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Archaeology and Language 1: Theoretical and Methodological Orientations. Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs, eds. New York: Routledge, 1997. 388 pp.
This volume, which includes the papers presented at the Third World Archaeological Congress, New Delhi, December 1994, and supplemented by specially commissioned articles, is one of the rare examples of an inter-face between archaeology and historic linguistics. Assessing the volume as a whole, one cannot escape the feeling that the aim "to develop a comprehensible coverage ... both geographically and methodically" (p. xvii) remained mostly in an area of wishful thinking. No interdisciplinary dialogue is apparent. Both the linguists and archaeologists developed their theories based on their traditional set of arguments. In cases where the arguments of the opposite side are used, they are often misplaced or misinterpreted. Being an archaeologist, I will concentrate here predominantly on archaeological arguments and implications.
Marcel Otte, in his short chapter (pp. 74-81), questions the theory of the sub-African origins of modern humans ("the curious theory of the Black Eve"), suggesting "the steppes of Eurasia" as a replacement. This area, according to the Belgian writer, was a starting point for both the "Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages." This chapter is lacking in all kinds of arguments, either archaeological or linguistic. A considerable part of the area of a potential homeland was at the discussed time under the water of the Caspian Sea (the "Khvalynian transgression") and hence unsuitable for human settlement.
Colin Renfrew in...