---
x99lynx@... wrote:
> George wrote:
> <<There is a paper by David Anthony which propounds
> an "elite dominance"
> theory to explain the spread of IE among steppe
> populations east of the
> Volga.>>
>
> Yes. I'm including the abstract here because it
> really is kind of amazing.
> You see Anthony -- of all people -- can't use the
> HORSE to explain IE's
> spread to this corner of the world because he's been
> busy showing the
> domesticated HORSE IS ALREADY THERE! And has been
> for a long time.
*****GK: Indeed Anthony is beginning to look like that
proverbial juggler attempting to simultaneously keep a
few balls in the air. Initially he had accepted
Dereivka ca. 4000 BC as the locus for the earliest
archaeologically documented horse domestication (which
I still do but on other grounds). Then he switched
everyone's focus to Botai, but did not actually
abandon his earlier position (simply muted it a bit).
So far it's a simple two-ball juggle. But NOW things
are getting really complicated. Of course it could be
that we're reading a bit too much into this abstract.
After all it does not rule out the possibility that
there were "prestige elites" much earlier than
Sintashta (ca.2250-1750 BC) operating east of the
Urals. Sintashta might thus only focus on the spread
of Indo-Aryan into a proto-Indo-Iranian context. But
far be it from me to make things easier for Anthony!
At the moment we do seem to be stuck with this complex
juggle. Speaking of Sintashta. There is another
abstract in that Esslingen conference which derives
this "elite"(as per Anthony) culture from the Near
East and Transcaucasia.. Which doesn't seem to fit any
model except (perhaps) that of Gamkrelidze and
Ivanov(?) ******
(Steve) (And,
> based on what we've just read, if he goes back too
> far in time, he might even
> run into Yamnaya going in the other direction.)
*****GK: If Spitsina is correct, there's at least
little chance of that.******
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