Neolithic creolisation hypothesis
Encyclopedia
The Neolithic creolisation hypothesis, first put forward by Marek Zvelebil in 1995, contributes to the Proto-Indo-European Urheimat issue and proposes a cultural melting pot in the Neolithic of Northern Europe of foreign Neolithic
farmers and indigenous Mesolithic
hunter-gatherer communities, that resulted into the genesis of the Indo-European language family.
The hypothesis holds the linguistic and cultural influence of the Neolithic farmers far greater than the persistence of their foreign gene pool. While according to Zvelebil the linguistic influence of indigenous hunter-gatherers predominate, other archeologists such as Marek Nowak favor a scenario compatible to Colin Renfrew's Anatolian hypothesis
in attributing the leading linguistic role to the foreign farmers.
A study of strontium isotope signatures among the Neolithic farmers in south-west Germany indicated that the first Linear Pottery culture
(LBK) farmers received their partners from a wide catchment, were patrilocal, and inter-married with hunter-gatherer women along the agricultural frontier. The appearance of Mesolithic motifs on the first Funnel Beaker culture (TRB) pottery, and of other elements in the material culture, has been adduced in support of this results.
It was theorized this inter-marriage between the two communities resulted in the breakdown of the early farming Linear Pottery culture
(LBK) and Lengyel culture
social and ideological structure, and a subsequent development of a new foraging-farming community, identified archeologically as TRB, such as to cause the combination of cultural traditions of earlier foraging and farming generations to be accomplished in an act of cultural creolisation. In the Polish Plain this pattern persisted during some 2500 years between 4400 and 1800 bc (2200 BC), until the last hunter-gatherer communities finally became part of the Globular Amphorae/Corded Ware cultural horizon, leading to a cognitive structure more familiar to the indigenous hunter-gatherer community while retaining certain earlier routine practices of both the ancestral Neolithic and Mesolithic traditions. The cultural variability of the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB) horizon and of the later Globular Amphorae and Corded Ware traditions was proposed to be due at least partly to this process.
A more anthropological perspective is proposed to confirm the concept of farmer communities being "acculturated" by neighboring foragers. Investigations revealed low paleaodemographic values of Linear Pottery farmers as well as Corded Ware culture populations with dominant agricultural occupations. The highest values correspond to Corded Ware culture populations using a husbandry mode of production.
Frederik Kortlandt
's assessment takes into account the typological similarity of Proto-Indo-European to the North-West Caucasian languages. Assuming this similarity can be attributed to areal factors, Frederik Kortlandt thought of Indo-European as a branch of Uralo-Altaic which was transformed under the influence of a Caucasian-like substratum. Even though Kortlandt had in mind areal factors that would be essentially in agreement with the Kurgan hypothesis
and an origin in the eastern part of the Great European Plain, linguist Peter Schrijver
likewise speculates on the reminiscent lexical and typological features of a family of languages featuring complex verbs, of which the Northwest Caucasian languages
might have been the sole survivors, and link these to the archeological Linear Pottery culture
.
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
farmers and indigenous Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
hunter-gatherer communities, that resulted into the genesis of the Indo-European language family.
The hypothesis holds the linguistic and cultural influence of the Neolithic farmers far greater than the persistence of their foreign gene pool. While according to Zvelebil the linguistic influence of indigenous hunter-gatherers predominate, other archeologists such as Marek Nowak favor a scenario compatible to Colin Renfrew's Anatolian hypothesis
Anatolian hypothesis
The Anatolian hypothesis is also called Renfrew's Neolithic Discontinuity Theory ; it proposes that the dispersal of Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in Neolithic Anatolia...
in attributing the leading linguistic role to the foreign farmers.
A study of strontium isotope signatures among the Neolithic farmers in south-west Germany indicated that the first Linear Pottery culture
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
(LBK) farmers received their partners from a wide catchment, were patrilocal, and inter-married with hunter-gatherer women along the agricultural frontier. The appearance of Mesolithic motifs on the first Funnel Beaker culture (TRB) pottery, and of other elements in the material culture, has been adduced in support of this results.
It was theorized this inter-marriage between the two communities resulted in the breakdown of the early farming Linear Pottery culture
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
(LBK) and Lengyel culture
Lengyel culture
The Lengyel culture, is an archaeological culture of the European Neolithic, centered on the Middle Danube in Central Europe. It flourished during ca...
social and ideological structure, and a subsequent development of a new foraging-farming community, identified archeologically as TRB, such as to cause the combination of cultural traditions of earlier foraging and farming generations to be accomplished in an act of cultural creolisation. In the Polish Plain this pattern persisted during some 2500 years between 4400 and 1800 bc (2200 BC), until the last hunter-gatherer communities finally became part of the Globular Amphorae/Corded Ware cultural horizon, leading to a cognitive structure more familiar to the indigenous hunter-gatherer community while retaining certain earlier routine practices of both the ancestral Neolithic and Mesolithic traditions. The cultural variability of the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB) horizon and of the later Globular Amphorae and Corded Ware traditions was proposed to be due at least partly to this process.
A more anthropological perspective is proposed to confirm the concept of farmer communities being "acculturated" by neighboring foragers. Investigations revealed low paleaodemographic values of Linear Pottery farmers as well as Corded Ware culture populations with dominant agricultural occupations. The highest values correspond to Corded Ware culture populations using a husbandry mode of production.
Frederik Kortlandt
Frederik Kortlandt
Frederik Herman Henri Kortlandt is a professor of descriptive and comparative linguistics at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He is an expert on Baltic and Slavic languages, the Indo-European languages in general, and Proto-Indo-European, though he has also published studies of languages in...
's assessment takes into account the typological similarity of Proto-Indo-European to the North-West Caucasian languages. Assuming this similarity can be attributed to areal factors, Frederik Kortlandt thought of Indo-European as a branch of Uralo-Altaic which was transformed under the influence of a Caucasian-like substratum. Even though Kortlandt had in mind areal factors that would be essentially in agreement with the Kurgan hypothesis
Kurgan hypothesis
The Kurgan hypothesis is one of the proposals about early Indo-European origins, which postulates that the people of an archaeological "Kurgan culture" in the Pontic steppe were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language...
and an origin in the eastern part of the Great European Plain, linguist Peter Schrijver
Peter Schrijver (linguist)
Peter Schrijver, born in Delft, 1963, is a Dutch linguist, who is a professor of Celtic languages at Utrecht University, and researcher of ancient Indo-European linguistics. He worked previously at Leiden University and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich...
likewise speculates on the reminiscent lexical and typological features of a family of languages featuring complex verbs, of which the Northwest Caucasian languages
Northwest Caucasian languages
The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called Abkhazo-Adyghean, or sometimes Pontic as opposed to Caspian for the Northeast Caucasian languages, are a group of languages spoken in the Caucasus region, chiefly in Russia , the disputed territory of Abkhazia, and Turkey, with smaller communities...
might have been the sole survivors, and link these to the archeological Linear Pottery culture
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
.