Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Yamnaya culture, also called the Kurgan or Late Ochre Grave culture, of the late Neolithic and Bronze age Pontic steppe is believed to belong to one of several Proto-Indo-European speaking Western Steppe herder peoples who were ancestral to many modern peoples and who spread Indo-European languages across Eurasia. But what did Yamnaya look like? In this documentary film you can see 3D forensic facial reconstructions of Yamnaya men by the artist Robert Molyneaux and you can learn all about what Yamnaya people ate, why they loved milk, how they lived, their burial customs, how they spread and more.
This channel depends on your support:
Patreon: patreon.com/survivethejive
SubscribeStar: subscribestar.com/survive-the-jive
Telegram: https://t.me/survivethejive
See academic sources and artwork on the blog: survivethejive.blogspot.com/2021/10/yamnaya-indo-european-documentary.html
Artists:
Robert Molyneaux
artstation.com/robertmolyneaux
Christian Sloan Hall
deviantart.com/americanvendetta
Graman
mobile.twitter.com/GramanhFolcwald
Valentyn Kolontai
instagram.com/valentyn_kolontai
Roy Douglas
artstation.com/roydouglas
Map animation by Meta-sight
https://linktr.ee/meta_sight
Bronze age map by Dan Kogosov Cartography
deviantart.com/zalezsky/gallery
Article about Yamnaya in WhyNow magazine: tinyurl.com/29rdx9s4
Music in order:
Xurios - Steppe expansion
Altyn Tuu - Altai throat singing
Gargoyle - dance with me
The Whole Other - Ether Oar
Patrick Patrikios - Away
doug maxwell - tribal war council
Bark sound productions - in return
kevin macleod - Master of the feast
Aethelruna - Output
Saba Murachashvili - Acharuli
Chris Zabriskie - The Theatrical Poster for Poltergeist III
Borg - The Dancing Forest
Khan Kurra - Little dragon
Chris Zabriskie - I Am Running Down the Long Hallway of Viewmont Elementary
00:00 Intro
01:01 Who are the Yamnaya?
02:29 Stelae
03:27 Kurgans
05:16 pre-Yamnaya steppe people
05:46 Yamnaya skull types
06:03 Yamnaya expansion
08:16 Yamnaya phenotype
11:17 Facial reconstructions
13:42 Who has Yamnaya ancestry?
14:29 Warlike people
15:28 GTHIC sponsor
15:58 healthy lads
16:35 Milk drinkers
18:58 Yamnaya diet
20:30 plague
22:04 wagons, wheels, horses
26:27 Outram on horses
28:38 horse sacrifice
29:42 deforestation
31:44 R1b Haplogroup
33:30 Yamnaya women
34:57 the CHG question
42:16 Conclusion
The Yamnaya culture, also called the Kurgan or Late Ochre Grave culture, of the late Neolithic and Bronze age Pontic steppe is believed to belong to one of several Proto-Indo-European speaking Western Steppe herder peoples who were ancestral to many modern peoples and who spread Indo-European languages across Eurasia. But what did Yamnaya look like? In this documentary film you can see 3D forensic facial reconstructions of Yamnaya men by the artist Robert Molyneaux and you can learn all about what Yamnaya people ate, why they loved milk, how they lived, their burial customs, how they spread and more.
This channel depends on your support:
Patreon: patreon.com/survivethejive
SubscribeStar: subscribestar.com/survive-the-jive
Telegram: https://t.me/survivethejive
See academic sources and artwork on the blog: survivethejive.blogspot.com/2021/10/yamnaya-indo-european-documentary.html
Artists:
Robert Molyneaux
artstation.com/robertmolyneaux
Christian Sloan Hall
deviantart.com/americanvendetta
Graman
mobile.twitter.com/GramanhFolcwald
Valentyn Kolontai
instagram.com/valentyn_kolontai
Roy Douglas
artstation.com/roydouglas
Map animation by Meta-sight
https://linktr.ee/meta_sight
Bronze age map by Dan Kogosov Cartography
deviantart.com/zalezsky/gallery
Article about Yamnaya in WhyNow magazine: tinyurl.com/29rdx9s4
Music in order:
Xurios - Steppe expansion
Altyn Tuu - Altai throat singing
Gargoyle - dance with me
The Whole Other - Ether Oar
Patrick Patrikios - Away
doug maxwell - tribal war council
Bark sound productions - in return
kevin macleod - Master of the feast
Aethelruna - Output
Saba Murachashvili - Acharuli
Chris Zabriskie - The Theatrical Poster for Poltergeist III
Borg - The Dancing Forest
Khan Kurra - Little dragon
Chris Zabriskie - I Am Running Down the Long Hallway of Viewmont Elementary
00:00 Intro
01:01 Who are the Yamnaya?
02:29 Stelae
03:27 Kurgans
05:16 pre-Yamnaya steppe people
05:46 Yamnaya skull types
06:03 Yamnaya expansion
08:16 Yamnaya phenotype
11:17 Facial reconstructions
13:42 Who has Yamnaya ancestry?
14:29 Warlike people
15:28 GTHIC sponsor
15:58 healthy lads
16:35 Milk drinkers
18:58 Yamnaya diet
20:30 plague
22:04 wagons, wheels, horses
26:27 Outram on horses
28:38 horse sacrifice
29:42 deforestation
31:44 R1b Haplogroup
33:30 Yamnaya women
34:57 the CHG question
42:16 Conclusion
