Indo-Iranians

The term Indo-Iranian is short for Indic and Iranian. It refers to speakers of the Indo-Iranian languages, i.e., Indo-Aryans, Iranians and the speakers of the Nuristani languages. The historic term for these cultures is Aryan.

Origin

The most commonly cited candidate for the homeland of the Proto-Indian-Iranian culture is the Andronovo Archaeological Complex. A commonly given date for the last period of Proto-Indo-Iranian linguistic unity is approximately 2000 BC, preceding both the Vedic and Iranian cultures. The earliest recorded forms of these languages, Vedic Sanskrit and Gathic Avestan, are remarkably similar, descended from the common Proto-Indo-Iranian language. The origin and earliest relationship between the Nuristani languages and that of the Iranian and Indic groups is unrecoverably obscure.

Expansion

The Indo-Iranians expanded widely into Central Asia from the Ural River in the west to the Tian Shan in the east, taking over the area occupied by the earlier Afanasevo culture, and defined by Transoxiana and the Hindu Kush (mountains) in the south. This region would later become for the most part exclusively Iranian.

Their history becomes sensational with their invention of the horse-drawn chariot.

Two Wave Theories

Asko Parpola and other scholars have proposed a two wave (or multiple wave) model for the migration of Indo-Iranians and Indo-Aryans.

First wave

Based on linguistic evidence scholars argue that the Indo-Iranians were the first to exploit the chariot, leading what is sometimes called the first wave of Indo-Iranian expansion. It is assumed that this expansion went into the Caucasus, the Iranian plateau, Afganistan, and, most significantly, India. They also expanded into Mesopotamia and Syria, and introduced the horse and chariot culture to this part of the world.

They left linguistic remains in a Hittite discourse on horse-training written by one "Kikkuli the Mitanni". Other evidence is found in references to the names of Mitanni rulers and the gods they swore by in treaties; these remains are found in the archives of the Mitanni's neighbors. The time period for this is about 1440-1330 BCE.

The standard model for the entry of the Indo-European languages into India is that this first wave went over the Hindu Kush, either into the headwaters of the Indus or the Ganges (and probably, both). The earliest stratum of Vedic Sanskrit, preserved only in the Rigveda, is assigned to roughly 1700-1400 BCE. From the Indus, the Indo-Aryan languages spread with the migrants, who from (c1500 BCE-c500BCE), were able to spread over the northeren and central parts of the subcontinent, sparing the extreme south. The Aryans in these areas established several powereful kingdoms and principalities in the region, from eastern Afghanistan to the doorstep of Bengal. The most powerful of these kingdoms was Magadha, which lasted until the 4th century BCE, when it was conquered by Chandragupta Maurya and annexed into the Mauryan empire.

In eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, whatever Indo-Aryan dialects that were spoken there were eventually pushed out by the Iranian languages. Most Indo-Aryan languages, however, were and still are prominent in the Indian subcontinent. Today, Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Second wave

The Second Wave is interpreted as the Iranian wave. The Iranians would take over all of Central Asia, Iran, and for a considerable period, dominate the European steppe (the modern Ukraine) and intrude north into Russia and west into central and western Europe well into historic times and as late as the Common Era. The first Iranians to reach the Black Sea may have been the Cimmerians in the 8th century BCE, although their linguistic affiliation is uncertain. They were followed by the Scythians, who are considered a western branch of the Central Asian Sakas. The Rigvedic Kambojas may correspond to the Nuristani branch of Indo-Iranian. The Medes, Parthians and Persians begin to appear on the Persian plateau from ca. 800 BCE, and the Achaemenids replaced Elamite rule from 559 BCE.

In Central Asia, the Turkic languages and culture have replaced Iranian, but a substantial minority remains in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The Iranian languages are now confined to Iran, Kurdistan, Afganistan, western Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and the Caucasus.

The Sogdiana model

Nichols (1997) has proposed a homeland to the east of the Caspian sea, in the vincinty of ancient Bactria-Sogdiana. Nichols, Johanna. 1997a. “The Epicentre of the Linguistic Spread.” In Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs (eds.) Archaeology and Language I: 122-148. London: Routledge. --1997b. The Eurasian Spread Zone and the Indo-European Dispersal. In Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs (eds.) Archaeology and Language, II. London: Routledge.

Archaeology

Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian expansion include:

Central Asia
- Poltavka culture (2700-2100 BCE)
- Andronovo horizon (2200-1000 BCE)
  - Sintashta-Petrovka-Arkaim (2200-1600 BCE),
  - Alakul (2100-1400 BCE)
  - Fedorovo (1400-1200 BCE)
  - Alekseyevka (1200-1000 BCE)
- Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (2200-1700 BCE)
- Srubna culture (2000-1100 BCE)
- Abashevo culture (1700-1500 BCE)
- Yaz culture (1500-1100 BCE)
India
- Swat culture (1600-500 BCE)
- Cemetery H culture (1900-1300 BCE)
- Painted Gray Ware culture (1100-350 BCE)
Iran
- Early West Iranian Grey Ware (1500-1000 BCE)
- Late West Iranian Buff Ware (900-700 BCE)

Parpola (1999) suggests the following identifications:

date range	archaeological culture	identification suggested by Parpola
2800-2000 BCE	late Catacomb and Poltavka cultures	late PIE to Proto-Indo-Iranian
2000-1800 BCE	Srubna and Abashevo cultures	Proto-Iranian
2000-1800 BCE	Petrovka-Sintashta	Proto-Indo-Aryan
1900-1700 BCE	BMAC	"Proto-Dasa" Indo-Aryans establishing themselves in the existing BMAC settlements, defeated by "Proto-Rigvedic" Indo-Aryans around 1700
1900-1400 BCE	Cemetary H	Indian Dasa
1800-1000 BCE	Alakul-Fedorovo	Indo-Aryan, including "Proto-Sauma-Aryan" practicing the Soma cult
1700-1400 BCE	early Swat culture	Proto-Rigvedic = Proto-Dardic
1700-1500 BCE	late BMAC	"Proto-Sauma-Dasa", assimilation of Proto-Dasa and Proto-Sauma-Aryan
1500-1000 BCE	Early West Iranian Grey Ware	Mitanni-Aryan (offshoot of "Proto-Sauma-Dasa")
1400-800 BCE	late Swat culture and Punjab, Painted Grey Ware	late Rigvedic
1400-1100 BCE	Yaz II-III, Seistan	Proto-Avestan
1100-1000 BCE	Gurgan Buff Ware, Late West Iranian Buff Ware	Proto-Persian, Proto-Median
1000-400 BCE	Iron Age cultures of Xinjang	Proto-Saka

Language

The Indo-European language spoken by the Indo-Iranians in the late 3rd millennium BC was a Satem language still not removed very far from the Proto-Indo-European language, and in turn only removed by a few centuries from the Vedic Sanskrit of the Rigveda. The main phonological change separating Proto-Indo-Iranian from Proto-Indo-European is the collapse of the ablauting vowels *e, *o, *a into a single vowel, Proto-Indo-Iranian *a (but see Brugmann's law). Grassmann's law and Bartholomae's law were also complete in Proto-Indo-Iranian.

Among the sound changes from Proto-Indo-Iranian to Indo-Aryan is the loss of the voiced sibilant *z, among those to Iranian is the de-aspiration of the PIE voiced aspirates.

Notes

Sources

Jones-Bley, K.; Zdanovich, D. G. (eds.), Complex Societies of Central Eurasia from the 3rd to the 1st Millennium BC, 2 vols, JIES Monograph Series Nos. 45, 46, Washington D.C. (2002), ISBN 0-941694-83-6, ISBN 0-941694-86-0.
J. P. Mallory & Douglas Q. Adams, "Indo-Iranian Languages", Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
Asko Parpola, 'The formation of the Aryan branch of Indo-European', in Blench and Spriggs (eds), Archaeology and Language III, London and New York (1999).
Michael Witzel, "The Home of the Aryans", in: Anusantatyai. Fs. für Johanna Narten zum 70. Geburtstag, edd. Hintze, Tichy. (Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, Beihefte NF 19) Dettelbach: J.H. Roell (2000), 283–338 ^* (PDF).

External links

The Origin of the Pre-Imperial Iranian Peoples by Oric Basirov (2001)

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