Almas (Not taken in Mongolia...found on the web-the pic is not real)
More details below.
lso Almasty and Albasty. Strange apelike creatures allegedly resembling Neanderthal man that reportedly live in the Caucasus Mountains, in the republic of Kazakhstan, central Asia.
In the Caucasus, Almas (which in the Mongolian language means 'wildman') are well known by the local people, who tell numerous stories of an apparent familiarity between humans and these creatures. Eyewitness accounts dating back hundreds of years describe Almas communicating with humans by means of gestures. There were even stories of Almas bartering food for trinkets.
Adult Almases have been described as being at least 5 ft tall, shy, hairy, with prominent eyebrow ridges, a receding chin and a jaw that protrudes out.
Other names by which these creatures are known, depending on the particular region, are 'Wind-Man', Abnuaaya, Bekk-Bok, Biabin-Guli, Gul-Biavan, Guli-Avan, Golub-Yavan, Kaptar, Kra-Dhan, Ksy-Giik or Ksy Gyik, Mirygdy, Mulen and Voita.
Almas Timeline:
1420 - The first known printed reference on the Almas was made by a Bavarian named Hans Schiltberger. He traveled through the Tien Shan mountains as a captive to the Mongols. During his imprisonment he kept a journal in which he wrote:
"In the mountains themselves live a wild people, who have nothing in common with other human beings, a pelt covers the entire body of these creatures. Only the hands and face are free of hair. They run around in the hills like animals and eat foliage and grass and whatever else they can find. The Lord of the Territory made Egidi a present of a couple of forest people, a man and a woman, together with three untamed horses the sizes of asses and all sorts of other animals which are not found in German lands and which I cannot therefore put a name to."
1807-1867 - Sightings reported at Khalkha, the Galbin Gobi and Dzakh Soudjin Gobi as well as in Inner Mongolia; also at the Gourban Bogdin Gobi, Chardzyn Gobi and the Alachan desert.
Mid 1800s - A wild reddish-black hair covered woman with both mongoloid and negroid features, dark skin, broad body, large hands and feet and a sloped forehead, was allegedly captured in the western Caucausus region of Abkhazia, and given the name Zana or Zanya. According to accounts, she was very physically powerful, able to perform feats of exceptional strength. While in captivity, Zana was passed on through a succession of owners, including noblemen, and mothered several children (she was reputed to have a fondness for wine, which supposedly played a role in her pregnancies). According to the story, she had as many as 6 offspring, by different men. Of these, the first 2 perished, due to Zana washing them in cold water after birth. The other 4 survived with the help of the local village women, who took care of the children. They were fairly normal, except for being dark and physically powerful, and grew up accepted among the villagers. Each of these children reproduced and allegedly had descendants throughout the region, up to nowadays. Zana died sometime in the 1880s.
1881 - As almost to confirm Hans Schiltberger's journal, a Russian named Nicholai Przewalski rediscovered the horses the sizes of asses and called them, of course, the "Przewalski horses"; he also reported seeing 'wildmen' in Mongolia in 1871.
1906 - Badzare Baradyine, while on a caravan at the desert of Alachan, reports seeing an "hairy man standing on the top of a sand dune, outlined against the sunset." After being approached by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society's president and asked not to publish the incident, Badzare complies, but relays the information about his sighting to a personal friend, Mongolian professor Tsyben Zhamtsarano, who in turn begins a lengthy and determined investigation of the Almas.
1907-1940 - Professor Tsyben Zhamtsarano compiles eyewitness' acounts and recruits an artist to draw the likeness of the Almas based on the gathered descriptions. He also plots sightings locations and dates on a map of the region. After being imprisoned in Russia for a number of years, the professor dies in 1940. His files vanish, and are rumored confiscated by the authorities.
1937 - Dordji Meiren, an associate of Professor Zhamtsarano, reports seeing a carpet made out of a hide of an Almas, being used by lamas at their monastery in ritual ceremonies.
1941 - A Russian unit fighting the Germans in the Caucasus near Buinakst is asked by some partisans to look at an unusual prisoner. According to the unit's commander, Lt. Col. Vargen Karapetyan, the captive 'man' was naked, hairy, and covered with lice; he obviously didn't understand speech and appeared to be dim-witted, blinking often; he was evidently afraid, but made no attempt to defend himself when Karapetyan pulled hairs from his body. He was kept in a barn, because, as the partisans explained, in a heated room he stank and dripped sweat. Not wanting to get involved, Karapetyan told the partisans to do what they wanted with the prisoner. A few days later he heard that the prisoner had escaped, but according to a later report made by the Ministry of the Interior in Daghestan, the 'wild man' had been executed as a deserter after being court-martialed.
1963 - Ivan Ivlov, a Russian pediatrician, sees a family of manlike creatures consisting of a male, female and a small child, standing on a mountain slope. Ivlov observed the creatures through field glasses for some time before they vanished behind a jutting rock. Ivlov's Mongol driver also sees the creatures and assures him they are common in the area.
1964 - Russian historian Boris Porshnev visits the place where Zana had reportedly lived. Several centenarians (Caucasus people are noted for their longevity) claimed to have known her and to have attended her funeral. Dr Porshnev also meets a couple of the alleged descendants (her grandchildren) of the wild woman, and wrote of the episode:
"From the moment I saw Zana's grandchildren, I was impressed by their dark skin and negroid looks. Shalikula, the grandson, has unusually powerful jaw muscles, and he can pick up a chair, with a man sitting on it, with his teeth."
During the next few years, Porshnev and a colleague tried to find Zana's remains in the Genaba (the family name of her descendants) graveyard, and although they found the vaguely Neanderthaloid bones of what they speculated was one of her children, they never discovered the remnants of the Almas herself.
1972 - An unnamed Russian doctor met a family of Almas, according to British anthropologist Myra Shackley, who adds that their "very simple lifestyle and the nature of their appearance suggests strongly that Almases might represent the survival of a prehistoric way of life, and perhaps even of an earlier form of man. The best candidate is undoubtedly Neanderthal man."
1985 - Maya Bykova, an assistant to Dr Boris Porshnev (yes, the same one from 1964) at Moscow's Darwin Museum, is reported to have actually observed a hominoid of unknown identity, a creature nicknamed by the ethnic Mnasi people as Mecheny, or "marked," because of the the whitish skin patch seen on its left forearm, the only part of its body not covered by red-brown hair.
LINK:
www.crystalinks.com/bigfoot.html