Indo-European Warfare

Abstract

The Indo-European languages comprise the largest language family in the world and by the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age occupied a broad expanse of Eurasia from Ireland to western China and India. The inherited vocabulary of the Indo-European languages provides us with an image of the prehistoric language(s) that was spoken at least from the late Neolithic onwards and sheds light on the actual names of weapons, types of defensive architecture, terms for aggressive behaviour, trauma, institutions and poetic diction associated with warfare. In addition, there is also a body of ethnographic and mythological data that purports to provide a picture of the social organization and attitudes toward warriors shared by the earliest Indo-Europeans.     

Tewa Place Names for Early Habitation Sites in the Northern Rio Grande Valley,New Mexico

Place names have the potential to aid in the investigation of regional settlement histories because they reflect the importance of specific locations in the social or cultural memories of indigenous groups. Unique place names for ancient habitation sites such as villages or hamlets, i.e., those names for which there are no cognates in other languages, suggest that those ancient villages or hamlets still retain the names given to them by their original inhabitants. Here, we present Tewa place names for habitation sites identified archaeologically in the northern Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. The results of our study strongly suggest that the Tewa language was spoken in the northern Rio Grande Valley, specifically, within the southern Tewa Basin, as early as the Late Developmental period (a.d. 900–1200), thus challenging the currently well-accepted model postulating a Mesa Verde origin for the Tewa language and culture.     

THE SHAPIRA COLLECTION

Abstract

Khirbet es Safsafeh was occupied during the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age and flourishe<;lduring the Israelite period, from the time of the settlement of the tribes up to and during the days of the monarchy. During the Exile the place was abandoned, and was again occupied from the first century A.D. till the eight century A.D. During all these periods the site was an agricultural settlement but also a strongpoint on the route connecting Galilee and Gilead with Ephraim and Judah. It may be supposed that the name Endor was transferred by the villagers when they moved to a new location on the slope of Jebel el Jurus, 1 km. away, in the hope that the name would protect them.

There are many places in Palestine where the ancient name was transferred by the Arabs from the original site, to a new one: Cp. the transferring of the name ‘Gezer’ to ‘al Jizri,’ or ‘Eglon’ to ‘Sheikh Ajlan’ or ‘Rehob’, in the Beisan valley to Sheikh er Rihab one mile south of Tell es Sarim.     

Lithuanian Linguistic Nationalism and the Cult of Antiquity

Abstract. To a large extent, the Lithuanian nationalist movement of the late nineteenth century was founded on language. Although this is typical of many nationalist movements, the Lithuanian case was special because of the amount and type of attention that was focused on the Lithuanian language, and the qualities that were ascribed to that language. This article discusses the influence that scholarly research into the Indo-European language family, in combination with the romantic nationalism typical of the nineteenth century, exerted on Lithuanian nationalists, and considers the symbolic importance of the Lithuanian language for this movement as a whole.     

Representations of the Chudes in Norwegian and Russian Folklore

Abstract

The objectives of this article are (1) to reveal the meaning (semantics) of the word “Chude” in Norwegian and Russian cultures; (2) to analyze Russian and Norwegian legends about the Chudes in order to define the main plot-constructing elements. When writing this article the authors used a synchronous and diachronous methods of analysis of material that was written down in a period that exceeds one and a half centuries. In etymological sense the word “Chude” (tsjude or Cud) can be derivative form from old Slavic form *tjudjo (strange, foreign) that can in its turn be borrowing from a Gothic or a German word that got the meaning “a nation” (folk). With the Sami the word “tshudde”/ “shutte” means an enemy, an adversary. The image of the Chudes has been preserved in Russian and Norwegian narrative traditions. Oral stories in Norway are called sagn. In Russian folkoristic narratives about the Chudes are traditionally called “predanie”.

The ethnonym “Chude” has a collective meaning in Russian and Norwegian folklore. In Norwegian culture it means plunderers of different ethnical belonging who came from the East to plunder the local population in the Northern Norway. As the undertaken research has shown, this name could have been applicable to Russian, Finns, Karelians, Kvens and peoples speaking Nordic languages (Swedes). In the Russian cultural tradition the name “Chude” was used to name different Finno-Ugric peoples living in the North-West Russia before the Russians came there and who later assimilated with the Russians. The Kola Sami called Swedes and Norwegians who came to them from the west to plunder the Chudes. The existence of a people in the same name in the old times is not excluded. The research carried out by place name scientists reveals that this people could be related to the Baltic-Finnish group of peoples.

The word Chude has historical and mythological aspects. Folk legends about the Chudes have “preserved” memories about the historical past of the northern region. Additionally this ethnonym contains conceptions of the world's binary character that are typical for archaic consciousness. Folk legends about the Chudes are widespread in the European North of Russia while plots about militant and plundering Chudes are localized in traditional Sami regions of Russia and Norway. In folk legends and sagn, the Russians and the Sami belong to one's “own” world, while the Chudes are associated with the concepts of the “strangers”. This nomination acquired the meaning “a stranger”, “a robber”.     

Mother-Die: Plant Names and Folk Beliefs

The use of the name mother-die for cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris (L.) Hoffm.) and beliefs associated with this name are examined, as well as the beliefs found to be essentially those of the twentieth century most prevalent in northern England. Other plants which have been called mother-die, plus other names given to cow parsley, are also discussed, as are folk beliefs associated with these names.     

广东地名语言文化空间结构及景观特征分析

作为语言符号,地名是人类群体活动、经济开发和区域文化进程中的集中体现。广东地名层从语种上明显可以分为三个层次:古越语地名层、地方方言地名层和全国通用语地名层。从时间上看,唐代以前,广东地名基本上属古越语时期,宋至明和清前期为南方方言地名时期,清末以来为北方书面语地名时期;从空间上看,广东地方方言地名层大抵在宋代已基本形成,清代最终形成粤方言、客家方言和福佬语地名文化景观三分广东的空间分布格局,粤方言地名层主要集中于珠三角及邻近地名,客家方言地名层位于北江和东江间的广大山区、丘陵地带,粤东韩江地区则多是福佬地名文化层;从形成原因分析,广东地名层主要归究于历史时期移民、区域人内口繁衍和土地大规模开发,加之人地矛盾日渐突出又为族群地名文化扩散提供了条件,而社会制度的发展和健全,最终成为广东地名层语言文化景观形成的重要机制     

Geoarchaeology at Gi,a middle stone age and later stone age site in the Northwest Kalahari

Gi with sealed middle stone age and later stone age occurrences is located in the Dobe Valley along the Botswana-Namibia border. The phases of middle stone age settlement were linked to a semiarid streamway during the early Upper Pleistocene. A major humid interval followed, when a large lake was ponded in the Dobe Valley. Later stone age settlement appeared after this lake disappeared and was replaced by a mosaic of pans (ephemeral lakes). Subsequently, another period of humid environment favoured another valley-wide lake during the late Upper Pleistocene. Later stone age settlement resumed when this second lake deteriorated into the modern pan terrains of the Dobe Valley. In total, the Gi beds record multiple environmental changes both more humid and more arid than present during the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene, as well as a variable array of adaptive opportunities for prehistoric settlement.     

The prehistory of Island Southeast Asia: A multidisciplinary review of recent research

Island Southeast Asia extends across both the equatorial and the intermediate tropical zones of world climate, and it also spans a region of complex and geologically unstable land and sea relationships. The Sundaland region in the west and the isolated islands of Wallacea in the east both witnessed complex trajectories of human movement and evolution during the Pleistocene. The record of human evolution in Sundaland is still affected by uncertainties over phylogeny, dates, and archaeological correlations. Initial human settlement across Huxley's Line into Wallacea cannot at present be proven to be older than the Late Pleistocene. Stone tool industries dating to within the past 40,000 years are described, including new discoveries which indicate a surprising level of technological virtuosity. Human populations of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene are also considered in terms of skeletal and genetic data, particularly with respect to the rather controversial antecedents of the present, mainly Mongoloid, population. The article terminates its coverage at about 2000 B.C., within the period characterized by the expansion of speakers of Austronesian languages and by the expansion of agriculture into a porous and often-resistant network of hunter-gatherer societies. The archaeological and ethnographic records of the region bear witness to a continuous but dwindling existence of hunting and gathering right through to the present day. While the results of archaeology occupy a central position in the reconstruction of Southeast Asian prehistory, a proper understanding can be achieved only if a multidisciplinary standpoint is adopted.     

Deglaciation and Human Colonization of Northern Europe

Few places worldwide experienced Late Glacial ecological shifts as drastic as those seen in the areas covered by, or adjacent to, the massive ice sheets that blanketed much of the northern hemisphere. Among the most heavily glaciated regions, northern Europe underwent substantial ecological shifts during and after the Last Glacial Maximum. The climatically unstable Pleistocene–Holocene transition repeatedly transformed far-northern Europe, placing it among the last regions to be colonized by Paleolithic societies. As such, it shares paleoenvironmental and archaeological analogues with other once glaciated areas where human populations, entrenched in periglacial environments prior to glacier retreat, spread into newly deglaciated territories. Perhaps most significant for northern Europeans were post-glacial effects of the Younger Dryas and Preboreal periods, as shifts in climate, plant, and animal communities elicited several adaptive responses including innovation, exploration, and the eventual settlement of once glaciated landscapes. This paper is a detailed review of existing archaeological and paleoecological evidence pertaining to the Late Upper Paleolithic of northern Europe, and offers theoretical observations on human colonization models and ecological responses to large-scale stadial and interstadial events.     

Is it wise to believe Daniel?

A number of possible reasons for the unusual use of divine names in Pss 42-83 are presented. Detailed analysis of the Elohistic Psalter follows, pinpointing exactly how it differs from the rest of the Psalter. Frequencies of divine names are examined, as well as their stylistic use (including use in parallelism, the place of acrostics and refrains, and specific criteria for use of the less-favoured name), and the differing use of shared material and idioms. The author concludes that the Elohistic Psalter is the result of highly skilled editorial activity which was unrelated to any reluctance to pronounce the tetragrammaton.     

Southwest Norway at the Pleistocene/Holocene Transition: Landscape Development,Colonization, Site Types,Settlement Patterns

This article contributes a western Norwegian perspective to the ongoing debate on the timing and nature of the earliest colonization of northern Europe. Despite there being a theoretical possibility of Late Glacial settlement, currently available data indicate a populating of the area around the termination of the Pleistocene ca. 10,000 (uncalibrated) yr BP. The earliest radiocarbon date in southwest Norway so far, 9750 BP, is only a terminus ante quem . Environmental, economic, technological and social factors involved as a result of the colonization process are discussed briefly, and trends in the archaeological record are emphasized and commented on. The economy reflected by the first complete annual subsistence patterns is interpreted as having been logistically mobile, highly adaptive and generally of opportunistic character. Particular attention is paid to Early Preboreal coastal and inland settlement of the 'Boknafjord' and 'Myrvatn/Fløyrlivatn' groups, the latter characterized by well-preserved site structures such as tent rings and hearths providing high-resolution radiocarbon dates and palaeobotanical evidence.     

A REVIEW OF THE LATER UPPER PALAEOLITHIC IN THE ODER AND VISTULA BASINS IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT RESEARCH

Summary. The withdrawal of the Vistulan ice-sheet some 15,000 years ago permitted colonisation of the Oder and Vistula basins by a succession of Late Upper Palaeolithic peoples, amongst whom various distinct groups can be recognised. Magdalenian, Shouldered Point, Curved Back Point and Tanged Point technocomplexes are distinguished by the author, who discusses them with reference to the salient features of the archaeological assemblages, comments on the dating evidence, and considers both internal variability and possible relationships with industries in Western and Eastern Europe. The populations of this region, which coincides approximately with the boundaries of modern Poland, were hunter-gatherers exploiting late glacial and early postglacial game resources, but there is evidence that systematic use was made of other local resources, such as ochre (mined at Rydno), Jurassic flint and the chocolate flint of the Holy Cross Mountains. In this process some of the Late Upper Palaeolithic peoples travelled long distances and established wide contacts. Use of the chocolate flint by Swiderian groups of the Tanged Point technocomplex is proving to be a particularly worthwhile study: flint of this kind is found at some 300 out of 700 Swiderian sites. Actual quarrying places are known in the source area, with working and living sites occurring at various distances from them, offering considerable potential for a study of contemporary economic and social organisation and seasonal migration.     

Tracing the Busy Gap Rogues

Busy Gap is one of the earliest attested place names located along the line of the central sector of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, yet in Newcastle during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was a term of abuse, applied collectively to those who came from upland Tynedale and was synonymous with the Border Reivers. Archaeological and historical sources indicate that throughout the Middle Ages the place was located in a zone of seasonal settlement, characterized by groups of shielings probably associated with townships located in the valley of the South Tyne. The question is how to understand the role of Busy Gap, a place identified with a triangular earthwork on the north side of the Roman Wall. This paper will consider the results of recent archaeological investigations carried out by the author on the site and will investigate the place and its setting within the archaeological and historical context of early-modern Northumberland.     

战国楚简公文书人名记写形式论议——兼与秦简记名的比较

战国楚、秦简公文书在人名记写上都表现出某些一般性的规律。《包山楚简》公文书人名记写包括某地之人+姓名、某人之人+姓名、某官+姓名、某族+名、某人之子+名、某人之奴、某王之+名、某客+姓名、单称官职、单称封号诸种形式。不同的记名方式区分了个体,同时进行了社会分类。楚简公文人名记写有省略情形,包括省略属地信息、省略姓氏、案件审理者自署名的省略和无规律省略。楚简中还有提示人名的符号。楚简公文记名对多数人都记姓和名,秦简则多记名而不称姓,只在特殊情况下另外加姓作为补充。楚简人名记写习惯可能承自周人制度,与秦简相比,更有利于达到识别个体的目的,以及保证公文作为行政工具的效率。     

Naming practices among the Irish secular nobility in the high middle ages

The Anglo-Norman ‘invasion’ had a profound impact on the names used by Irish families. New names such as Seán and Uilliam, introduced in the thirteenth, became widespread by the fourteenth century. In a number of cases a link can be established between the first occurrence of an Anglo-Norman name in an Irish family and an Anglo-Norman magnate with the same first name in the same region. This may have been the case for women also. Women's names were possibly more open to change, but in this field in particular more research needs to be done. The societies of both the Irish and the Anglo-Normans were patriarchal and as a consequence the naming pattern of the paternal family was usually followed. There are many similarities between the practices in Ireland and those in the rest of Western Europe, but it seems that Ireland differed in that here the eldest son rarely received the name of his paternal grandfather. Within the upper classes, the high nobility seems to have had a different attitude towards imitating Anglo-Norman names then did the lower nobility.     

RUSSIAN PLACE NAMES IN ALASKA

A Moscow University place-name linguist traces the origins ot Russian place names in Alaska through the three periods of Russian settlement–the early mercantile activities, colonization of the southern areas, and penetration of the interior–and the extent to which aboriginal names were combined with Russian names. The various types of Russian settlements and the terms used to designate them are discussed, and the evolution of Russian names into the American period is traced. Alaska is found to be a unique case of Russian-American language contact.     

宋使辽境经行道路的地理和地名学考察

本文依据历史文献的记载,参考现代大比例尺地形图显示的区域自然地理面貌,探讨北宋使臣在辽国境内经行的交通路线;运用地名调查资料,从地名与环境之间的关系、地名的历史继承性、地名语词的演变等方面,寻找道路沿线地名定位的证据,提出更加细化或推测性的定位意见,以进一步明晰北京在宋辽时期交通线向北延伸的基本情形。