--- "C. Darwin Goranson" <
cdog_squirrel@...>
wrote:
> I've read that the PIEans could have been any of
> these, or even a
> mixture of them. What's the current, widely-accepted
> idea in regard to
> this issue of origins? And where did THOSE cultures
> come from?
****GK: Serednyi Stih ("Middle Crag", after a location
on the southward bend of the Dnipro r.) is the prime
candidate for the "pre-expansion" locale of IE (though
not necessarily the first IE culture) for those who
favour the East European steppe as the heimat. It is a
combination of the Eastern Surska c. (that part of it
which existed east of the Donets) and at least three
of the second stage Dnipro-Donetsk cultures. Pit-Grave
(Yamna) is too late for the role. It is a combination
of Serednyi Stih, Lower Mykhailivka, Khvalinsk, and a
few other minor local cultures. It is arguable that
both Serednyi Stih and Yamna might have covered an
area where a number of distinct IE dialects already
existed.
Dnipro-Donetsk (and the related Samara/Khvalinsk
continuum to the East) is a better candidate for PIE,
along with the Surska continuum, but here again we
might be just a tad too late. All these cultures go
back to a Late Mesolithic "proto-Dnipro-Donetsk" area,
whose burials begin to evidence some of the traits
later associated with IE (acc. to the steppe version).
The difference between Surska and D/D etc. is that the
former is basically a pastoral economy (with minor
'agricultural' components), while the latter is a
hunter/fisher economy with very minor 'pastoral' and
'agricultural'traits. The "proto-Dnipro-Donetsk" area
probably encompasses the area of its later offshoot
cultures, though there are some blank spots. It has
some very interesting warrior burials at the bend of
the Dnipro. The earliest ones (some 19 sites of ca.
8,000-7,000 BCE) are inhumations where the skeletons
are laid out on the side with bended knees, and with
their arms bended at the elbows with fingers covering
the eyes. Arrow tips which caused death were left in
the bodies. Later burials (some 68 skeletons of ca.
7,000-6000 BC) are laid out either on the side with
bended knees, or flat on their backs. Red ochre is
used on them. Remnant of arrow tips and broken tips of
primitive lances were also left in the bodies.******
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