Proto-Indian Meluhha, a precursor of Prākṛts and deśya
Furnace metallurgy
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2nd millennium BCE
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3rd millennium BCE
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4th millennium BCE
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5th millennium BCE
"...crucible and furnace smelting are acknowledged to be two distinct and unrelated processes. This simple fact enables us to integrate the contradicting claims of the localizationist and diffusionist theories (discovery of copper smelting at many independent sites between the sixth and second millennia BCE, and diffusion of metallurgy from a single homeland from the fifth millennium BCE) into a single framework--what I call the synthetic theory. It also permits us to identify the source of the cultural homogeneity of the Bronze Age civilisations and to point to the nature of the transformations stimulated by the discovery of furnace smelting...it brought about profound changes that deeply influenced the emergence of the Bronze Age societies.""
(Amzallag, Nissim, 2009, From metallurgy to bronze age civilizations: the synthetic theory, in: American Journal of Archaeology 113 (2009) 497-519, p. 514) http://www.ajaonline.org/sites/default/files/AJA1134Amzallag_0.pdf
The influence is visible in Meluhha as a visible language (from the deployment of Meluhha hieroglyphs across a wide geographical area spanning the Fertile Crescent and India).
The diffusion of lost wax casting from east to west and the movement of tin for tin-bronzes on the tin road from east to west is consistent with this role played by Meluhha in the transition from the chalcolithic to the Bronze Age.
These two facets of metallurgy (lost wax casting and tin-bronzes) are vividly demonstrated on Meluhha (Indus writing) hieroglyphs on thousands of seals and artifacts. The rebus readings provide the Meluhha glosses (from Indian sprachbund) related to ores, metals, metalware and metallurgical techniques of furnace metallurgy, alloying and metal casting.
IE studies have been blinded by the search for urheimat and only sporadic efforts have been made to track down and draw up isoglosses.
Georges-Jean Pinault has done remarkable work in pinning down Tocharian as an IE language.
There is a possibility that Mount Mujavant may be located (cognate?) in Mustagh Ata north of Himalayas, beyond Kashmir, across Karakoram highway in Xinjiang.
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Its breathtaking splendour has to be seen to be believed.
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Harosheth Hagoyim -- smithy of nations (S. Kalyanaraman 2012)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/200092919/Harosheth-hagoyim-smithy-of-nations
Furnace metallurgy
2nd millennium BCE
3rd millennium BCE
4th millennium BCE
5th millennium BCE(Maps drawn by P. Jean-Baptiste)
"...crucible and furnace smelting are acknowledged to be two distinct and unrelated processes. This simple fact enables us to integrate the contradicting claims of the localizationist and diffusionist theories (discovery of copper smelting at many independent sites between the sixth and second millennia BCE, and diffusion of metallurgy from a single homeland from the fifth millennium BCE) into a single framework--what I call the synthetic theory. It also permits us to identify the source of the cultural homogeneity of the Bronze Age civilisations and to point to the nature of the transformations stimulated by the discovery of furnace smelting...it brought about profound changes that deeply influenced the emergence of the Bronze Age societies.""
(Amzallag, Nissim, 2009, From metallurgy to bronze age civilizations: the synthetic theory, in: American Journal of Archaeology 113 (2009) 497-519, p. 514) http://www.ajaonline.org/sites/default/files/AJA1134Amzallag_0.pdf
The influence is visible in Meluhha as a visible language (from the deployment of Meluhha hieroglyphs across a wide geographical area spanning the Fertile Crescent and India).
The diffusion of lost wax casting from east to west and the movement of tin for tin-bronzes on the tin road from east to west is consistent with this role played by Meluhha in the transition from the chalcolithic to the Bronze Age.
These two facets of metallurgy (lost wax casting and tin-bronzes) are vividly demonstrated on Meluhha (Indus writing) hieroglyphs on thousands of seals and artifacts. The rebus readings provide the Meluhha glosses (from Indian sprachbund) related to ores, metals, metalware and metallurgical techniques of furnace metallurgy, alloying and metal casting.
IE studies have been blinded by the search for urheimat and only sporadic efforts have been made to track down and draw up isoglosses.
Georges-Jean Pinault has done remarkable work in pinning down Tocharian as an IE language.
There is a possibility that Mount Mujavant may be located (cognate?) in Mustagh Ata north of Himalayas, beyond Kashmir, across Karakoram highway in Xinjiang.
Mustagh Ata and Karakol lake
See in particular:
- Dictionary and Thesaurus of Tocharian A. Volume 1: a-j. Compiled by Gerd Carling in collaboration with Georges-Jean Pinault and Werner Winter, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009 (See p. 347 ff. of my Meluhha --A visible language)
- "Aspects of Vedic semantics and etymology", communication au colloque international 14th World Sanskrit Conference, Kyoto University, 1er-5 septembre 2009, section de linguistique. http://www.iran-
inde.cnrs.fr/spip.php? article184
Recently, George Pinault has reported one concordant etymon from Tocharian and Vedic: ancu in Tocharian and amśu in Vedic. It is a fundamental proposition since amśu or its synonym soma is central to the entire Veda corpora.
Or, tracing the flow of proto-Prākṛts or Deśya glosses out of india, is it possible to identify proto-Prākṛt glosses in, say, Elamite or Sumerian? I saw one Sumerian concordance: sanga 'priest' concordant with Gujarati sanghvi'leader of pilgrims' (Gujarati)
In other words, wouldn't an Out of India Theory in IE linguistics be strengthened if a possible trace of proto-Indo-aryan words through Mesopotamia-Anatolia-Mitanni areas is sought? Only one attempt has been made by Thieme and SS Misra with Mitanni treaties.
Any other possibilities? (Apart from the non-starter of comparative mythologies to track down directions of language flows). Emeneau clearly enunciated a linguistic doctrine: it is impossible to pin down the direction of a borrowing.
See: http://tinyurl.com/ml3rrsc I attach a pdf containing the mongraph on language speakers of Fertile Crescent of early bronze age in the context of defining Meluhha as proto-Indian.
S. Kalyanaraman
January 16, 2014
http://www.scribd.com/doc/200092919/Harosheth-hagoyim-smithy-of-nations