Roger Blench

Matthew Spriggs

Archaeology and Language IV examines a variety of pressing issues regarding linguistic and cultural change. It provides a challenging variety of case-studies which demonstrate how global patterns of language distribution and change can be interwoven to produce a rich historical narrative, and fuel a radical rethinking of the conventional discourse of linguistics within archaeology.

Language Change and Cultural Transformation

Archaeology and Language IV

Kevin MacDonald

This book presents an interdisciplinary overview of the origins of African livestock, placing Africa as one of the world centres for animal domestication. With sections on archaeology, genetics, linguistics and ethnography, this collection contains over twenty contributions from the field's foremost experts and provides fully illustrated, never before published data, and extensive bibliographies.

Archaeology, Genetics, Linguistics and Ethnography

The Origins and Development of African Livestock

Archaeology and Language I represents groundbreaking work in synthesizing two disciplines that are now seen as interlinked: linguistics and archaeology. This volume is the first of a three-part survey of innovative results emerging from their combination. Archaeology and historical linguistics have largely pursued separate tracks until recently, although their goals can be very similar. While there is a new awareness that these disciplines can be used to complement one another, both rigorous methodological awareness and detailed case-studies are still lacking in literature. Archaeology and Language I aims to fill this lacuna. Exploring a wide range of techniques developed by specialists in each discipline, this first volume deals with broad theoretical and methodological issues and provides an indispensable background to the detail of the studies presented in volumes II and III. This collection deals with the controversial question of the origin of language, the validity of deep-level reconstruction, the sociolinguistic modelling of prehistory and the use and value of oral tradition.

Theoretical and Methodological Orientations

Archaeology and Language I

Andrea Acri

Alexandra Landmann

This volume seeks to foreground a “borderless” history and geography of South, Southeast, and East Asian littoral zones that would be maritime-focused, and thereby explore the ancient connections and dynamics of interaction that favoured the encounters among the cultures found throughout the region stretching from the Indian Ocean littorals to the Western Pacific, from the early historical period to the present. Transcending the artificial boundaries of macro-regions and nation-states, and trying to bridge the arbitrary divide between (inherently cosmopolitan) “high” cultures (e.g. Sanskritic, Sinitic, or Islamicate) and “local” or “indigenous” cultures, this multidisciplinary volume explores the metaphor of Monsoon Asia as a vast geo-environmental area inhabited by speakers of numerous language phyla, which for millennia has formed an integrated system of littorals where crops, goods, ideas, cosmologies, and ritual practices circulated on the sea-routes governed by the seasonal monsoon winds. The collective body of work presented in the volume describes Monsoon Asia as an ideal theatre for circulatory dynamics of cultural transfer, interaction, acceptance, selection, and avoidance, and argues that, despite the rich ethnic, linguistic and sociocultural diversity, a shared pattern of values, norms, and cultural models is discernible throughout the region.

Cultural Transfers in Early Monsoon Asia

Spirits and Ships

Laurent Sagart

Alicia Sanchez-Mazas

One of the most dynamic research areas in the prehistory of East Asian regions is the synthesis of the findings of archaeology, linguistics and genetics. Several countries have only recently opened to field research and highly active local groups have made possible a raft of collaborative studies that would have been impossible even a decade ago. This book presents an overview of the most recent findings in all these fields. It will be of great interest to scholars of all disciplines working on the reconstruction of the East Asian past.

Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics

The Peopling of East Asia

Archaeology and Language III interprets results from archaeological data in terms of language distribution and change, providing the tools for a radical rewriting of the conventional discourse of prehistory. Individual chapters present case studies of artefacts and fragmentary textual materials, concerned with the reconstruction of houses, maritime technology, pottery and grave goods.

Artefacts, Languages and Texts

Archaeology and Language III

Ilia Peiros

Malcolm D. Ross

Marie Lin

The study of the prehistory of East Asia is developing very rapidly. In uncovering the story of the flows of human migration that constituted the peopling of East Asia there exists widespread debate about the nature of evidence and the tools for correlating results from different disciplines. Drawing upon the latest evidence in genetics, linguistics and archaeology, this exciting new book examines the history of the peopling of East Asia, and investigates the ways in which we can detect migration, and its different markers in these fields of inquiry. Results from different academic disciplines are compared and reinterpreted in the light of evidence from others to attempt to try and generate consensus on methodology. Taking a broad geographical focus, the book also draws attention to the roles of minority peoples – hitherto underplayed in accounts of the region’s prehistory – such as the Austronesian, Tai-Kadai and Altaic speakers, whose contribution to the regional culture is now becoming accepted. Past Human Migrations in East Asia presents a full picture of the latest research on the peopling of East Asia, and will be of interest to scholars of all disciplines working on the reconstruction of the peopling of East and North East Asia.

Matching Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics

Past Human Migrations in East Asia

Using language to date the origin and spread of food production, Archaeology and Language II represents groundbreaking work in synthesizing two disciplines that are now seen as interlinked: linguistics and archaeology. This volume is the second part of a three-part survey of innovative results emerging from their combination. Archaeology and historical linguistics have largely pursued separate tracks until recently, although their goals can be very similar. While there is a new awareness that these disciplines can be used to complement one another, both rigorous methodological awareness and detailed case-studies are still lacking in the literature. This three-part survey is the first study to address this. Archaeology and Language II examines in some detail how archaeological data can be interpreted through linguistic hypotheses. This collection demonstrates the possibility that, where archaeological sequences are reasonably well-known, they might be tied into evidence of language diversification and thus produce absolute chronologies. Where there is evidence for migrations and expansions these can be explored through both disciplines to produce a richer interpretation of prehistory. An important part of this is the origin and spread of food production which can be modelled through the spread of both plants and words for them. Archaeology and Language II will be of interest to researchers in linguistics, archaeologists and anthropologists.

Roger Blench

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