Dating the final IE unity (was: Re: GREEK PREHISTORY AND LANGUAGE)

[Stanley Friesen]

At 11:28 AM 10/13/99 -0400, Sean Crist wrote:
>-Renfrew proposes that Anatolia is the homeland of the Indo-Europeans.  If
>so, it is very odd the Hittite, Luwian, and Palaic existed in the midst of
>languages (Hattic and Hurrian) which are not only not Indo-European but
>which bear no typological resemblance to Indo-European.

Indeed a strong case can be made for them being related to (part of) the
North Caucasian Family.

>This is a matter of controversy; Mallory described the Minyan ware as
>being "incessantly discussed".  I don't know all the details regarding
>that pottery style, but I'm pretty confident in stating that you're
>misrepresenting the field if you say that it was "quite clear" that the
>Minyan pottery represents a continuation of an earlier style.

Actually, even if it is in large part a continuation of earlier styles,
this does not rule out external influences in generating the change in
fashion.  It is not as if pottery styles are wholistic things that must
either be taken entire or not at all.  Mixed influences are both possible
and reasonable.

>I accept the view of Mallory and many others that the latest unity of PIE
>was in the area of the Ukraine around 4000-3500 BCE.  ...

The appearance of horse-bits (for riding) in the Sredny-Stog culture is
quit telling here.  (Mallory does not actually mention this, as it was not
yet known when he wrote his book).

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May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at ix.netcom.com