the Wheel and Dating PIE

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

<<JoatSimeon at aol.com wrote:
Renfrew's hypothesis is not based on any new physical _evidence_>>

In a message dated 2/5/00 3:03:50 AM, mcv at wxs.nl wrote:
<<Indeed not.  In fact, Renfrew's theory when published in 1987
wasn't even a _new_ theory. >>

Just a word about 'any new evidence'.   Calibrated carbon-14 dating was not
really worked out and applied to many already recovered artifacts until the
60's-70's so that the impact of the information (and arguments about the
techniques) were not exactly settled until then.  This most definitely DID
make a difference in the authoritative dating of Bandkeramik.  AND a
substantial body of new evidence did enter the picture from a number of
different sources, particularly with new access to eastern European findings
and sites, after Renfrew's book.  This information was particularly relevant
to the status of things in the Ukraine during this period.

And surprises continue to occur.  The evidence of the significant Anatolian
influence or migration in Greece just prior to 2000BC I've mentioned not only
swung the gates on older migrationist theories, but also raises questions
about how some distinctly 'Greek' cultural features got to Greece.  This
information was just beginning to come in at the time of Renfrew's book.

mcv at wxs.nl also wrote:
<<This doesn't mean one has to take a static view on the further
development (and spread!) of Indo-European, which entered a new
phase at about 3500 BC with the Corded Ware/Bell Beaker cultures
in the western area and the Kurgan culture (Yamnaya kul'tura) in
the eastern, initiating the eventual Indo-Europeisation of
Atlantic and Mediterranean Europe as well as Central Asia and
beyond.>>

There are also quite a few local developments within these areas that fall
short of looking like migrations, but definitely can account for a fair
degree of differentiation that occurred between those local cultures on a
regular basis.

mcv at wxs.nl wrote:
<<There is contact and eventually assimilation (TRB culture, ca. 4000 BC) of a
sizeable autochthonous group in Denmark and Southern Scandinavia,
which explains the important non-IE substrate in Germanic.>>

Or possibly that that substrate actually reflects earlier IE influences that
have not yet been identified.  Specifically words like 'sail' which seem to
indicate a later rather than an earlier introduction into Germanic.

Regards,
Steve Long