Sarasvati (texts & arch.III)

[Miguel Carrasquer Vidal]

Michael,

Just two questions off-list.

You write, on the IE [?]-strate in Mitanni Hurrian:
>This is useful, as it pushes back the date of the preceding *Indo-Iranian*
>cultural and linguistic period a bit (to what? 2000 BC, 2500 BC. Nobody
>knows.) Only an (unlikely) early inscription or archaeology combined with
>linguistics (chariots) may provide the dates.

Am I to interpret that as that you agree with me that the IE element
in Mitanni Hurrian is *Indo-Iranian* not necessarily Indo-Aryan
(after all, Proto-Indo-Iranian "1" may have been *aika, right?)?

>Anyhow, the later strata of the RV must be before 1200 BC. and the upper
>limit is supplied by the breakdown of the Indus civilization, the parallel
>info from the Mitanni, the dating of the first spoke-wheeled,
>*horse*-drawn race/war chariots (with 2 wheels)  around 2000 BC together
>with its IIr designation (cakra), and one can add the breakdown of the
>Bactrian civ. etc. --- all of which points to the 2d millennium and not
>the 3rd or earlier.

What does "Bactrian civilization" refer to exactly?  I suspect the
area of urban settlememts along the Amu Darya (Shortugai, Namazga)
all the way to Shah Tepe etc. on the Caspian, but I'm not familiar
with the term.

Greetings,

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv at wxs.nl
Amsterdam