Proto-Namuno-Ethians

The Proto-Namuno-Ethians, nowadays alternatively called Janda (from Ragham jaṇḍa "ancestor, predecessor"), were the ethnic group that would eventually give rise to all Namuno-Ethian peoples. They spoke Proto-Namuno-Ethian and almost certainly originated around the mouth of the Namun River around 4600 BNB, where they would expand from later in the 4th millenium BNB during the Copper-Bronze Age Invasions.

Originally only known through linguistic reconstruction, a series of archaeological finds around the town of Ṣiḍḍa, Jhunamun excavated in 1602 have been since identified with this group. Old Nanai script tablets found there, originally thought to have been encoding Old Nanai, were later found out to have been encoding some form of Late PNE. This had to have been before the definitive split between the Namunic branch and the rest of the family, but after PNE culture had expanded into Múne and Phyrea.

Overview

The following is known about late PNE culture through both extensive linguistic reconstruction and the the Ṣiḍḍa finds.

Ryadocentrism

The Namuno-Ethian gender system sees the separation of the sexes into two categories based on sexual activity: those who took an active role (penetrating, straddling or otherwise physically dominating their partner), the ryadái "lovers," and those who took a passive role (being penetrated and showing submission), the psur "plucked." PNE society, as is universal in modern Namuno-Ethian cultures, sees the ryadá-class as the dominant class, a concept known as ryadocentrism, or erastocentrism in analogy with the Greek ἐρᾰστής erastés.

Pastoralism and agriculture

It can be gleaned from Proto-Namuno-Ethian vocabulary, including large amounts of terms for domesticated animals, crops and tools associated with both, that PNE people practiced pastoralism and agriculture extensively in their day-to-day lives.

Claywork

A cultural element which was thought to have been important, based solely on vocabulary, but was securely confirmed after the Ṣiḍḍa finds: the manufacturing of various pieces of claywork, including votive figurines, pottery and pictorial tablets. The Janda, members of a late but still distinctly PNE culture, had imported the Old Nanai script from the Nanai people of the south, and they used it extensively to write Late PNE.

Warfare

The large amount of words for weaponry and various forms of armament are conducive to the idea that PNE people were keen on warfare, thought to have been mostly for the purposes of expansion.

Religion

The PNE venerated a series of deities concerned with various aspects of life and nature, with a pair of head gods representing the "progenitor" morning sky, *H₄éwtos newh₂m̥h₁s, and the "adorned" night sky, *Rowfseǵʰes soǵʰh₄lor.

Social classes

PNE culture was based on a four-way separation between its members. An aspect of day-to-day life was ascribed to each. These were:

*rʰaykártʰoy “sacrificers” or *tʰākdyoy “elevated ones,” a priestly class concerned with ritual sacrifice and deific veneration,
*bʰanártʰoy "speakers," a class of history recorders and orators, and almost certainly the producers of the found inscriptions written in Old Nanai script,
*tewmm̥h₁s "warriors" or "soldiers," a class of soldiers, defenders of their tribes,
and *boym̥h₁s "herders," a class concerned with agriculture, husbandry and food production.

It is suspected that the ancient insult *powdʰabís "dung-like" originally referred to outcasts that didn't want to or couldn't participate in the social class system.