> > >
> > > Actually I've used several other correspondences with Proto-
> Bantu.
> > > The reason I included it was this: If there is an Austronesian
> > > influence on IE it must have gone either overland in the Middle
> > East
> > > or around Africa. Logistically it would be the reverse of the
> > > European finding a trade route to the East. In order to create
a
> > > trade route overland you need control over a route to the
extent
> > that
> > > you are not disturbed by tax-happy local sovereigns. The
> Europeans
> > > tried for centuries to break through the Muslim states to
create
> a
> > > safe passage to the Indian Ocean but it wasn't logistically
> > possible.
> > > Only with da Gama's journey did they find a way. And this
> > alternative
> > > route financially weakened the Middle East to a degree that it
> then
> > > became possible to create an overland route.
> > > In order to have a circum-Africa route you need way-
stations. ...
> > The obvious choice in West
> > > Africa is the Niger delta:
Since I mention Europe in this posting I think it's not all off-topic:
In Stephen Oppenheimer's 'Eden in the East' he discusses the various
markers for alpha- and beta-thalassaemia (inherited blood conditions
that protect against malaria.
Mutations for beta-thalassaemia are found in areas ranging from
islands east of New Guinea to Spain, including the Philippines,
Indonesia, SE Asia, India, Iraq, Iran, the Arabian peninsula, along
the Red Sea, North Africa, Turkey, Greece and Italy, plus (note!) an
isolated area along the West African coast from Nigeria to Ghana.
Mutations for alpha-thalassaemia are found in those area, plus the
Northern Island of New Zealand, Northen Australia and all of Africa
and Madagascar.
Although the mutations for the two thalassaemias are found on
different frames (sites), there is an argument that might be caused
by 'a small recombination (gene conversion) event transferring the
mutation from one chromosome to another. This seems particularly
likely to have occurred when a mutation confined to a particular
geographical area is there associated with more than one framework'
(Adrian Hill, geneticist at Oxford). Oppenheimer: 'In spite of this
sleight of chromosome, there are sufficient instances of the same
mutation on the same framework, linked across the Indian Ocean, to
make a case for substantial ancient Southeast Asian intrusions into
Assam, west Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and on to the Arabian Gulf and the
Mediterranean.'
It was the isolated occurrences of the mutation for beta-thalassaemia
close to the Niger delta that might be of interest here.
Torsten