1. Language, material culture and ethnicity: Theoretical perspectives

The role of Hazarewal populations in the peopling of South Asia: A dental morphology investigation

“…The last 20 years have witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of molecular genetic studies that have sought to address the population history of the Indian subcontinent. Many of these studies corroborate archeological evidence for the settlement of South Asia during the Late Pleistocene by groups bearing a Middle Paleolithic toolkit (Clarkson et al, 2009; Haslam et al, 2010; Mellars et al, 2013; Petraglia et al, 2007) and who used the Indian subcontinent as a major corridor for continued dispersal of early modern humans out of Africa into Southeast Asia, East Asia and beyond (Cordaux & Stoneking, 2003; Endicott et al, 2007; Ghirotto et al, 2011; Kivisild, Bamshad, et al, 1999; Kivisild, Kaldma, et al, 1999; Mellars, 2006; Palanichamy et al, 2004; Reyes‐Centano et al, 2014; Tassi et al, 2015). 1…”

“…HG3 (now known as haplogroup R) was found at highest frequencies in Central Asia and marked by clines of decreasing frequency toward Europe, the Levant, and South Asia. Quintana-Murci et al (2001) support the contention that Central Asia was the homeland of Indo-European speakers who spread from Central Asia (see also Erdosy, 1995;Parpola, 1995;Wells et al, 2001). Nevertheless, they admit that HG 3 occurs with high frequency and diversity in South Asia, which they attribute to the large number of Central Asian immigrants.…”

“…Past proponents of this model asserted that Indo-Aryan languages were brought to the Indian subcontinent during the mid-2nd millennium BC by invaders from the steppes of Central Asia who spread Vedic culture, first to the Indus Valley of Pakistan, then to the Upper Doab region of north India, and subsequently to the rest of the subcontinent (Bernhard, 1983;Erdosy, 1995;Kuzmina, 1976Kuzmina, , 2001Parpola, 1988Parpola, , 1995Risley, 1908;Wheeler, 1968). Indeed, most HCCM supporters, following Wheeler's vivid description of the destruction of fortresses of the horse-mounted, saoma inebriated (Sarianidi 1999) followers of Indra, claimed that these Central Asians not only invaded the lands once occupied by the resident population of the Harppan Civilization, but physically displaced them as well (Erdosy, 1995;Kuzmina, 2001) and proceded to rule South Asia through a process of elite dominance in which "Aryan" identity was a prerequisite to high status and authority (Erdosy, 1995;Parpola, 1988;Renfrew, 1987).…”

“…In its reconfiguration proponents of the HCCM no longer call for the destruction of the Harppan cities at the hands of invading Central Asians, nor do they call for replacement of the resident population by an exogenous population from Central Asia. Although the exact ancestral population of these Central Asian invaders remains elusive, some have associated them with Bactrian Margianan Archeological Complex (BMAC) populations of southern Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which date between 2200 and 1500 BC and whose characteristic artifacts and inhumation patterns have been found throughout the Indo-Iranian borderlands, including such regions south of the Hindu Kush as the Indus Valley and its adjacent highlands to the north and west (Dani, 1966(Dani, , 1967Erdosy, 1995;Hiebert, 1998;Hiebert & Lamberg-Karlovsky, 1992;Jarrige & Hassan, 1989;Santoni, 1984).…”

“…Quite the contrary, proponents of the initial dispersion model (IDM) maintain that the current distribution of people with West Eurasian genetic affinities is due to migrations that occurred prior to the development of agriculture. Some studies suggest there was a single rapid expansion (Endicott et al, 2007), but others suggest that initial entry may have been followed by subsequent dispersals south and east within the subcontinent (Singh et al, 2016).…”