Details
Recent developments in aDNA has reshaped our understanding of later European prehistory, and at the same time also opened up for more fruitful collaborations between archaeologists and historical linguists. Two revolutionary genetic studies, published independently in Nature, 2015, showed that prehistoric Europe underwent two successive waves of migration, one from Anatolia consistent with the introduction of agriculture, and a later influx from the Pontic-Caspian steppes which without any reasonable doubt pinpoints the archaeological Yamnaya complex as the cradle of (Core-)Indo-European languages. Now, for the first time, when the preliminaries are clear, it is possible for the fields of genetics, archaeology and historical linguistics to cooperate in a constructive fashion to refine our knowledge of the Indo-European homeland, migrations, society and language. For the historical-comparative linguists, this opens up a wealth of exciting perspectives and new working fields in the intersections between linguistics and neighbouring disciplines, for the archaeologists and geneticists, on the other hand, the linguistic contributions help to endow the material findings with a voice from the past. The present selection of papers illustrate the importance of an open interdisciplinary discussion which will gradually help us in our quest of Tracing the Indo-Europeans.
Table of Contents
List of figures
List of tables
Contributors
1. Tracing the Indo-Europeans: Introduction
Birgit A. Olsen, Thomas Olander and Kristian Kristiansen
2. The Indo-European homeland: Introducing the problem
Thomas Olander
3. Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Uralic and Nostratic: A brief excursus into the comparative study of proto-languages
James P. Mallory
4. A linking cord: Pottery ornamentation and language in the North c. 3600–2400 BC
Einar Østmo
5. On the emergence of the Corded Ware societies in Northern Europe: Reconsidering the migration hypothesis
Rune Iversen
6. Late Bronze Age midwinter dog sacrifices and warrior initiations at Krasnosamarskoe, Russia
Dorcas R. Brown and David W. Anthony
7. ‘Children of the light’: On yoga, body schemes and altered states of consciousness in the Nordic Late Bronze Age – a link to India?
Kristin Armstrong Oma and Lene Melheim
8. Aspects of family structure among the Indo-Europeans
Birgit A. Olsen
9. To bury a ruler: The meaning of the horse in aristocratic burials
Anne-Marie Carstens
Reviews & Quotes
"Tracing the Indo-Europeans delivers a good insight into the potential, and challenges, of 'archaeolinguistics' […] It is all in all an exciting and
rewarding read."
Martin Furholt
Antiquity
(02/04/2020)
