Re: Itchy and Scratchy Stops

From: John Croft
Message: 2575
Date: 2000-05-29

Piotr wrote

> I have been assimilated. Your arguement has been subsequently
adapted into
> my theory. Thus, Eurasiatic retained the _unchanged_ series of
ejectives
> and, as always, included the Nostratic labial ejective. Sumerian
then split
> at around 12,000 BCE, preserving *p? as later /b/ (due to the
eventual
> merger of ejectives with inaspirate stops). The loss of *p?
occured
> subsequently, followed by the ejective-fortis shift. At this
point,
> Eurasiatic began fragmenting into ElamoDravidian and Steppe,
around 11,000
> or 10,000 BCE.

Excellent. Lets look now at the cultures that can account for such
shifts. If Sumerian split about 12,000 BCE we are talking of a split
from the emergent Nostratic out of Africa - Kebaran - which appeared
in the Middle East. The period was a moist one, prior to the Younger
Dryas. The Arabian peninsula would have been a grassland semi-arid
climate. Sumerian could have been the first mesolithic culture to
occupy Arabia.

The Eurasiatic fragmenting into Elamo-Dravidian and Steppe around
11-10,000 is clearly the split between Susanian microlithic and
Zarzian culture which occurred at roughly this time.

I think we are making progress.

As my series of maps show - Zarzian was the dominant culture in the
mesolithic period in the area from which obsidian tools were made and
manufactured in the middle east. It would appear that the Zarzians
were also the first we know of to have domesticated the dog. This
would provide cultural and technological reasons for their
distribution. The spread of this culture, to the east, to the west
and to the north, gives us an excellent means for the further
fragmentation of Steppe.

Do we have agreement?

Regards

John