Proto-Elamo-Dravidian: The Evidence and Its Implications

Zvelebil, Kamil; McAlpin, David W.

doi:10.2307/601741

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The case is stronger for the introduction of Dravidian languages. Speculatively traced to a proto‐Elamo‐Dravidian ancestral source in southwestern Iran (McAlpin, 1975, 1981; Zvelebil, 1985), some linguists have detected traces of Dravidian influence in place names, names for flora and fauna in west‐central and northwestern India far beyond the current northerly limit of Dravidian‐speakers today apart from Brahui (Fairservis & Southworth, 1989; Southworth, 2006, 2012), and even by sound shifts and word usage in the early Vedic texts (Masica, 1979, 1991; Southworth, 1979; Witzel, 1999). Employing glottochronology, Fairservis and Southworth (1989) estimated the entry of Dravidian languages into the subcontinent to have occurred during the 5th or 6th millennium BC, however a recent (and controversial) reconstruction by Pagel et al (2013) suggests proto‐Dravidian branched off from a macrofamily of six other Eurasiatic languages some 15,000 years ago (but see Heggarty, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Speculatively traced to a proto-Elamo-Dravidian ancestral source in southwestern Iran (McAlpin, 1975(McAlpin, , 1981Zvelebil, 1985), some linguists have detected traces of Dravidian influence in place names, names for flora and fauna in west-central and northwestern India far beyond the current northerly limit of Dravidian-speakers today apart from Brahui (Fairservis & Southworth, 1989;Southworth, 2006Southworth, , 2012, and even by sound shifts and word usage in the early Vedic texts (Masica, 1979(Masica, , 1991Southworth, 1979;Witzel, 1999). Employing glottochronology, Fairservis and Southworth (1989) Dravidian-speaking populations some 18,000 to 6000 years ago (Palinchamy et al, 2015;Sylvester et al, 2019).…”

Section: Sex-pooled Living Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such developments set into play subsistence strategies that led to the formation of food producing sedenary populations in the eastern Mediterranean (Algaze, 1989), southern Turkmenistan (Harris & Godsen, 1996; Kohl, 1984) and the Indus Valley (Lamberg‐Karlovsky, 1993). Another major innovation was the domestication of animals including goats, sheep, pigs, and cattle (Arbuckle et al, 2016; Peters et al, 2005; Price & Evin, 2019; Zeder, 2012). The goats and cattle were domesticated simultaneously at a number of sites (Daly et al, 2018; Verdugo et al, 2019), pigs experienced on‐going changes in body form, while cattle appear to have played a minor role until the 6th millennium BC (Arbuckle et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

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

Akbar

Ullah

Ahmad

et al. 2023

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: This study seeks to accomplish three objectives: assess the biological impact of historically documented Pathan-speaking populations on present-day Hazarewal ethnic groups, determine consilience in patterns of relationships identified by molecular genetics and dental morphology analyses, and determine which of the current models for the peopling of the Indian subcontinent is best supported by dental morphology analysis. Materials and Methods: Dental morphology traits were scored with the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System among living members of 18 ethnic group samples from South Asia in northern Pakistan and 13 prehistoric samples from south-central Asia and South Asia. Affinities were summarized with raw percentages and Smith's MMD. Affinities based on the former were accomplished with correspondence analysis and principal components analysis. Affinities based on the latter were undertaken with neighbor-joining cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. Results: Biodistances based on 17 tooth-trait combinations suggest the human biological history in South Asia is dominated by long-standing continuity, but this continuity is not absolute. There is no evidence for influx of Central Asians or Pathan influences on Hazarewal ethnic groups. Instead, gene flow likely occurred, albeit from other sources, near the beginning of the Holocene and at the beginning of the Iron Age. Discussion: Consilience in results obtained with molecular genetics and dental morphology analyses is good. Both indicate long-standing population continuity over time and clinal variation emanating from Hazarewal to the south and east. However, dental morphology suggests an early Holocene influx of exogenous genes, perhaps from southern Iran, while ruling out a steppe-based influx during the mid-2nd millennium BC.

show abstract