Ethnolinguistic Prehistory The Peopling of the World from the Perspective of Language, Genes and Material Culture (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library / Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region, 26)

This volume provides the most up\-to\-date and holistic but compact account of the peopling of the world from the perspective of language, genes and material culture. The book provides detailed answers to the question of where we all came from. ‎Contents 5 ‎Preface 9 ‎Figures 10 ‎Part 1. Historical Contexts in Which We Live 15 ‎Chapter 1. Prehistory and the Present 17 ‎1. European Identities 17 ‎2. A Tablet of Unusual Composition 21 ‎3. A Pieterskerk Skull Migrates to Switzerland 28 ‎4. Migration and Population Replacement in Prehistoric Europe 35 ‎Chapter 2. Evolving Scientific Views of Our Origins 40 ‎1. Recent History Can Distort Our Perception of Prehistory 40 ‎2. Indigenism in India 42 ‎3. The Aryan Invasion and the Ancient Indian Fatherland 46 ‎4. Colonial Expansion out of India and into India 52 ‎5. The Zeal of Jihād and Reconquista Are Brought to the Subcontinent 57 ‎6. The Continuing Saga of Colonialism 61 ‎Chapter 3. A Fascination with Phenotypical Diversity 70 ‎1. The Rise of Race 70 ‎2. Enchanted by Human Phenotypical Diversity 75 ‎3. The Slippery Slope from Physical Anthropology to Racism 80 ‎4. A Molecular Understanding of Heredity and the Fallacy of Race 82 ‎5. The Tenacity of Obsolete Labels and the Rise of New Fictions 84 ‎6. Endogamy and Exclusion vs. Conquest and Élite Dominance 89 ‎7. Decolonising East Asian Prehistory 95 ‎Chapter 4. Chinoiserie Old and New 99 ‎1. Spellbound by Language Typology 99 ‎2. Racist Linguistic Typology vs. Linguistic Relativity 106 ‎3. Ex Occidente Lux 109 ‎4. The Creoloid Origins of Chinese 114 ‎5. Asian Negrito Populations and the Birth of Lexicostatistics 119 ‎6. Lexicostatistics under the Novel Guise of ‘Phylolinguistics’ 122 ‎Part 2. Episodes of Our Shared Prehistory 129 ‎Chapter 5. Beyond the Linguistic Event Horizon 131 ‎1. The Rapacious Species 131 ‎2. The Colonisation of Eurasia 136 ‎3. Mixing with the Neighbours 139 ‎4. Walking the Dogs Back to Africa 146 ‎5. Long Lost Cousins 148 ‎6. Eastward through the Clement Climatic Corridor 151 ‎7. Yet Another Wave Washes through the Subcontinent 155 ‎8. Human Paternal Lineages as Molecular Tracers 163 ‎9. Paternal Starburst in the Subcontinent 168 ‎10. Subsequent South Asian Y-Chromosomal Starbursts 173 ‎Chapter 6. Holocene Dispersals 180 ‎1. From the Himalayan Heartland to Hyperborea 180 ‎2. Austro-Tai Comprises Austronesian and Kradai 183 ‎3. Older Layers of Peopling Shine through 191 ‎4. Austroasiatic and para-Austroasiatic 197 ‎5. Trans-Himalayan and Yangtzean 205 ‎Chapter 7. From India to Europe and Back 214 ‎1. Dene-Kusunda and beyond Beringia 214 ‎2. Burushaski and Indo-European 218 ‎3. The Discovery of the Indus Civilisation 223 ‎4. The Dravidians and the Indus Civilisation 226 ‎5. Nihali and Vedda 233 ‎6. Crossing the Pacific with Coconuts and Sweet Potatoes 235 ‎7. The Discovery of America 240 ‎8. Meanderings in the Pacific and Indian Oceans 243 ‎9. Ancient Culture on the Beautiful Maldives 245 ‎10. As Bassas de Chagas 252 ‎11. Epilogue 258 ‎Bibliography 263 ‎Index 395 "This volume provides the most up-to-date and holistic but compact account of the peopling of the world from the perspective of language, genes and material culture, presenting a view from the Himalayas. The phylogeny of language families, the chronology of branching of linguistic family trees and the historical and modern geographical distribution of language communities inform us about the spread of languages and linguistic phyla. The global distribution and the chronology of spread of Y chromosomal haplogroups appears closely correlated with the spread of language families. New findings on ancient DNA have greatly enhanced our understanding of the prehistory and provenance of our biological ancestors. The archaeological study of past material cultures provides yet a third independent window onto the complex prehistory of our species"-- Provided by publisher Historical contexts in which we live. Prehistory and the present : crossing national and mythical boundaries -- Evolving scientific views of our origins : as opposed to political projections upon the prehistoric past -- A fascination with phenotypical diversity : the manifold ways in which we humans can look beautiful -- Chinoiserie old and new : language typology with and without racial prejudice -- Episodes of our shared prehistory. Beyond the linguistic Event Horizon : the sub-Himalayan hill tracts and adjacent plains serve as a conduit -- Holocene dispersals : genetic correlates of major linguistic phyla in Eastern Eurasia -- From India to Europe and back : from the Holocene to the beginnings of recorded history.