Renfrew and IE Overlords

[rohan.oberoi at cornell.edu]

Steve Long wrote:

>Well, at the time that Archaeology & Language was published, Renfrew's main
>argument was with the "majority" theory at the time - which placed IE's
>dispersal at 2500BC (Childe-Kossina-Gimbutas).
>...
>Now, the new "consensus" date has backed to 4000BC in the recent posts on
>this list.  But I wouldn't bet the ranch on it staying there.  Partly because
>the actual evidence for picking that date is not much stronger than the old
>2500BC date.

To try to track the "consensus date" sounds like a misrepresentation
of the consensus.  2500 BC was (and is) more of a "terminus ante quem"
than a date for IE dispersal (based of course on the earliest attested
dates for Anatolian, Indic and Iranian -- and hence presumptive
Indo-Iranian -- and possibly Mycenaean Greek).

4000 BC sounds like an attempt at a terminus post quem (others are
Renfrew's 5000-4500 BC) based on the articles indisputably
reconstructable to PIE.  I would hope it is not a new "consensus date
for IE dispersal".  I doubt the available evidence allows us to narrow
the date of IE dispersal down with such precision.

Regards,
Rohan.