenital disorders and/or mental retardation and ejected from society. Bernard Heuvelmans (October 10, 1916 – August 22, 2001) was a scientist, explorer, researcher, and a writer probably best known as a founder of cryptozoology. ... The term relict is used to refer to surviving remnants of natural phenomena. ... Binomial name Homo neanderthalensis King, 1864 The Neanderthal or Neandertal was a species of genus Homo (Homo neanderthalensis) that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago (in the Middle Palaeolithic, early Stone Age). ... Loren Coleman in a photograph featured in his profile on Cryptomundo. ... Binomial name †Homo erectus (Dubois, 1892) Synonyms † Pithecanthropus erectus † Sinanthropus pekinensis † Javanthropus soloensis † Meganthropus paleojavanicus Homo erectus (Latin: upright man) is an extinct species of the genus Homo. ... “Abominable Snowman” redirects here. ...

Another explanation is that they are purely mythological creatures, since no hard evidence (skeletons, specimens, etc.) has been found to date.

References

• Hans Schildtberger's manuscript, Munich municipal library, Sign. 1603, Bl. 210
• Myra Shackley (1983), Still Living? ISBN 0-500-01298-9

1. ^ ^{a b} Newton, Michael (2005). "Almas/Almasti". Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide. McFarland & Company, Inc.. 19. ISBN 0-7864-2036-7. 
2. ^ Myra Shackley, Antiquity, 56, 31 (1982)

Professor of Culture Resource Management and Head of the Centre for Tourism and Visitor Management at Nottingham Business School. ...

External links

• Alma, Strange Apelike Creatures (occultopedia.com)
• The Cryptid Zoo: Almas