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The site of Dhaskalio Kavos, on the remote Cycladic island of
Keros, was extensively looted in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Investigations starting in1963 then revealed large quantities of
fractured marble bowls, broken marble figures and smashed pottery
of the Early Cycladic period from around 2500 BC. This report of
the subsequent survey and rescue excavations of 1987-88 reveals the
extraordinary richness of the site, now confirmed as one of the
most prolific in lite goods of the entire Aegean early bronze age.
Was it an unprecedentedly rich Early Cycladic cemetery, recently
wrecked by looters? Or was the damage deliberately produced during
early bronze age times in some procedure of ritual breakage and
ceremonial deposition? Here the survey of the site and the rescue
excavations undertaken within the looted area are documented in
detail, with a full account of the finds. Alternative explanations
for this extraordinary deposit are explored. What has been termed
'the Keros Enigma', in the light of the finds at the site, can now
be reconsidered with the full documentation which this volume
offers.
Data from molecular genetics have changed our views on the origin,
spread and timescale of our species across this planet. But how can
we reveal more detail about the demography of ancient human
populations? For example, is it possible to determine when and how
many people arrived at a certain continent, and which route they
took from a choice of geographically plausible options? One of the
most promising tools for such investigation is computer simulation
incorporating various demographic scenarios. The simulation
outcomes must be evaluated by teams with archaeological expertise,
since archaeological evidence is generally the best evidence
currently available on the population histories of geographical
regions. This book is a summary of the landmark conference held in
Cambridge in 2005, where specialists in simulations and molecular
genetics as well as archaeologists came together to present and
evaluate the state of the art, and to discuss future possibilities.
The Cycladic Islands of Greece played a central role in Aegean
prehistory, and many new discoveries have been made in recent years
at sites ranging in date from the Mesolithic period to the end of
the Bronze Age. In the well-illustrated chapters of this book,
based on the recent conference held at the McDonald Institute for
Archaeological Research in Cambridge, international scholars
including leading Greek archaeologists offer new information about
recent developments, many arising from hitherto unpublished
excavations. The book contains novel theoretical insights into the
workings of culture process in the prehistoric cultures of the
islands. It will be an indispensable resource for students and
scholars interested in the prehistory of the Aegean and in the
contributions made to its development by the prehistoric
inhabitants of the Cyclades.
Linguistic diversity is one of the most puzzling and challenging
features of humankind. Why are there some six thousand different
languages spoken in the world today? Why are some, like Chinese or
English, spoken by millions over vast territories, while others are
restricted to just a few thousand speakers in a limited area? The
farming/language dispersal hypothesis makes the radical and
controversial proposal that the present-day distributions of many
of the world's languages and language families can be traced back
to the early developments and dispersals of farming from the
several nuclear areas where animal and plant domestication emerged.
For instance, the Indo-European and Austronesian language families
may owe their current vast distributions to the spread of food
plants and of farmers (speaking the relevant proto-language)
following the Neolithic revolutions which took place in the Near
East and in Eastern Asia respectively, thousands of years ago. In
this challenging book, international experts in historical
linguistics, prehistoric archaeology, molecular genetics and human
ecology bring their specialisms to bear upon this intractable
problem, using a range of interdisciplinary approaches. There are
signs that a new synthesis between these fields may now be
emerging. This path-breaking volume opens new perspectives and
indicates some of the directions which future research is likely to
follow.
This volume of essays examines the claim that a linguistic
macrofamily can be identified which includes not only the
Indo-European and Afroasiatic language families but also the
Kartvelian, Uralic,Altaic and Dravidian families. The Nostratic
case was put by Aharon Dolgopolsky in his The Nostratic Macrofamily
and Linguitic Palaeontology , and it is here evaluated critically
by linguists specialising in the language families concerned.
Contents include: The Nostratic Macrofamily (A. Bomhard); Nostratic
Languages: Internal and External Relationship (V. Shevoroshkin);
Beyond Nostratic in Time and Space (G. Decsy); Nostratic and
Linguistic Palaeontology in Methodological Perspective (L.
Campbell); Family Trees and Favourite Daughters (A. McMahon, M.
Lohr & R. McMahon); Linguistis Palaeontology: For and Against
(I. Hegedus); Afroasiatic and the Nostratic Hypothesis (D.
Appleyard); The Dravidian Perspective (K. Zvelebil); Altaic
Evidence for Nostratic (A. Vovin); On Semitohamitic Comparison (R.
Voight); Toward a Future History of Macrofamily Research (D.
Sinor).
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