Linking Archaeology and Language

Thought you people may be interested in this

John




R. Blench and M. SPRIGGS (eds) 1997 Archaeology and Language I:
Theoretical and Methodological Orientations.
London: Routledge.

388 + xxi pp., 80 figs. ISBN 0-415-11760-7.

From the cover blurb:

How did language begin? How far are oral traditions confirmed by
Archaeology?

Archaeology and Language I represents groundbreaking work in
synthesizing two disciplines that are now seen as interlinked:
linguistics and archaeology. This volume is the first of a three-part
survey of innovative results emerging
from their combination.

Archaeology and historical linguistics have largely pursued separate
tracks until recently, although their goals can be very similar. While
there is a new awareness that these disciplines can be used to
complement one another, both
rigourous methodological awareness and detailed case-studies are still
lacking in the literature. Archaeology and Language I is the first
study to address this.

Exploring a wide range of techniques developed by specialists in each
discipline, this first volume deals with broad theoretical and
methodological issues and provides an indispensable background to the
detail of the studies presented in volumes II and III. This collection
deals with the controversial question of the origins of language, the
validity of deep-level reconstruction, the sociolinguistic modelling of
prehistory and the use and value of oral tradition.

Archaeology and Language I will be of interest not only to linguists
and archaeologists, but also to anthropologists.

Roger Blench is a Research Fellow of the Overseas Development
Institute, London. Matthew Spriggs is Professor of Archaeology at the
Australian National University, Canberra.