craft items

[Lakshmi Srinivas]

---"Peter J. Claus"  wrote:
>
> I wonder if the philologists on the list could speak to the words in
the
> relevant language families (I-E, Dravidian, etc.) pertaining to some
of
> the craft items found in the Indus Civilization Tradition:
particularly
> carnelian (beads), steatite (seals, beads, and other objects), agate
> (beads), pearl and other marine shell objects.  The production sites,
> trade paths and locations of use of these items are fairly well
documented
> in the archeology. It would seem to me words for them might be good
> indicators of who was in contact with whom, when and where.

Not to forget the term for a baked brick.

Some archaeologists, e.g., the late  W. A. Fairservis Jr., are of the
firm opinion that a reconstructed artifactual vocabulary of the IVC
would be a significant resource for the decipherment of the Indus
script.

It might also throw interesting sidelight on linguistic contact and
convergence (?!) or the lack of it , in prehistoric South Asia.

Warm Regards.
==
Lakshmi Srinivas





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